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ScorecardNot even a career-best 169 from Liam Dawson could save Hampshire from providing Somerset with their first win of the season at the Rose Bowl. Somerset had little trouble in chasing a target of 114 and, despite the early loss of their captain Marcus Trescothick, they got home with nine wickets to spare.Hampshire’s defeat was their second of the season and leaves them in trouble after a second innings collapse. They were still 16 behind when play resumed on the fourth day with Dawson 103 not out and the score 212 for 3.But apart from Dawson’s defiance, Hampshire put up little resistance, losing their last seven wickets in adding 129 and that was never going to be enough. Pace bowler Peter Trego did most of the damage ending with figures of 4 for 74 as Hampshire quickly fell away, their last four batsmen being dismissed for just 13 runs.James Vince was the first to go at 245, leg before to Trego, and from then on Hampshire’s batting became processional. Nic Pothas was fifth out at 264, again leg before but this time to Steve Kirby, armed with a new ball.Sean Ervine was caught at the wicket off Charl Willoughby attempting an extravagant pull but Hampshire still had hope all the while Dawson was at the other end. Hampshire’s captain Dominic Cork was bowled by Trego at 328 and Dawson’s efforts came to an end finally at 333.Again Trego was the bowler and Dawson was leg before pushing forward and with Hampshire now in a hopeless position at 105 ahead. Dawson’s innings included 26 fours and came off 308 balls.The end was not long in coming, Danny Briggs was bowled by Kirby for one and in the next over David Griffiths was another leg before victim for the hard-working Trego. Hampshire were all out for 341 leaving Somerset plenty of time to wrap up a morale-boosting victory.Trescothick, who scored 228 in the first innings, pulled Briggs for six and looked in imperious form again until he was beaten for pace by Friedel de Wet after making 23. But there was no respite for Hampshire with Arul Suppiah and Nick Compton knocking off the 83 runs still required without semblance of a chance.

Pakistan’s tour of West Indies is an opportunity for youngsters in the squad to establish their careers, team manager Intikhab Alam has said. While Pakistan have it in them to be successful on the tour, discipline, he said, will be key.”We’ve brought some youngsters with us and I think it’s a golden opportunity for them to make a name for themselves, to make a career in the sport,” Alam said. “Umar Akmal has special talent. The people of the Caribbean will like the way he plays because he’s so entertaining and hits the ball exceptionally.”Now [after the semi-final finish at the World Cup] the expectations are even higher for this tour, because we have never won a series out here before. Overall all the boys need to put in the hard work, commitment and discipline for us to leave the Caribbean happy.”It was a long journey from Pakistan but we travelled well and the boys are well,” said Alam, who played the last of his 47 Tests at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad in 1977. “We enjoy touring the Caribbean. I personally have spent a lot of time here and cherish the friendship of greats like Sir Garfield Sobers, Clive Lloyd and others.”Pakistan, who arrived in the West Indies on Friday, had their first training session in St Lucia on Saturday and will play their first tour game there on Monday, against Vice Chancellor’s XI led by Combined Campuses & Colleges captain, Omar Philips. The first ODI is on April 23 in St Lucia.Vice Chancellor’s XI squad: Omar Phillips (capt.), Miles Bascombe, Nkrumah Bonner, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Kyle Corbin, Keron Cottoy, Fidel Edwards, Kevin McClean, Gilford Moore, Kjorn Ottley, Shervon Penco, Raymon Reifer, Chadwick WaltonPakistan squad: Shahid Afridi (capt.), Misbah-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Abdur Rehman, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Hammad Azman, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Salman, Sadaf Hussain, Saeed Ajmal, Tanveer Ahmed, Taufeeq Umar, Umar Akmal, Usman Salahuddin, Wahab Riaz

