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Zulqarnain Haider, the Pakistan wicketkeeper who fled Dubai for London after receiving threats, has announced his retirement. Haider, 24, went missing from the team hotel on the morning of Pakistan’s fifth ODI against South Africa in Dubai and resurfaced in London later the same day. He was said to be seeking some sort of protection in the UK after he was threatened by unidentified people following his team’s one-wicket win in the fourth ODI against South Africa.

On the 16th of December 1838, almost 15,000 Zulu warriors set off to battle against less than 500 Voortrekkers. A few hours later, three thousand Zulu were killed, mowed down by a barrage of bullets. Three Voortrekkers were wounded by the blade of a spear. Such was the mismatch of the Battle of Blood River, where the warriors’ weapons were never going to be any match for the force of a gun. So too was the mismatch of the Champions League Twenty20 final, where the Warriors simply didn’t have enough ammunition to overcome the Chennai Super Kings.The Eastern Cape franchise must have undergone an overnight transformation. The eleven brave soldiers who handed South Australian Redbacks their first defeat of the tournament on Saturday had been replaced by eleven drowning sailors who stood no chance against a navy that was intent on claiming spoils. Davy Jacobs, captain of the Warriors, offered no excuses, accepting that his men had met their match. “We have to give credit where it’s due, it’s not just that we screwed up,” he said.The Warriors’ challenge ended almost as quickly as their namesakes’ did over 170 years ago. When R Ashwin trapped Jacobs lbw in the sixth over, the victory calls for Chennai may as well have started sounding. After Jacobs’ dismissal, the Warriors hit just six boundaries. The men from the Eastern Cape couldn’t get together in any discipline after that. “Their two spinners really tied us down. Ashwin is a quality bowler and Murali is world class,” Jacobs said.It sounded very much like Jacobs knew the match was over then. He admitted that the batsmen didn’t know how to approach their task with the Chennai spinners in operation. “We didn’t really have a strategy to attack them and when we lost one or two wickets, we tried to get some momentum and take them on, but it wasn’t our night,” he said.Jacobs didn’t have to be asked if he thought 128 was enough, it was obvious that he knew it wasn’t. He may not have thrown in the towel there, saying that no team can ever “run away” with a final, but he did change his bowling strategy. Oddly, Jacobs tossed the ball to Makhaya Ntini to open the bowling and not to his regular go-to man, Rusty Theron. “We thought we’d give him a go since he was playing against his IPL team,” Jacobs explained with a shrug, and then a hint of a smile.That he managed a fraction of a toothy grin at all was unexpected, because Jacobs had taken the loss hard. “We are very disappointed. If someone had told us before that we would lose in the final, we would have taken it, but once we got here we wanted to win,” he said. Jacobs is fiercely ambitious and has spoken freely about his team’s desire to be crowned the best in the world. He quickly realises that they may have just stepped on the path to that. “We wanted to leave a legacy and I think we have started that,” he said.Jacobs didn’t labour the point, he isn’t one for drawn out conversations or overly laudatory speak. He recognised the achievement of the franchise, particularly in the light of the massive prize money they will earn. “This is a massive achievement for the Eastern Cape. The last 18 months have been unbeliev…., unbeliev…,” he stopped, giggled off his inability to pronounce the word and said it in Afrikaans instead, Then he looked around the room. “I don’t even know what the question was,” he said. No one else knew either.What they did know was this down-to-earth, frank player is surely destined for bigger things. “I’ve received a couple of calls from India with a few offers,” he tailed off. Perhaps the IPL is beckoning for Jacobs. It could do with some of his wholesomeness. Even more so, with some of his selflessness. “I would have given up all of my runs for a win tonight,” he said. Anyone who saw the look in his eyes when he said that would have known that this warrior will come back, making sure his men are armed with machine guns next time.

