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Leicestershire 159 and 110 for 9 (Raine 30, Stevens 3-27) lead Kent 210 (Stevens 63) by 59 runs
ScorecardDarren Stevens, seen here against Surrey, ensured Kent took a healthy first-innings lead•PA Photos

Bad light frustrated Kent as they ended the second day of the against Leicestershire closing in on victory. The home side lead by just 59 runs with a single second innings wicket remaining when at 7pm umpires Steve Gale and Neil Mallender decided the light was too poor to continue.As on the first day, the amount of movement obtained by both sides’ seam bowlers on a green pitch, together with increasingly indifferent bounce, made batting something of a lottery. Seventeen wickets fell, but the highlight of the day was a remarkable half-century from Darren Stevens, which together with an eighth wicket partnership of 60 between Adam Ball and Calum Haggett, helped the visitors establish a first innings lead of 51.Stevens was then among the wickets, along with fellow Kent seamers Haggett and Matt Coles, to put the visitors within touching distance of what would only be their second Championship win of the season.When play began the visitors quickly lost overnight batsmen Rob Key and Sam Northeast. Key was the first to be dismissed, lbw to Ben Raine for 8, and in the following over, Northeast also went leg before, to Clint McKay for 17, leaving Kent on 60 for 4. Stevens survived a big shout for a catch behind the wicket on 11 off Raine, and then lost Ben Harmison, a well-pitched up inswinger from Charlie Shreck trapping him in front for 7.But Stevens then took the attack to his former county in spectacular style, hitting ten fours before going to his 50 with a beautifully timed six over midwicket. It came off just 48 balls, but he was dismissed shortly after lunch, throwing his bat at a wide delivery from Ollie Freckingham and edging behind. Ball and Daggett both hit well to extend the lead though, Ball’s 32 coming off 35 balls before he holed out off Freckingham.Coles, who took six wickets in the first innings, struck twice when the Leicestershire second innings began, trapping Matt Boyce on the crease and having Greg Smith caught at second slip attempting to leave the ball – the second duck of the match for Smith after his return from Nottinghamshire on a month’s loan.Haggett picked up the wicket of Robson, and Stevens that of Andrea Agathangelou, in both cases leg before to deliveries that seamed back in to the right-handed batsmen. After tea three wickets fell without addition to the score after Stevens picked up Eckersley leg before with a ball that stayed low, but Raine battled on to ensure the match would go into a third day.

A number of counties are waiting anxiously for the outcome of an ECB meeting on Wednesday that will determine the fate of player registrations which have been affected by the Indian Cricket League (ICL).Five players – Wavell Hinds, Andrew Hall, Johann van der Wath, Hamish Marshall and Justin Kemp – were rejected by the ECB due to their links with the ICL. Northamptonshire have said they won’t appeal against the Hall and van der Wath judgement, having signed Johann Louw as a replacement, and Derbyshire have moved on from Hinds.However, Gloucestershire are still trying to secure the services of Hamish Marshall who they signed on the basis of his Irish passport. He has continued pre-season preparations despite the uncertainty surrounding his future. “We have been given the right to make representation to the ECB on Hamish’s behalf and we’ve done just that,” chief executive Tom Richardson told the . “Of course it’s a difficult situation for him, but he continues to train very hard and I gather he’s batting extremely well in the nets.”Kent are also trying to overturn the decision against Kemp, who is still taking part in the current ICL tournament. Graham Ford, the Kent coach, told BBC Radio Kent: “Looking at Justin’s case I’m reasonably optimistic the decision will go our way – I’m really hopeful.”Meanwhile, Hampshire are hopeful that Shane Bond will be allowed to take up his deal after Mushtaq Ahmed and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were both cleared having received No Obligation Certificates from the PCB. “We have got a form of words now from the New Zealand Cricket Board which we think will fulfil the expectations of the ECB for registration,” Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, told BBC Radio Solent.Jason Gillespie’s future at Glamorgan is also under the spotlight even though Cricket Australia have said he is now nothing to do with them after retiring from state cricket.Surrey are still waiting to hear whether Saqlain Mushtaq will be cleared after his participation for the Lahore Badshahs. They also don’t know if the deal with Pedro Collins will go through. Although he hasn’t been involved in the ICL, Collins has had to go for an interview with the ECB ahead of his Kolpak registration. Collins turned down a place in the West Indies squad to face Sri Lanka because of his deal at The Oval.