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has asked the Bangladeshi players and those associated with the team to not write columns in newspapers during the World Cup. This directive comes after Shakib Al Hasan wrote a column expressing his displeasure at criticism from former players after his side was bowled out for 58 against West Indies. The reported that all the team members have been sent a letter asking them to stop writing columns and also “observe protocol when speaking to the media”. Coach Jamie Siddons, too, was pretty harsh in his assessment of former players’ views when he spoke at a press conference two days ago.However, the newspaper also reported that the national contracts do not have a clause that can bar them from writing in newspapers. The BCB chief Manzur Ahmed told the paper that the board will make sure the renewed contract has such a clause.In his column Shakib had suggested the former players had faced much more humiliation than the current side has encountered. Siddons said that the said former players don’t “have the balls” to say things to his face, calling them “not courageous”. Khaled Mahmud and Aminul Islam, former captains, have been vocal in their criticism of the current team, in particular the lack of fight shown.

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Michael Klinger held South Australia’s innings together•Getty Images

Michael Klinger made a battling century but it was not enough to prevent Western Australia from taking a 53-run first-innings lead over South Australia in their Sheffield Shield encounter at the WACA. Western Australia then extended the lead to 73 before the end of play, losing opener Liam Davis for 4 in the process.Klinger and James Smith began positively on the second morning, stretching their partnership to 92 before Michael Hogan snuck one through Smith’s defence to bowl him for 66. That sparked a minor collapse, with the next four wickets falling for the addition of just 35 runs, with Ryan Duffield picking up two wickets. Klinger continued to provide resistance and found enough support in Graham Manou (25) and Nathan Lyon (37) down the order to reach his hundred, but was promptly trapped leg-before by Nathan Coulter-Nile. Left-arm spinner Michael Beer then picked up two wickets, to help wrap up South Australia’s innings for 271. Duffield was the best of the bowlers, finishing with 4 for 56.Western Australia lost Davis early but Marcus Harris and Beer, who came in as nightwatchman, batted out the remaining overs without incident.

ScorecardGouher Sultan took 3 for 10 in 10 overs to help India defend 134 against West Indies in Vadodara•Getty Images

India survived a late onslaught from Anisa Mohammed and Shakera Selman to hold on for a 10-run win in the second ODI at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara. India might have been worried their total of 134 would not be enough considering how easily West Indies chased 162 in the first ODI in Mumbai, but they would have known they were playing on the same ground at which Karnataka’s men were bowled out for 107 and 88 in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Baroda.The hosts looked set for an easy win after they reduced West Indies to 80 for 8. Mohammed and Selman made them sweat, putting together a 37-run ninth-wicket partnership, the joint highest of the match, but left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana, who returned remarkable figures of 3 for 10 in 10 overs with five maidens, took the crucial wicket of Mohammed for 26 and India levelled the five-match series 1-1.India struck early in West Indies’ chase. Their captain Jhulan Goswami got the crucial wicket of Staphanie Taylor, who had scored 85 in the first ODI, in the third over for just four, and West Indies were soon 29 for 3 after seamer Rumeli Dhar trapped Juliana Nero lbw and Shanel Daley became the first of three West Indies batsmen to be run out. Sultana took over in the middle overs, drying up the runs and taking the wickets of Deandra Dottin for 14 and West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira for a duck. Mohammed and Selman’s recovery was a slow one, as they took 18.1 overs to get 37 runs. Tremayne Smartt was the last wicket to fall, run out off the last ball of the 48th over.India looked like they were going to get a bigger total after their top four all got starts, and Harmanpreet Kaur and Diana David’s 37-run fifth wicket partnership had taken them to 115 for 4 in the 33rd over. Kaur’s wicket started a lower-order collapse and India managed only 20 more runs. But they proved to be enough in the end.