ScorecardNottinghamshire took a giant stride towards winning their sixth County Championship and a second in six seasons after Lancashire’s desperate attempt to keep their own outside chance alive offered Chris Read’s side a route to victory that they were able to complete ultimately in relative comfort.Set to chase 260 in a minimum 64 overs, Nottinghamshire eased home with eight overs and four balls to spare and now have a 16-point lead over Somerset, who themselves sit three in front of Yorkshire. Crucially, the Trent Bridge side have three matches to go, against two for their rivals. It is difficult to see them being caught.After the loss of the whole of day three to rain, with Nottinghamshire trailing by 141 runs and their first innings still in progress, a draw had looked inevitable, given that only Lancashire had any real desire to take risks.But, alive to what their visitors might have in mind, Read spoke to his players about how they might respond to any challenge Lancashire might offer and found them willing to look beyond chasing bonus points on the final day.So it was that Read declared as soon as Nottinghamshire had passed 200, trailing by 116 runs, before spending an hour and a half in the field as Lancashire added 143 in 24 overs by lunch in order to meet the terms of the deal struck between captains. It was a throwback to the days of contrived finishes in three-day cricket and some spectators were less than approving as part-timers Alex Hales and Ally Brown shared a dozen overs with Ryan Sidebottom and Andre Adams cooling their heels in the outfield. But the end result was surely compensation.No one earned approval, in the end, more than Hales, the 21-year-old opening batsman, who had the misfortune to be out in the 90s twice in the same day but nonetheless produced two innings of maturity under as much pressure as he will have encountered so far in his career and was generously applauded.He missed out on a first-innings hundred, which would have been his second of the season, agonisingly by two runs as the only wicket to fall before the Nottinghamshire declaration, undone by a rising delivery from Kyle Hogg that flew to wicketkeeper Luke Sutton off the shoulder of the bat as he sought to defend.He had come through a difficult spell against the new ball on Wednesday and having batted for the best part of four hours, hitting 16 fours, he will have felt he deserved a better fate, although his disappointment looked to be even greater when, a couple of sessions later, he perished on 93, caught behind again as the spinner, Gary Keedy, turned one away to find the edge as Hales went to drive.Read, however, had no doubt that Hales had come a long way with the two knocks. “All credit to him,” Read said. “He is a fantastic cricketer who is going places and his contributions today were vital.”I’m sure he will be disappointed not to have scored two hundreds in the game that would have been exceptionally well deserved but I’m sure he is thrilled also to have done so much to help us get over the line. Although he has had a terrific season, in the last three or four weeks he has not scored many runs and things like that can affect players and this was a pressure game yet he really stood up.”The worry for Read was that the pitch, which had been prone to variable bounce throughout, would make a last-day chase difficult and considered their agreement to chase at four an over to be riskier than it might have looked.The manner of Paul Horton’s dismissal to a ball from Steven Mullaney that barely bounced seemed to justify his concerns and when Nottinghamshire slipped to 23 for 2, with Matthew Wood caught at backward point and Mark Wagh snapped up superbly by Tom Smith at second slip, Lancashire found quick encouragement.Had Keedy held a simple catch at long leg when Samit Patel, on one, clipped Saj Mahmood in the air, Nottinghamshire would have been 24 for 3. Patel looked as though he would hit four or be out with almost every stroke but the positive approach paid off as he and Hales added 86 in 16 overs before a Mahmood grubber took out Patel’s off stump.His departure heralded the arrival of Brown, at 40 almost twice Hales’s age, and it was their partnership that banished Lancashire’s hopes. Hales played superbly at times, reaching his half-century off 57 balls with seven fours and adding a couple more with two fine cuts backward of square off Glen Chapple.When tea arrived, the target was down to 126 from 33 overs with still seven wickets in hand. There were some wobbles to come. After Hales went, Read was rather uncharacteristically rash, going down the track to Keedy and skying a catch to cover, at which point still 61 were needed, enough for Lancashire to sniff a renewed opportunity.Then, after Brown had fallen to another good slip catch by Smith, Paul Franks edged his first ball to Horton at first slip. But Mullaney, against the county he left last winter, and playing only because of the vacancy created by David Hussey’s return to Australia and Adam Voges’s delayed arrival, had plainly decided this was his moment.There was certainly the hint of a swagger after he had hit Keedy over the top for six, and a flurry of boundaries – four-four-six – against Chapple brought the requirement down to less than 20.Adams, whom might have been caught off his first ball from Hogg, got off the mark with a pulled four in the same over and it was his square drive to the boundary off Chapple that completed the job.Nottinghamshire have confirmed that four counties – Hampshire, Worcestershire, Surrey and Sussex – submitted the formal 28-days’ notice of approach for England bowler Ryan Sidebottom before he announced on Thursday that he was leaving Trent Bridge.Another player moving on is Luke Sutton, Lancashire’s 33-year-old wicketkeeper of the last five seasons, who has not been offered a new contract at Old Trafford and, barring injury to his successor, Gareth Cross, has played his last match for the county.