David Moore, the West Indies coach, has asked his players to keep up their hard work for the second Test against England at Headingley after a solid finish to the first Test at Lord’s. Moore wants better consistency from his side but said there were plenty of positives to take into the match starting on Friday.However, he was keen to dispel the theory that the draw at Lord’s could be viewed as a win for West Indies. “It’s not a victory, it is a draw,” Moore said. “We have done some great work which is good for the boys’ confidence but we are aware that every game is a different game and we have to start again.”We have to take the good things out of the first Test and work on the other things. Headingley is a different kettle of fish to Lord’s, we all know that and we’re going to be very focused on our task here.”Moore said it was a credit to his players that in the first innings they took the score from 187 for 5 to 437. “That’s something that we can take heart from,” he said. “All the batters contributed and down below we got 25-run partnerships from number nine and ten. I was very pleased with our batters particularly during that second innings when Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga got through unscathed.”He was also impressed with the bowling in the second innings, when only two England players passed fifty, compared to four making centuries in the first. West Indies had only one three-day warm-up game before the Test series began – and that match was severely rain-affected – and Moore was confident the squad now had more idea of what to expect from English conditions.”We’ve got a little bit [of practice] under the belt but we still need a lot more and the boys are getting used to every ground that we play on,” he said. “Only a few of them have played over here before, particularly the bowlers so every ground that we go to is a new experience for them.”

Cricket Australia has apologised for the delays in its ticketing scheme that left thousands of dedicated supporters without seats. The race for spots in the Australian Cricket Family allocation has sold out the first three days in every Test venue except Melbourne, which at 4pm still had about 1000 spaces for Boxing Day.Sydney, Adelaide and Perth will be full houses for the opening four days as more than 280,000 tickets have been snapped up. About 3500 day-four tickets are available for the first Test at the Gabba, and another 2100 for each day are due to go on general release from June 19. The initial sale has been swamped by users who have complained of problems accessing the ticket companies’ websites and telephone operators that were set up to cater for the 128,500 members of the priority system.Scalpers have also cashed in by immediately placing their buys on eBay for prices thousands of dollars more than their retail value. “Scalpers using eBay are a disgraceful insult to normal, loyal cricket fans who should have access to these tickets at face value,” James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s CEO, said. Organisers have told people purchasing black market tickets to beware and say they have asked experts about tracking the passes.Cricket Australia has been criticised by members of its “family” for not ensuring easy acess for buyers. A Cricket Australia spokesman said ticket agencies had been working at full capacity to cope with the high demand. “There have been delays during the ticket sales process for which we apologise,” he said, “and Cricket Australia thanks Australian Cricket Family members for their patience and perseverance.” The spokesman said tickets were available for most ODIs, including the game at the SCG between Australia and New Zealand, and there were large vacancies for days two to four at the MCG.Emma McCracken, the Ticketmaster spokeswoman in Sydney, said the company expected the demand and despite repeated busy messages – the company one and server error notices – she was convinced the system never crashed. “Both the Ticketmaster website and phones performed exceptionally,” she said. Thousands of cricket fans disagree.

Back in December 1959, Australia were, as they are now, the finest team in the world, having routed England 4-0 in the previous Ashes series. And when they thrashed India by an innings and plenty at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi, the Indian selectors knew that changes were needed to prevent total annihilation.Three years earlier, Richie Benaud’s legspin – his match figures of 11 for 105 remains the best by an Australian in India – had helped clinch victory in a hard-fought game at the Eden Gardens as Australia won their first series on Indian soil 2-0. The drawn match at the Brabourne Stadium had also been dominated by the visitors, with Burke and Neil Harvey scoring big hundreds. India’s riposte had been led by Gulabrai Ramchand’s 109, and three years later, he found himself leading the side against a team that could boast of the talents of Benaud, Harvey, Norm O’Neill and Alan Davidson.