A week before the Ashes series Ryan Harris didn’t expect his body would let him play, but after two brave performances he will start the Boxing Day Test as a vital cog in Australia’s suddenly purring attack. Harris will always bowl with pain in his right knee, which has minimal cartilage on the outside of the joint, but he gained the perfect anaesthetic at the WACA with a second-innings haul of 6 for 47.”It’s pretty special,” Harris said in Perth. “Leading into the series I was hoping to take part, but obviously with my knee the way it was I wasn’t sure if I was going to be a part of any cricket this summer. At the moment it’s a great feeling, to level the series and get back to 1-1, and to take six wickets in an Ashes Test. I’m feeling pretty good at the moment.”His knee is now in such decent shape that when he meets his surgeon David Young, who has operated on him a couple of times this year, in Melbourne this week it will be mainly to have a chat. Twice this summer he has had to have fluid taken out of the joint as a result of the constant bone-on-bone collision, but he doesn’t think it will be necessary this time.While the prognosis is good in the short-term, Harris, 31, is unlikely to have a long career because of the severe wear and tear. That won’t be a major concern if he leaves the game with a come-from-behind Ashes victory on his resume. If he was 10 years younger he could have a cartilage transplant, but the recovery would take up to 18 months and would end his playing days, so it is not an option.Whenever Harris has watched previous Boxing Day Tests he has felt shivers down his spine and he is expecting more tingles when the game begins on Sunday. “The thought of it actually gets you nervous,” he said. “It’s going to be an amazing feeling – if I’m picked. I got a text before from my surgeon and he said: ‘100,000 people at the MCG, you’re going to enjoy it.’ He got me thinking that it’s going to be a great feeling, especially now with the series 1-1.”Harris and Shane Watson are the most improved Australian players over the past two years, with Harris rising from a capable domestic performer to a damaging international fast bowler. He used to have a bustling run-up but now he sprints his large, strong frame to the wicket, delivering at around 145kph and swinging the ball.While his knee was too great a risk to figure in Brisbane, he has been the side’s most consistent bowler over the past two Tests, which is even more satisfying because he’s played only four matches in a baggy green. Harris has a croaky voice and it became coarser after his roaring appeals at the WACA. There was plenty for him to shout about during the second innings.He claimed four wickets on the final morning, including the lbw of the in-form Ian Bell, as he took his tally for the match to nine, the same as Mitchell Johnson. He also removed Bell in the first innings to follow the wickets of Andrew Strauss and Graeme Swann in a comprehensive display.Despite achieving such success in the most important match of his career, Harris revealed he wasn’t pleased with the way he performed on the final morning. “The feeling I had wasn’t great,” he said. “The positive out of that is that I’ve taken six wickets.”The understated Harris is a perfectionist and Ricky Ponting has been working on trying to settle him over the past year. “He is very hard on himself and he never feels like he’s bowling well or has bowled a good ball,” Ponting said. “My challenge has been to relax him into it and not let his mind get in the way.”Harris agreed that he can get down on himself easily. “Coming here [to Perth] and it having a bit more bounce I was thinking about what I had to do and I was trying to bowl that perfect ball,” he said. “The best thing I can do is not think about it and just go out and bowl and do what I do best, which is bash the wicket. They always say that fast bowlers aren’t smart blokes so I probably shouldn’t think as much as I do.”The Australians are on top after their WACA win changed the complexion of the series. Some of the players celebrated by humming along to U2’s Elevation at a concert in Perth hours after singing their victory song for the first time since July, but in the most recent Ashes series the team on a high wasn’t guaranteed to stay there.”We’ve crushed them pretty well here after being crushed in Adelaide,” Harris said. “It’s a new Test [in Melbourne]. They’ll go away and work pretty hard during the week, but I do think we’ve got an edge over them a bit going into that big Test.”