ScorecardGraham Wagg’s last home game as a Derbyshire player ended in defeat after an impressive allround display by James Middlebrook took Northamptonshire to a five-wicket Clydesdale Bank 40 victory. Wagg, who is leaving the club after five seasons and is expected to join Glamorgan, took the first two wickets as the Steelbacks slipped to 76 for 5 before Middlebrook followed his 3 for 34 with an unbeaten 57, his highest one-day score.Skipper Andrew Hall and Lee Daggett also took three wickets to restrict the Falcons to 171, with Chesney Hughes scoring 55 from 62 balls, but the Steelbacks were in trouble until Stephen Peters (53 not out) and Middlebrook shared an unbroken stand of 96 in 14 overs.Hughes had given the Falcons a decent start but the rest of the batting struggled against some disciplined seam and spin bowling on a sluggish pitch. The Steelbacks conceded only three wides and the 16 overs of spin from Middlebrook and Tom Brett cost just 61 which stifled the Falcons in mid-innings.Hughes hit seven fours before he was neatly stumped off a quicker ball from Middlebrook but no other batsman found the boundary until Dan Redfern glanced Daggett to fine leg in the 31st over.There were only 11 fours and a big six onto the pavilion roof from Jon Clare in the entire innings which ended swiftly once Redfern pulled Daggett to deep square leg in the 35th over.Hall mopped up the tail by taking the last three wickets in seven balls at a cost of two runs but the Steelbacks’ pursuit of their target quickly stalled as Wagg removed both openers in the first seven overs. Mal Loye’s lean run continued when he failed to clear mid-on and Wagg took an acrobatic return catch after Rob Newton top edged a paddle sweep with the score on 19.The Falcons’ total looked even more formidable when Tim Groenewald bowled Alex Wakely with one that nipped back and David Sales clipped a full toss from offspinner Jake Needham to short midwicket. At 40 for 4, the game was slipping away from the Steelbacks who had a lot to do when Hall fell to a fine diving catch by wicketkeeper Steve Adshead, but Peters and Middlebrook batted calmly to take their team home.They wanted 60 from the last 10 overs but Wagg’s return to the attack proved a turning point. He had conceded only 11 from his first five overs but his sixth cost 19 including a straight six over the sightscreen by Middlebrook and a free hit which Peters pulled for four. Despite some uncertain running, the sixth-wicket pair did not look like being parted and there were three overs to spare when they wrapped up their fourth victory in Group B.