Ramchand needed a secret weapon, and he found one in the unlikely figure of Jasu Patel, an offspinner, whose relatively undistinguished career was thought to be almost over at 35. Patel’s quirky action flummoxed the Australians, and despite Davidson bowling superbly for match figures of 12 for 124, it was Patel – with 9 for 69 and 5 for 55 – who spun India to a historic 119-run victory.It was to be an engrossing five-match rubber, decided at the Corporation Stadium in Madras where Les Favell’s only Test century inspired an innings-and-55-run triumph. But Benaud’s men were more than just a great side, and despite touring conditions that were nothing like as comfortable as they are now, they won admirers everywhere for the manner in which they conducted themselves.Honours were shared five years later, as another Australian win at Chepauk was offset by a tremendous rearguard action from Chandu Borde at the Brabourne as India eked out a two-wicket victory. Bill Lawry made significant contributions with the bat on that tour, batting with typical cussedness against the spin of Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Bapu Nadkarni, but it would be as captain that he would garner the headlines five years later.Unfortunately for Lawry and Australia, their 3-1 triumph would be overshadowed by the public relations disasters that dogged the tour at every step. A controversial umpiring decision on the penultimate day at Bombay – Srinivas Venkataraghavan was adjudged caught behind after his flail at an Alan Connolly delivery had missed the bat by about a foot – resulted in rioting in the stands, and projectiles being thrown at the Australians after Lawry refused to lead his team off the field.Australia won that game by eight wickets, and after a draw in Kanpur, the teams proceeded to Delhi where Bishan Singh Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna bowled India to victory despite a marvellous 138 from Ian Chappell. India were left to score 181, and Ajit Wadekar saw them home with an accomplished unbeaten 91. It was all to play for when the teams arrived at the Eden Gardens, but sadly – not for the last time in the stadium’s annals it must be said – events off the field would cast a pall of gloom over what happened in the middle.A surge in the demand for tickets caused a stampede on the final day, and India’s meek capitulation led to further unruly behaviour in the stands. After Lawry had a mid-pitch altercation with a local photographer during a hold-up in play, Australia knocked off the 39 needed for victory. But any thoughts of celebration were stifled by the anger of the local population which pelted the Australia team bus as they left for the airport.

A 77-run win in Madras clinched the series 3-1, but Lawry’s team for South Africa – where they would be routed 4-0 by Ali Bacher’s side – having won few admirers. They haven’t won in India since. The golden generation that followed never toured India, thanks to the vagaries of the international schedule and World Series Cricket, and as a result, Indian spectators never got the chance to watch the likes of Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell and Rodney Marsh in action.After a weakened Australian team was pummelled 2-0 in 1978-79, India had to wait until 1986 for the next group of Australian visitors. Despite being rated as one of the poorest teams to leave Australian shores, Allan Border’s men left their mark, with the first Test in Madras ending in the most dramatic of ties.With India needing 348 on the final day, Greg Matthews trapped Maninder Singh leg before in the final over to steal the limelight from Dean Jones, who had batted over eight hours in oppressive heat and humidity for his 210 before being taken to hospital to be administered a drip.The rivalry intensified in the 1998 when Australia – who had been thrashed in a one-off Test at Delhi in 1996 – were routed in Chennai and Kolkata, before they salvaged some pride with a Michael Kasprowicz-inspired coup at Bangalore. Sachin Tendulkar gave Shane Warne nightmares, smashing 155 (191 balls) at Chennai and following up with an awe-inspiring 177 (207 balls) at Bangalore.In 2001, even he would be eclipsed by VVS Laxman, who matched and then eclipsed Ian Botham’s Headingley heroics of 1981 with a glorious 281 at Kolkata after India had been asked to follow-on. Thrashed out of sight in Mumbai after Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist had slammed imperious centuries, India were down and out at the Eden Gardens despite Harbhajan Singh’s first-innings hat-trick. But Laxman and Rahul Dravid, who made 180, gave their team the kiss of life, and another devastating spell from Harbhajan, backed up by the legspin of Tendulkar, on the final afternoon saw Australia surrender a match that they should at least have drawn.And though Hayden battered his way to a splendid 203 in the decider at Chennai, a Tendulkar hundred gave India the buffer they needed as Harbhajan, with 15 wickets for the match and 32 for the series, spun Australia out. Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath bowled magnificently on the final afternoon with India needing only 155, but Harbhajan was on hand at the finish, with Sameer Dighe, as India closed out the most celebrated series victory of modern times.Steve Waugh, who had carved out a gutsy 110 in front of an adoring crowd at Kolkata, would retire two years later, and his dreams of crossing what had been called Australian cricket’s final frontier would remain unfulfilled. When Adam Gilchrist and his men take to the field on Wednesday, they will need to draw inspiration from Benaud and his team of long ago, who not only mastered Indian conditions, but did so without antagonising the locals like Lawry was to a decade later.

