South Africa v Australia : 1st Twenty20 in Cape Town

Australia 147 for 5 (Watson 52) beat South Africa 146 for 7 (Duminy 67, Cummins 3-25) by 5 wickets

 

A powerful half-century from Shane Watson helped Australia make an encouraging start to their tour of South Africa as they won the opening Twenty20 in Cape Town by five wickets. The teenage debutant Patrick Cummins collected three wickets as South Africa reached 146 for 7, led by a solid innings from JP Duminy, and the target wasn't enough to prevent Australia from turning around their recent poor T20 form.

Although Australia's chase was on track for most of the innings, a couple of good late overs from Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe gave South Africa a sniff in the dying stages. Australia needed six from the final over, bowler by Rusty Theron, and a single from Matthew Wade was followed by a square-driven boundary and a single from Steven Smith to get Australia home with three balls to spare, their second win from their past nine T20s.

England's opportunity against injury-hit India.

India's winless tour of England has not been without what initially seemed like positives. At least the admen had moved on from the Lagaan theme that has been the easiest way to sell an India-England series in India. Except that colonial references have now made way for war ones. "There's no weapon deadlier than vengeance," says one in all caps. "India takes on England. The war resumes this October."

To give the marketing machinery generous benefit of doubt, India and England haven't exactly offered them much by the way of close series. India last beat England in England in September 2007.

The corresponding date for England in India is April 2006. India have whitewashed only two Test series (longer than two matches); one of those victims was England. Four out of their seven whitewashes (in series longer than two matches) have been handed by England; the last one earlier this year now invokes the deadly weapon of vengeance...

Simmons century leads West Indies to 298

50 overs West Indies 298 for 4 (Simmons 122, Samuels 71) v Bangladesh

 

Lendl Simmons finally made his first international hundred, five years after his debut, to power West Indies to a big score in the first ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur. He was supported by another West Indies batsman who has resurrected his international career this year, Marlon Samuels. The pair put on 150 runs to demoralise a Bangladesh team that was on a high after their dramatic win in the Twenty20 two days ago.

Simmons had made half-centuries in six of his previous nine ODI innings, but failed to reach triple-digits each time. On Thursday, he made a fidgety start before settling in on a surface that didn't have much in it for either the medium-pacers or the spinners.

In the sixth over, he was hurried into a pull which was top-edged just wide of the bowler, then he mistimed a straight drive with which he still managed to find the boundary, before jumping outside leg as he looked to crash a short ball through off without managing to connect. He punched the air in frustration after missing out on a cut in the next over, but then showed how good he could be with fours through cover off the back and front foot.

South Africa v Australia, 1st Twenty20 IN Cape Town

With his eye firmly set on challenging for the only global title that has eluded Australia, the ICC World T20, Australia T20 captain Cameron White sees the series against South Africa as crucial to the team's progression. Australia have five T20s scheduled before the event in Sri Lanka next year and White thinks every one of them will be vital.

"We definitely have to win these two games," he said. "From my point of view, with quite a young side and an inexperienced line-up, it would be nice to play some more cricket before the T2O World Cup. The more experience you can get into younger players, the better performances you will get out of them so it would be good to play a few more matches."

Australia's current T20 squad has six players under the age of 25 and three who have yet to play an international. Although White acknowledged that Australia are not at full strength, he thinks they are "pretty close," to it. "The side we've picked is the best Twenty20 side we could have picked."

Given the recent turmoil around the team following the Argus review and that they will play under an interim coach, there have been plenty of off-field distractions, but White denied any claims of instability and said the unit is as solid as ever. "I think everyone knows the situation the team's in and knows certain players are out of the team," he said. "Unsettled is definitely not a word I would use." Terms like "dynamic" and "promising" are the ones White would prefer to describe Australia's current situation and he is particularly pleased with sense of anticipation that surrounds the three rookies.

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy: 2nd round,1st day.

Contrasting centuries from Umar Akmal and Ali Waqas put Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited in command of their match against Multan at the Multan Cricket Stadium. The pair built on a quick start from the openers, with Azeem Ghumman going on to make a brisk 77. Ghumman and Waqas put on 104 for the second wicket to take SNGPL to 156 for 2, but the worst was yet to come for Multan. Umar Akmal clobbered 21 fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 153 that came at better than a run-a-ball and took less than three hours. His pyrotechnics were in contrast to the sedate 104 from Waqas which required nearly five hours.

Lahore Shalimar continued their poor start to the season, by collapsing to 84 all out against Khan Research Laboratories at the Gaddafi Stadium. Such a paltry total didn't seem likely when they reached 66 for 3, but left-arm spinner Nayyer Abbas ripped through the middle order to spark a dramatic implosion. Lahore lost their final four wickets with no runs added as part-time left-arm spinner Saeed Anwar ended with figures of 2.1-2-0-3. KRL then solidified their advantage through half-centuries from Zain Abbas and Bazid Khan which took them to 140 for 1 by stumps.

Bangladesh v West Indies 1st ODI in Mirpur.

Kieron Pollard, the West Indies allrounder, has said that the Bangladesh series is a very important one for West Indies and for himself personally. Pollard joined the squad after winning the Champions League T20 with Mumbai Indians, but was ineligible to play in his side's Twenty20 international defeat on Tuesday. He has yet to establish himself as an ODI force, averaging 21.73 from 43 games, and score a one-day hundred.

"Hopefully we can go there and give a good account of ourselves [in the ODIs]," he said. "Bangladesh played well in the Twenty20 game but it can go either way, that you have seen in the Champions League. Fifty-overs games are the test of character of each team."

'Watching Merchant was a part of our training.

About 200 people turned up at the CK Nayudu Hall of the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai to listen to former India batsman Vijay Merchant's few surviving team-mates speak on the occasion of his birth centenary on October 12. Former players Madhav Mantri, Madhav Apte, Vasant Raiji and Merchant's fellow commentator Anand Setalvad related stories of their interactions with a cricketer who was widely acknowledged as the best Indian batsman of his generation, and who later became a respected administrator, commentator and writer.

Mantri said that after his nephew Sunil Gavaskar's early success as a Test opener, he was asked who he felt was the better opening batsman. "I said then that a great of one generation will be a great in another generation as well. But it is the way an opening batsman leaves the ball that is more important, and in that aspect Merchant was a master. Sunil later wrote to Merchant saying: 'and they say blood is thicker than water.'"