ScorecardJames Cameron showcased his talent with 95 to lift Worcestershire out of trouble•PA Photos

Had anyone suggested, this time last year, that Chris Tremlett would consistently lead the Surrey attack and push for an England recall, they would have been dismissed as insane. After all, Tremlett only managed ten wickets last season. He has taken just one five-wicket haul in the last four seasons and is said to be injury prone and lack heart.Yet Tremlett continues to provide a compelling case for a recall. Belying a typically slow and low New Road surface, he picked up another four wickets and earned his side the upper-hand in a game they simply must win if they are to sustain any hopes of promotion. He now has 34 championship scalps at just 20 apiece this campaign and is forcing the doubters to think again. There are no five-wicket hauls as yet – indeed there have only been seven in his career – but Tremlett is attracting the attention of the selectors once again. If England are looking for a back-up to Steve Finn and Stuart Broad, Tremlett may well be their man.He’s not quite the finished article. He perhaps doesn’t force the batsmen to play quite as much as he should, while a few too many deliveries pass harmlessly down the legside. And it is, of course, one thing to bowl in the genteel surroundings of New Road and quite another to do it in an Ashes Test at the MCG.But, when he gets it right, Tremlett really is a horrid proposition. In terms of generating life on flat wickets, he is pretty much unmatched. The delivery that dismissed the in-form Daryl Mitchell (who had scored 448 runs and been out just twice in the last two games) was a case in point: pitching just back of a good length, it reared horribly and took the shoulder of the bat on its way to second slip. Unplayable is an over-used word but, in this instance, it seems unavoidable.Tremlett’s hostility, combined with Gareth Batty’s guile, earned Surrey a strong position. At lunch, with Worcestershire on 106 for 5, it seemed the hosts’ brittle batting might be blown away. That they were not is due to two factors. The first was Surrey’s close catching, which requires attention, and the second was a century partnership between two young and inexperienced Worcestershire batsmen.James Cameron and Dave Wheeldon fought hard. Wheeldon, playing his tenth first-class match, took 65 to score his 65 overs, while Cameron, in just his seventh first-class game, showed both the application and technique to suggest he could have a decent future at this level. Together they added 105 in 36 overs.Wheeldon is not the sort of batsman to empty bars. Patient in the extreme, his game is built upon watchful defence and sensible accumulation. While he plays in the V, it’s generally the V between third-man and fine-leg. He did produce the rare flourish, however. Twice he launched into crunching square drives, while there was one memorable cut off Batty.For the main, however, he was happy to pick up his runs through nudges and deflections. Suffice it to say, his batting would be completely suitable for the pregnant or those with weak hearts.Cameron was more aggressive. Skipping down the pitch, he lofted Batty for boundaries over long-off, while he also cut the seamers well. A former Zimbabwe U19 player, he impressed while playing Grade cricket in Western Australia and was recommended to Worcestershire by David Houghton. As Cameron puts it, he had to leave Zimbabwe as there “was no future for us there,” but he admits he would have to think hard if the national selectors came calling.”The thought of playing international cricket would be great,” he said, “but it means I would have to go back to Zimbabwe and renounce my intentions of playing for England. It’s a bit early to think about that. In January I wouldn’t even have believed I’d be playing county cricket.”Well though the pair batted, Surrey may feel they squandered a great opportunity. Both men were reprieved early in their innings. Cameron, on 6, was missed by Stewart Walters off Tremlett at second slip, while Wheeldon was dropped by Matthew Spriegel at third slip when he’d scored just four. Had either chance been taken, Worcestershire would surely have struggled to make 200. A better short-leg fielder than Tom Lancefield might have swallowed one of numerous sharp chances offered off Batty, too.As it was, Worcestershire were grateful for the pair’s fortitude. Several of their top-order colleagues played more than a bit-part in their own downfall, with Moeen Ali leaving a straight one and Vikram Solanki’s loose drive beaten by a lovely, flighted off-break in Batty’s first over. It was a tame end to an innings that promised much.Having just resigned the captaincy, Solanki batted like a man freed from shackles, taking four boundaries from one Stuart Meaker over and looking in glorious form. Alexei Kervezee was bowled by a beauty that nipped back sharply, while Shakib Al Hasan over-balanced and played across a full one.Wheeldon’s defiance was eventually ended by a magnificent ball. Jade Dernbach, who might just have the best slower ball in the game, completely deceived Wheeldon with a beauty from the back of the hand that struck the bamboozled batsmen on the foot.Tremlett returned to lure Cameron, five short of a maiden century, into an edged drive that was taken by a juggling Walters at slip, while Ben Cox missed a sweep, Gareth Andrew missed a swipe and an intimidated Mason popped up a catch to short-leg.It is interesting to note, meanwhile, that both teams are fielding seven players aged under 25 in this game. Worcestershire have been obliged to select young players in order to maximise their income from the ECB (clubs receive incentives for fielding young players), while many of their more experienced performers have defected.As a result, they have sought to secure their brightest young players on long-term deals. Richard Jones, Alexei Kervezee and Adam Shantry have all signed recently and the club hope they will provide the nucleus of a decent side for years to come. While they remain on the search for seam bowlers, they are unlikely to sign any batsmen this winterSurrey, meanwhile, are in a rebuilding phase of their own. Not only have they decided to do without an overseas player for the rest of the season, but the omission of Usman Afzaal suggests he may be looking for a new county shortly. Their second XI, meanwhile, contains ten men aged under 21, though the club is expected to recruit once again this winter.