Michael Beer’s integration into the Australia squad for Thursday’s third Test at Perth got underway this week in the unusual environs of Brisbane Airport, as the latest spinner to be thrust into the firing line met several of his national team-mates for the first time in the departure lounge of Qantas Airways.On a day when Australia’s greatest spinner, Shane Warne, returned to the headlines for yet more lurid reasons, and when the man who has been discarded by the selectors, Nathan Hauritz, set about selling his kit to the highest bidder, Beer’s journey from Australia’s East Coast to its most westerly outpost was mundane by comparison.Nevertheless, for a 26-year-old with six first-class matches to his name, Beer’s unconventional introductions emphasised the quantum leap that his career is about to take, as he becomes the tenth Australian spinner since Warne to be trialled in the Test arena.”I got the flight from Brisbane. Shane Watson and Ryan Harris were on the flight, so it was good to meet them in the Qantas lounge,” said Beer. “So I met a couple of them there, and got the ball going. There were a few support staff as well, so it was a good flight in.”Writing in his column in The Australian this week, Ricky Ponting admitted that he had never yet met Beer, the left-arm spinner who looks certain to displace Peter Siddle in Australia’s attack at the WACA this week. Beer confirmed this fact as he linked up with the bulk of the squad for his first training session in national colours.”I met a couple last night when I got in, and the rest this morning, and enjoyed the training session,” he said. “There were a couple I’d never met, but they’ve all been very nice. I’d bowled to them in a net-bowling situation, most of the team, four or five years ago. But Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, I hadn’t met. [Ricky] just said ‘how are you going?’ – and he congratulated me and said ‘look forward to the week’, so that’s what I’m doing.”Regardless of how well received he may be by his Australian team-mates, Beer will nonetheless be undertaking a vast step-up in class this week – and that was a challenge that his predecessor, Xavier Doherty, proved unable to surmount as he returned combined figures of 3 for 306 in his two Tests at Brisbane and Adelaide, before being ditched in the aftermath of England’s crushing innings victory in the second Test.When asked if he believed he was ready for what awaits him, Beer was determined to present a confident front. “I hope so,” he said. “I love a challenge. It’s just a matter of me knowing my role. I’ll see what situation the game’s in, and the conditions. I’d say I enjoy a contest. I like a contest, but changing what I’ve done so far is probably not the best thing to do. I’m going to just keep doing what I’m doing, and try to enjoy it.”In many people’s opinion, Beer owes his opportunity at Test level to the vote of confidence he was given by Warne, by whom he was namechecked in his newspaper column earlier this week. The two men both honed their skills at the Melbourne club of St Kilda, before Beer was forced to cross the country because of a lack of opportunities at state level with Victoria, but Beer played down the influence exerted by his some-time club level team-mate.”I played a few games of club cricket with him, and worked with him a couple of times when he’s been around,” said Beer. “I like the way he went about the game. Whenever he’s around, I’ve tried to sponge as much as I could off him, but I haven’t spoken to him [recently]. It’s always a bit flattering when someone like him, or of his calibre, throws your name in the ring, but if I do see him, it will be good to say hello.”Although he’s determined to give it his best shot when his debut comes about on Thursday, Beer can’t quite disguise the astonishment that he’s feeling after becoming the single biggest selectorial gamble that Australia has lined up since Peter Taylor was plucked from obscurity for the Sydney Test in January 1987.When asked if he believed he’d be ready for international cricket after a grand total of six first-class fixtures, Beer offered a flat “No”. However, now that he’s been set in that direction, he has no option but to trust in his ability to deal with whatever awaits him. “I’m confident in my own ability in a contest,” he said. “I hope that comes out shining.”The irony is that, had Beer not shifted his career from Victoria to Western Australia, he might at this moment still be struggling to break into Sheffield Shield cricket. Victoria’s incumbent left-arm spinner is Jon Holland, who bowled tidily and with