Hampshire 353 and 154 (Kaneria 5-68) beat Essex 158 and 235 (Napier 51*, Taylor 5-73, Udal 4-55) by 114 runs at Chelmsford
ScorecardHampshire wrapped up their fourth Championship win of the season shortly after tea on the third day, thanks to a dominant bowling display that never allowed Essex into the match. Hampshire, cricket’s yo-yo team with two relegations and one promotion in four seasons, will be confident of bouncing back up again: but for Essex, it was a demoralising defeat. They have yet to win in eight Championship games, and will be fighting to avoid the wooden spoon with Derbyshire, Durham and Somerset.Hampshire’s strength lies in their bowling. Without the injured Alan Mullally, their attack looked thin on paper, but Billy Taylor, an inspired signing from Sussex in the winter, took his first five-wicket haul and was well supported by the seamers Chris Tremlett and Dimitri Mascarenhas. As for the spinners, Shaun Udal seems to have recaptured some of the form that landed him an England one-day place in the mid-1990s, while Shane Warne remains one of the best bowlers in the world.If Hampshire are to push for the top spot, however, then their batsmen need to support the bowlers. John Crawley – out for 97 in the first innings – hasn’t scored a century since his double-hundred on debut for Hampshire in 2002, while Michael Clarke, who showed what he is capable of with a dominant 69 in the first innings, is still a few big knocks away from fully justifying his hype.Essex needed early wickets to mount any kind of challenge, and Darren Gough has always been the man for a challenge. Fresh from his 27th five-wicket haul in the first innings, Gough belied his age to pick up Nic Pothas and Taylor with two world-class deliveries; Pothas’s defences were beaten by pace while Taylor got stuck in Geoffrey Boycott’s favourite corridor and James Foster took a simple catch. But Warne’s 34 from 29 balls, including four fours and a six, took the match away from Essex.Will Jefferson and Alastair Cook set off in pursuit of the 350 needed to win as if they were chasing 50, and rushed to 48 in a flurry of boundaries as Taylor and Tremlett took the punishment. With only 15 minutes to go before lunch, the Essex faithful would have been thinking of the stirring run-chases that had been the feature of their promotion in 2002.By lunch that season was a distant memory, and so were the top three, who were dismissed in the space of eight runs. Jefferson was first to go, lbw to a straight one from Taylor. Andy Flower soon followed without scoring, edging behind to Michael Brown off his first-innings tormentor, Udal. And Cook, who hasn’t passed 25 since his maiden Championship century six innings ago, fell to Taylor just before lunch.And it was Taylor who also did the damage after lunch, removing Foster and James Middlebrook with successive inswinging deliveries that both piled into the stumps. Udal took the last three wickets, with only Graham Napier hanging in defiantly for an unbeaten 51. The Hampshire attack was so dominant that Warne gave himself only four overs. He’ll be hoping that this will be a luxury he can afford for the rest of the season.

Four years ago when Australia visited the West Indies, Corey Collymore took on the Aussies and looked to be the genuine article.Four years on the world champions are on their way back to the region and Collymore is still waiting for his second West Indies Test cap.The tall, accurate seam bowler has struggled with injury, but this has not fazed him. His aim for now is to do well for Barbados in the upcoming Carib Beer International Challenge matches and take it from there. The Bajans meet Trinidad and Tobago in tomorrow’s semifinal at Kensington Oval."I’m focused on doing well for Barbados and helping my country to win the tournament," Collymore said in a rare interview after yesterday’s training session at Queen’s Park."I just want to put in my best performances and leave it up to the selectors. I know what it is like at the top [in West Indies team] and my aim is to stay there, but I’ll just take it step by step."Since recovering from a near career-ending back injury three years ago, the 25-year-old Collymore has been selected only for One-Day Internationals by the West Indies selectors.He was a member of the ill-starred West Indies side at the recent World Cup in South Africa, but did not bowl in his only match against Bangladesh at Benoni.He has chalked up 32 One-Dayers and this has left him branded as a "One-Day player" and not suited to the longer version of the game."I rate myself as a cricketer in the true sense of the word, not a One-Day cricketer," he said. "I have taken over 60 wickets in about 16 matches for Barbados in four-day cricket so that speaks for itself."In his career he has managed 90 wickets in 28 first-class matches since his debut five years ago. His best figures are six for 109 against Guyana at Kensington Oval."I have fully overcome my back injuries, but this has caused me to be more chest-on and as a result I have lost a bit of my pace. I still move the ball around and I feel good about the way I’m bowling right now."I need to put in a bit more work to get everything in the right place and by Friday I’ll be ready."