ScorecardAjantha Mendis did his Test prospects no harm with a six-for•AFP

Yuvraj Singh made optimum use of the tour game to ensure his place at No. 6 in the Test line-up, scoring an entertaining and assured century, but could not save the Indians the embarrassment of not making the follow-on mark against the Board Presidents’ XI. Ajantha Mendis gave the selectors enough reasons to pick him for the second Test, taking the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir among his six.That the Indians could last only 64.2 overs will add more concern on a tour that has brought them much bad news. Two of their first-choice bowlers have gone back to India, one is down with fever, the rest of the bowlers struggled, and when their turn came to bat they could last just two sessions.Twin strikes from Chanaka Welegedara and Mendis had left the Indians at a precarious 80 for 4, but Yuvraj took the initiative in attacking Mendis and added 143 with Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir got three lives, played well otherwise, but missed out on a century. Another collapse ensued, and Yuvraj fought cramps, shielded Ishant Sharma, but could not see the Indians through to the follow-on mark.After Pragyan Ojha took two tail-end wickets to complete a potentially Test-spot-sealing five-for, Thilan Samaraweera declared the innings to give the Indians six overs to bat before lunch. Virender Sehwag and Gambhir entertained in that short spell. Sehwag hit the first ball of spin he faced for six over extra cover, in the last over before the break, from offspinner Sachitra Senanayake, bowling ahead of Mendis.The first ball after the break, though, Sehwag played on from Welegedara, and in the same over Mendis misjudged a leading edge from Gambhir, who was 17 then. Rahul Dravid soon edged one to slip. Sachin Tendulkar beautifully punched the first ball he faced for four, but fell lbw in Mendis’ first over. The carrom ball, though, seemed to be missing the off stump, and Tendulkar suggested as much as he walked off. VVS Laxman didn’t look comfortable against Mendis, and duly edged a quick legbreak. At that point, the follow-on looked not only a possibility but the favoured outcome.During the collapse, Gambhir faced a testing spell of swing from Welegedara and short-pitched stuff from Dilhara Fernando, who found his edge but saw Dinesh Chandimal drop him in the slips. Soon after Laxman’s dismissal, Samaraweera dropped at short extra cover the easiest of chances that Gambhir presented, which would have made the score 80 for 5. Gambhir was 30 then, and in the same over cleared Samaraweera comfortably.Mendis, bowling in a nice rhythm then, beat Yuvraj with a googly. That was the last instance in a long time that the bowlers would come close to a moral victory against Yuvraj. The most impressive aspect of the innings was how Yuvraj used his feet against the spinners, the breed of bowlers known to trouble him the most in Tests.The next googly Mendis tried, he read early, stepped out of the crease, and sent out of the stadium. Gambhir followed lead and lofted Mendis over long-off. Soon Mendis was taken off, and it went smoothly for both the batsmen. Yuvraj was particularly harsh, hitting six sixes, over long-on, midwicket and square leg. When the straight field was set back, he used the sweep shot to good effect, finding boundaries. The punches and drives through covers were not to be missed. There was cheekiness involved too, when they ran a single even as Senanayake was appealing for lbw and the ball hadn’t even gone a few feet.When Yuvraj was 62 off 55, Fernando got one to straighten from round the stumps. That was only the second time Yuvraj was beaten. The batsmen went into tea having raised their fifties and having deflated the attack for the time being. After tea, though, Gambhir looked to dominate Mendis some more, and paid the price. He tried to loft the bowler straight went towards long-on, and Upul Tharanga took a good catch running back. Soon MS Dhoni got out softly, guiding an offbreak to leg gully, off the face of the bat.Mendis then wrapped his grip around the long tail, beating Amit Mishra with a wrong’un. When Ishant Sharma came to bat at No. 9, Yuvraj shielded him from Mendis, hit another huge six, but with cramps hampering his foot movement, he missed an offbreak from Senanayake when looking to slog-sweep.Mendis got through the next two without trouble, India ended 223 short, and Samaraweera went for pain rather than possible humiliation, choosing to bat again rather than trying to go for a win against the visitors. Even as half of the Indian players, who had been sent for net practice to another ground in the city, hurriedly made their way back, bad light ensured the Board Presidents’ XI’s innings wouldn’t start.