some success against England in an otherwise dreary tour match at the MCG over the weekend.”The main aim was to get the best out of myself as a cricketer,” said Beer of his switch to Perth, where he caught the eye of the selectors with five wickets in England’s opening tour match last month. “Victoria were in a situation where they had Holland, who bowled very similar to me. He’d done will in under-age cricket and is also doing well for the Bushrangers now – and they had Bryce McGain, who played Test cricket.”So I was third in line, unable to break into a contract. Then I got the opportunity with the Warriors, starting with Tom Moody, and then WA kept in contact and offered me a one-year contract. There are a number of things – on the field, the way I bowl and off the field, the professionalism – I’ve worked on. I’ll keep working on it, and hope to keep improving and keep enjoying it.”Beer would not be human if he was not already visualising bowling to Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen at the WACA later this week, but he claims to have no preference when it comes his ideal first opponent. “All of ’em. All of ’em,” he said. “I hope they’re a couple down before I come on, but I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet.”Today was pretty good, training with the guys,” he added. “I was making sure I was concentrating on what I was doing, to make sure I’m ready. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Alan Butcher, the Zimbabwe coach, has said Bangladesh left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak has been the difference between the two sides during the ongoing one-day series. Razzak took 4 for 14 in the third ODI in Mirpur on Monday, helping Bangladesh to a win and a 2-1 lead in the series. He now has 13 wickets in the series and many of them have come in a clutch, early in his spells.”Razzak is winning matches for them as a bowler,” Butcher said. “Our bowlers, though effective, haven’t given a match-winning performance, so I think that’s the difference.”It’s disappointing that we keep giving him three wickets in two overs. It is as much a technical problem as anything else. Whether it is psychological or that we are not picking him, we have to work on it in the next couple of days.”Razzak, who has taken 53 wickets against Zimbabwe at an average of 15.30, said the conditions were helping him. “I am confident and there’s help from the wicket,” he said. “These two things are combining and working in my favour.”Bangladesh bowled Zimbabwe out for 181 on Monday and Razzak was supported by the seamers, with Shafiul Islam taking 4 for 43 and Mashrafe Mortaza, who missed the series against New Zealand in October with an ankle injury, taking his first international wicket since July. “The performance of the fast bowlers was the most pleasing part of the match,” Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, said. “Mashrafe-‘s bowling was a big positive. I said before that it would take him a few matches to get back to his old self, so that’s what happened today.”Shakib set up the win with his 73 that took Bangladesh to a total of 246, but was out in the batting Powerplay for the second time in the series. “It seems my responsibility is till the Powerplay,” he said. “The moment it starts, I’m gone. We should work at it but I don’t know what’s going on.”In the first match, which Zimbabwe won by nine runs, the batting Powerplay worked against Bangladesh as they lost three wickets for 25. On Monday, they fared much better and scored 46 runs during the restrictions, which were in force for the last five overs. “We didn’t take the Powerplay earlier because we don’t do well in it,” Shakib said. “If we took it earlier, the innings would’ve been over earlier. I don’t think we did too badly [today]; we scored over 40 and anything over 50 is good. We played 10 dot balls in this Powerplay, so if a boundary came off one of those balls, it would have been better.”Shakib said he was happy with the assistance his bowlers got in Mirpur, the venue of the first three games. “Whenever we have bowled in this series, we have got help from the wicket,” he said. “We bowled first twice, and today the wicket hardly changed throughout the day. It worked as an advantage for us.”The last two matches of the series will be played in Chittangong, which, along with Mirpur, will host Bangladesh’s league games in the 2011 World Cup. If Bangladesh make it past the first round – and their backers think they have a fair chance given their mastery of home conditions – their quarterfinal fixture could also be a home game.