Canada’s cricketers have done the nation proud. Junior and senior players have qualified from their respective tournaments. The senior team qualified for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa but faces a battle to adequately prepare to compete against the best in the world. The U-19 team similarly won the tournament in Bermuda and will lead the Americas into the World Cup in New Zealand in January 2002.The irony in these successes however, is that Canada does not have the finances to adequately prepare our cricketers for international competition. Canada has now been forced to turn down two invitations from the West Indies Cricket Board. We have been forced to withdraw from both the West Indies U-19 competition and from the 2001 Red Stripe competition in Jamaica, because of crippling costs in preparation for, and in staging the International Cricket Council Trophy competition in June and July 2001 in Metro Toronto.Hosting of the ICC Trophy 2001 was predicated on the staging of the five Sahara Cup games and extra support from India, Pakistan and IMG/TWI. Cancellation of the planned two years’ events and the inability to replace these games have had horrific implications for Canadian junior and senior cricket development programmes. Failure to attract any sponsorship, private, public or personal has not improved our chances or choices.Canada on December 16, 2000 indicated that ” CANADA CANNOT HOST THE ICCT 2001 WITHOUT Financial ASSISTANCE..” and also that “Canada shall be forced …. to formally withdraw from any plans to host ICCT 2001 within a matter of days.” (A repeat is very unlikely.)Canada is in worse shape now. We have requested assistance from several sources and we shall need your assistance to get Canadian cricket to the World Cups in 2002, 2003, … 2007, for starters. How can you help? Get involved. Call your Federal and Provincial Parliamentary representatives for renewed support.Your donations to the Canadian Cricket Association are federally tax-deductible. We need your help now! Sponsor a player or a team. Volunteers are vitally needed in fundraising and in other activities.Canada, Namibia, Holland and Kenya NEED extra support for training, coaching and player support from their ICC Associate and Full Member countries if they are to be competitive and to provide a marketable on-field product! We must not and cannot field a devalued product. $250,000 per Associate cannot cover minimum costs: in fact several times that amount is essential even for nominal preparation or for success!Scotland was forced to go to the 1999 World Cup without a sponsor! Canada competed in the ICCT 2001 without a sponsor and without adequate financing. Scotland at least could drive to the World Cup in1999.Canada and the others cannot drive to South Africa and to New Zealand, however. We face tough unavoidable choices. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” Let’s go Canada! World Cups’ Funds need your active support.

Goa chased down the highest total of their Ranji Trophy league matchagainst Kerala at Panaji to win the game by eight wickets on thefourth day.Chasing 213 for victory, Goa’s opening bats put on 113 runs for thefirst wicket before Sudin Kamat fell, having made 71 off 143 balls.When Kiran Powar also fell, for the addition of just one run, acollapse looked in the offing.Tanveer Jabbar and opener Vivekanand Kolambkar, however, played wellto see their side through to victory without any more losses.Kolambkar remained unbeaten on 74 off 209 balls, striking 11 fours anda six. Jabbar made 57 off 80 balls, with eight fours and a six. Goapick up eight points by virtue of this outright win.

The UK government has said it will support the ECB if they decide to cancel Zimbabwe’s tour of England next year although denied reports it was considering a blanket ban on sportsmen from the country.The BBC’s programme cited “Downing Street sources” and said that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was keen to take a tough stance against the Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and that banning Zimbabweans from competing on British soil could be part of that.However, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said the government had been “surprised” by the story and added: “It is not the case that the Prime Minister is considering a blanket ban on Zimbabwe’s sportsmen.”The spokesman also said that a decision on Zimbabwe’s tour was down to the ECB. “If they decided they want to ban Zimbabwe, we would support them.”The future of the tour has been a long-running debate. The prospect of refusing to host Zimbabwe would run into strong opposition from the ICC and could put England’s staging of the ICC World Twenty20, due for June 2009, in jeopardy. Zimbabwe are due to play two Tests and three one-day internationals next summer although they are yet to return to the Test scene following their self-imposed suspension.The ECB would have to pay an estimated £225,000 in compensation under ICC rules if the one-day matches were cancelled. They have already held talks with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union to try to reach a financial settlement to call off the tour.A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: “There are ongoing discussions between the government and the ECB, but no decisions have been made.”An ECB spokesman added the board would not comment until it had discussed the matter with government officials. Last month the foreign secretary David Miliband said a Zimbabwean tour of England would be inappropriate. “The situation in Zimbabwe is obviously deeply concerning. I think that bilateral cricket tours at the moment don’t send the right message about our concern.”