After defeat to Sri Lanka sent India crashing out of the tri-series early, their captain Suresh Raina has said his team of youngsters hadn’t been convincing in the entire tournament.Following two embarrassing losses to Zimbabwe, India fielded three debutants in their must-win match against Sri Lanka, but the change in combination didn’t work as Raina’s men were easily defeated by six wickets. The lackluster campaign, combined with South Africa’s whitewash of West Indies, has resulted in India slipping one place to third in the one-day rankings, with Graeme Smith’s side moving up to second.”We haven’t looked good throughout the tournament,” Raina said. “I am not happy at all. We scored around 270 but we didn’t bowl well, especially with the new ball. R Ashwin bowled well, and he batted well too.”The star of the day was Sri Lanka’s 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal, who made a sparkling century to steer the chase. “All credit goes to Sri Lanka, they batted really well, especially Dinesh,” Raina said. The Sri Lankan captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, also lauded the youngster. “I’m really happy with Chandimal’s batting, playing so well in his second game.”Dilshan was also thrilled that his side had clinched a spot in the finals with a match to spare, and singled out the fielding for praise. “I said in the morning, we want to finish it off today. Our players did really well. We kept the pressure up through the fielding, keeping the fielders up,” Dilshan said. “I told the players we needed to improve the fielding, and they did a really good job in the field, stopping good shots, taking difficult catches.”

Scorecard
A brilliant 68-ball century from James Hildreth guided Somerset to their first County Championship win of the season and inflicted Yorkshire’s first defeat. Set a target of 362 to win in a minimum of 68 overs, the home side skated to victory by six wickets with more than five overs to spare, thanks to Hildreth’s brilliant 102 not out, 93 from Zander de Bruyn, Nick Compton’s 65 and 53 from Marcus Trescothick.It was a case of history repeating itself – in the corresponding fixture last year, Somerset won after being set an even bigger target of 476 at a similar run rate of just over five an over.Some declaration bowling from Nick Compton and Hildreth allowed Yorkshire to close their second innings on 333 for 4 during the morning session after the captains had agreed to contrive a finish.Anthony McGrath (83) and Jacques Rudolph (66) profited from the friendly home attack and Rudolph was able to declare three quarters of an hour before lunch. Somerset began cautiously and were 21 without loss off eight overs at lunch.They had progressed to 37 when Arul Suppiah had his off stump removed by Steven Patterson. Trescothick was watchful in reaching fifty off 77 balls and when he fell shortly afterwards, lofting Adil Rashid to David Wainwright at long-on, there was little sign of the fireworks to come.Compton blossomed from a sketchy start to play his part with a 60-ball half-century before edging a legbreak from Rashid and being caught at point by Adam Lyth. Then came the match-winning stand of 149 in 19 overs between de Bruyn and Hildreth, both making liberal use of the reverse sweep against the spinners.The game was as good as won by the time de Bruyn was caught at long-off attempting to hit Wainwright over the ropes. The South African had faced 103 balls and hit 10 fours and a six.But it was Hildreth who shone the brightest. The timing of his sweeps and reverse sweeps meant that even the increasing number of boundary fielders could not halt his rapid scoring rate. By the end of the game he had faced 70 balls and also hit 10 fours and a six. Some exhilarating running between the wickets also characterised a memorable knock.To cap a great day for Somerset, 19-year-old ‘keeper Jos Buttler smashed 31 off 17 balls at the end, with three fours and two sixes. Rashid’s bowling figures of two for 123 summed up Yorkshire’s demise in a game in they were in control for long periods, but ended up with six points to Somerset’s 21.