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John Hastings removed Shane Watson early as the Blues’ big-name line-up failed to ignite again•Getty Images

Michael Clarke delayed his entry to No.8 due to a painful back injury but he and Brad Haddin were able to save a limping New South Wales from a home defeat to Victoria. Clarke didn’t intend on batting unless the Blues were closing on victory, but at 6 for 162 he took a risk and didn’t come back until reaching the safety of stumps almost two hours later.Clarke scored 113 in the first innings but felt discomfort during the display and didn’t field for two sessions on Friday, mostly as a precaution ahead of the first Ashes Test on November 25. However, the injury seemed to get worse during his unbeaten 39, forcing him to crouch down and stretch in an effort to ease the pain.He has suffered regular disc problems throughout his career but this episode is particularly untimely with such an important series less than two weeks away. The injury also causes further issues for Australia’s selectors, as Clarke was the only member of the Test side’s top six with serious runs this week.New South Wales captain Stuart Clark suggested that, despite his obvious discomfort, Clarke’s injury was not as bad as it may have appeared. “His back’s nowhere near as bad as people probably want to think,” said Clark. “He’s probably sore from batting in the first innings. He batted for a long period after not getting many in India or batting that long.”It’s just stiffness from batting and being hunched over for long periods of time. He was always going to bat. It was just a matter of if we were two or three down it wouldn’t have been required. It got to the stage where he needed to bat so he went out there and did it. The physio will assess Michael over the next couple of days but at this stage I will assume he is playing [against Tasmania next week].”Haddin also spent some decent time in the middle to end up with 61 under tricky conditions, with the hosts finishing on 6 for 254. The pair was needed to salvage the situation after the big-name batting line-up failed to excel for the second time in the game.The chase of an unlikely 391 for victory was setback early when Shane Watson was lbw to John Hastings for 15. Usman Khawaja, who was caught behind off Peter Siddle on 42, Phillip Hughes (39) and Steven Smith (12) also gave up their final opportunities for big scores before Monday’s announcement of the Test squad.New South Wales’ situation became a major worry when Phil Jaques went for 31 and Nathan Hauritz was bowled by Siddle without scoring. Siddle’s 2 for 42 off 20 overs was a useful display but he has not gained the major haul needed to tell the selectors he is in top form after a back stress fracture. Jon Holland collected two wickets to have five for the game while Hastings and Andrew McDonald gained one each.Victoria added 33 runs in less than half an hour in the morning, with McDonald finishing on 107 and Clint McKay rushing to 32. McKay was stumped off Hauritz, giving him an encouraging 3 for 67 off 24 overs ahead of the England series.

Yuvraj Singh has been named captain of the India Blue team for the Challenger Trophy, the triangular one-day domestic competition, which will be held between October 8-11 in Indore. Irfan Pathan, the allrounder who last made an international appearance in June 2009, is also part of the team. Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik and middle-order batsman S Badrinath will lead the other two sides in the competition, India Red and India Green, respectively.Yuvraj has endured a poor run of form and fitness in recent times, the lowest point being his axing from the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. He returned for the Tests that followed, and began with a confident ton in the tour game and a half-century in the first Test in Galle, but missed the second with fever. Suresh Raina, who replaced him in the XI, made a century on debut to retain his place for the third Test. Yuvraj’s lacklustre performance in tri-series that followed in Sri Lanka did not help his cause, and he wasn’t picked for the two-Test series against Australia. He was instead named captain of the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy, which begins on the same day as the first Test in Mohali, but the Challenger Trophy is his only chance to get into one-day form ahead of the three-match series against Australia that begins on October 17.Karthik has been in and out of the Indian limited-overs side where he has featured more often as a reserve opener than as a back-up wicketkeeper for MS Dhoni. Parthiv Patel’s presence in his Reds side gives Karthik the option of playing as a pure batsman in the Challenger Trophy. The squad also includes Yusuf Pathan who, like brother Irfan, has lost out in the India limited-overs allrounder race to Ravindra Jadeja.Badrinath played three ODIs in 2008 and made his Test debut ahead of Raina when South Africa toured India earlier this year. Since then, however, he has lost out to Raina and, most recently, to Cheteshwar Pujara in the tussle for Test middle-order berths. Badrinath was a consistent performer in Chennai Super Kings’ triumphs in the IPL and the Champions League, and the Challenger Trophy is another opportunity to further his reputation in the shorter formats. His side includes R Ashwin, one of Chennai’s main performers in the Twenty20 successes, and Rohit Sharma, who has recently struggled for form in ODIs.

Squads

India Blue: Yuvraj Singh (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Srivats Goswami, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Piyush Chawla, Umesh Yadav, RP Singh, Yo Mahesh, Ganesh Satish, Tanmay SrivastavaIndia Red: Dinesh Kartik (capt and wk), Abhinav Mukund, Parthiv Patel, Manish Pandey, Virat Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Iqbal Abdulla, Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Sudeep Tyagi, Monish Mishra, Abu Nechim, Rahul SharmaIndia Green: S Badrinath (capt), Naman Ojha (wk), S Aniruddha, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav, R Ashwin, Jaskaran Singh, Abhimanyu Mithun, Jaidev Unadkat, Sarabjit Ladda, Thirumalasetti Suman, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ambati Rayudu