USA hammered Argentina by 119 runs in their Division One match of the ICC World Cricket League Americas Region in Bermuda. Twin centuries by Orlando Baker and Aditya Thyagarajan propelled USA to a mammoth 347 for 6 in 50 overs at the St George’s Cricket Club. Coming in after a mini collapse left USA at 91 for 4, Thyagarajan’s century was the more brutal of the two, his 159 runs coming from only 119 deliveries, with 21 boundaries and three sixes. Opener Baker was the last batsman to be dismissed after scoring 113 from 108 deliveries, sharing a 213-run partnership with Thyagarajan.An asking-rate touching nearly seven an over was always going to prove tough forArgentina and they lost wickets regularly to finish on 228 for 9. In a chase where they needed batsmen to stay longer at the crease, Argentina’s best stand was 75 runs for the fourth wicket between Gary Savage and Grant Dugmore. Adrian Gordon took 4 for 38 in eight overs for USA, a spell which included the wickets of the Argentina openers.Bermuda brushed aside Bahamas by seven wickets with more than 20 overs to spare after Bahamas were dismissed for 128 batting first at the National Stadium in Hamilton. Player of the match Kevin Tucker took figures of 8-3-9-3 as five Bahamas batsmen failed to score.But for No. 8 Narendra Ekanayake’s unbeaten 52, Bahamas would not have crossed 100, after being 19 for 5 at one stage. Ekanayake was supported by Dwight Weakley, who was the only other batsman to reach double figures, making 28 and sharing a 42-run seventh wicket stand. The state of the Bahamas innings could be gauged from the way opener Hamilton Gilliard scratched around for 57 deliveries for only 6 runs.The Bermuda batsmen didn’t face any trouble in knocking off the small target, reaching it in just 28.1 overs, with only opener Fiqre Crockwell failing to make runs.Canada completed a comfortable eight-wicket win against Cayman Islands, chasing the target of 133 with 20 overs to spare at St David’s Cricket Club.In a game that was shortened to 41 overs, Cayman Islands were guilty of poor running between the wickets. Four batsmen were run out in an uninspiring batting performance, in which only one batsman crossed 20, as Cayman Islands were restricted to 132 for 9. Canada fast bowler Khurram Chohan wrecked the top order with 3 for 18 from eight overs. Though Cayman Islands captain Saheed Mohamed made 51, he lacked support from his team-mates, and the innings never recovered after Chohan had reduced them to 27 for 4.Canada captain Rizwan Cheema seemed to be in Twenty20 mode as he smashed an unbeaten 79 from only 57 deliveries, finishing the chase in only 20.1 overs. He did justice to his reputation for big hitting, clobbering a staggering seven sixes and as many boundaries.

ScorecardKeshav Maharaj poses with his richly-deserved Man-of-the-Match award•Bangladesh Cricket Board

South Africa Academy finally sustained their effort through the full course of a game to emerge deserving winners in a close encounter against BCB Academy in Bogra. The win was set up by a fine opening burst from opening bowler Keshav Maharaj who reduced the chase of 238 to shambles, picking four wickets in his first five overs. BCB were down and out when they lost their fifth wicket with the score on 20, but Shuvagoto Hom and Nasir Hussain had a script of their own. The pair struck classy 80s, and added 143 in 21 overs, taking little note of their side’s precarious position. Hom went on the offensive, launching three sixes and seven fours in his 69-ball 84, while Nasir was relatively more patient.Cobus Pienaar separated the pair just as threatened to go through with their back-door heist, getting rid of Hom. Nasir kept the fight going, with the tail but BCB had lost too many wickets in the opening exchanges. Wiann van Zyl kept his wits about him despite coming in for tap, taking three late wickets including the big scalp of Nazir’s. BCB eventually folded 15 short, with 3.2 overs left.South Africa’s innings featured a number of threatening knocks that failed to go to the next level. The top three raised a solid base, despite taking their time, and at 140 for 3 in 37 overs, South Africa looked set to finish with a flourish. Khayelihle Zondo partially capitalized on the base, hitting an unbeaten 90-ball 73 to lead the late charge. Nasir and Nazmul Islam bowled tight spells to ensure that the innings never went into overdrive, picking two wickets apiece in their economical spells. Mangaliso Mosehle and van Zyl struck solid blows towards the end as South Africa reached 237. In hindsight, it proved enough, but only just and only thanks to Maharaj’s fine return.