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Mark Pettini has resigned as Essex captain with James Foster taking over the leadership in all formats of the game having moved into the position for the Friends Provident t20 last month.Pettini handed over control of the team to Foster for the Twenty20 having suffered a slump in form and took time away from the first-team. With Alastair Cook on England Lions duty he was recalled against Sussex and responded with an aggressive half-century and now he has decided the best route for both him and the club is for him to concentrate on being a batsman.”I felt it was time for me to step down as Essex captain,” he told the club website. “We suffered a poor start to the Friends Provident t20 campaign and I wanted to be able to focus on my own game. I got to the point that I was exhausted and I was under pressure with my batting.””The team performances were, at that stage, not going to plan and personally I was struggling with the bat. On Tuesday I returned to the side to face Sussex in the T20, hopefully I showed the difference to my game without the pressures of being captain. The role is obviously very stressful and creates a lot of hard work, both on and off the pitch. Now I can focus on scoring runs across all formats of the game which will hopefully help us to have another successful season, with a chance of winning some major honours”.”It was an extremely tough decision to make; I have really enjoyed the last three years and the success we have enjoyed as a team. I particularly enjoyed working closely with Paul Grayson, if the circumstances are different in the future then the captaincy is certainly something that I would be honoured to take up once again”.Paul Grayson, the Essex coach, said he’d been involved in discussions with Pettini for a number of weeks about his position and hoped the move would free him up to fulfil his potential.”Obviously it is a disappointment that it has come to this,” Grayson said. “Myself and Mark have discussed the situation over the past few weeks. We want him to come back into the ranks and for him to be the player that he was. Anyone who was here for the game on Tuesday night would have seen he was really refreshed and focused, he did not appear to have any concerns and that is the way we want him to play for Essex”.Meanwhile Foster, who led Essex against the touring Pakistan team on Friday, said his priority was now leading the county to a trophy this season.”I was asked whether I would like to accept the role as captain and I am delighted and thrilled to be considered for such a pivotal position in the club, there have been some illustrious names that have done well in the role in the past and to be listed amongst them is an honour and a privilege,” he said.”I have thoroughly enjoyed the role as captain in this season’s Twenty20 tournament. The focus now is continuing our form across all three competitions. We have every chance of maintaining our place in the County Championship and hopefully gaining some silverwear in the one day competitions

ScorecardFormer England allrounder Dominic Cork hit an unbeaten 54 as Hampshire had the better of the opening day with Essex at the Rose Bowl. Cork hit five fours and a six off 104 balls as Hampshire made the best of winning the toss on an easy-paced wicket to reach 298 for 7 from 96 overs at stumps.Cork featured in a stand of 100 in 30 overs with South African Neil McKenzie as Hampshire recovered from a middle-order stutter. Nic Pothas, standing in again as captain after more injury problems to Dimitri Mascarenhas, chose to bat first and would have been happy with the progress his team made despite the early loss of opener Jimmy Adams.Adams was caught behind off Maurice Chambers with only nine on the board but Michael Lumb and Michael Carberry repaired the damage until Pakistani spinner Danish Kaneria came into the attack. Lumb was bowled by Kaneria for 31 with the score at 84 and then David Marsters put paid to Carberry 18 runs later. Carberry, who made his England debut against Bangladesh in the winter, hit nine fours in making exactly 50 before mistiming a drive.James Vince, one of Hampshire’s promising young batsmen, was in superb touch with nine fours in his 44 before Chambers clutched a return catch at 168. Kaneria soon accounted for Sean Ervine and then Ravi Bopara trapped Pothas to leave Hampshire 190 for 6.But the dependable McKenzie was then joined by Cork and Hampshire soon repaired the damage in the afternoon sunshine. McKenzie looked set for his second Hampshire century until Bopara beat his defences and bowled him for 83 in an innings which included 11 boundaries from 163 balls. But Cork was in flamboyant mood and saw Hampshire through to stumps with the initiative firmly in their grasp.Chambers finished with economical figures of 2 for 48 from 18 overs while Kaneria got through 26 overs to finish with 2 for 70. England fringe player Bopara also took two wickets, for 33, as Essex battled hard to stem the flow of runs.Cork is nearing the 10,000 runs and 1,000 wickets career double and his unbeaten half-century leaves him just under 500 runs short of his first target, while he has 936 first-class wickets to his name.

ScorecardDavid Hussey and Graeme White celebrate after their match-winning stand•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire captain David Hussey led from the front with a perfectly judged unbeaten innings of 47 off 35 balls as the Friends Provident t20 North Group leaders beat Durham by four wickets with three balls remaining.Needing 56 off the last five overs and with 18 balls left, Hussey combined with tail-ender Graeme White (26 not out) to fashion an unlikely victory and continue the Outlaws’ march towards the quarter-finals.Opposing skipper Phil Mustard top-scored with 35 as Durham totalled 155 for 9 on a pitch offering turn for the spinners, with Samit Patel taking 2 for 15 from his four overs. Matt Wood hit a brisk 36 before becoming one of two victims for offspinner Gareth Breese as Nottinghamshire slipped to 75 for 5.But White then hit Liam Plunkett for a six and a four in the 18th over, Hussey launched Steve Harmison for a straight six in the 19th and finished the match with a boundary off Albie Morkel.Durham’s powerful opening partnership had got the visitors off to a flying start, with Mustard smashing six fours as the Dynamos raced to 50 off their first five overs before hitting a rising delivery from Darren Pattinson to cover. Ian Blackwell was bowled by Dirk Nannes and the arrival of left-arm spinner Patel put the brakes on the Durham innings, with four wickets falling in consecutive overs, two to Patel and two to medium-pacer Steven Mullaney.Seventeen runs came off the 19th over bowled by Ryan Sidebottom, and while Morkel was caught at cover in the final over from Nannes, a Ben Harmison six boosted the Durham total past 150.Nottinghamshire openers Alex Hales and Ali Brown were both back in the pavilion inside the first three overs but Wood got the Outlaws’ innings going with a brace of sixes and four fours as he added 54 in six overs for the third wicket with Patel.Breese removed both batsmen and when Morkel saw Chris Read pull to midwicket in the 15th over, Durham looked safe. The return of Plunkett proved a costly error as the former England seamer went for 16, including two wides, before Hussey stepped up to complete the comeback.

Australia could one day have separate Twenty20 and Test teams playing simultaneously, according to the chief executive of Cricket Australia James Sutherland. The gap between the formats has grown and only five of the 11 who lost the World Twenty20 final to England are regulars in Australia’s Test outfit.Sutherland believes the separation will continue to grow, with more and more Twenty20 specialists likely to appear. The reported that Sutherland outlined the vision in his keynote speech at a Cricket Australia conference in Queensland on Tuesday.”While hosting Tests here, Australia could have its Twenty20 team touring somewhere else,” Sutherland said. “It is difficult not to see a generation of players coming through with an eye to becoming Twenty20 specialists. As more Twenty20 cricket is played there are clearly opportunities for players to choose to be specialists.”Taking it through to its natural extension, if you have a specialist team then why can’t you have a specialist Twenty20 team and a specialist Test team [playing] at the same time? In rugby union, for example, the ARU has a sevens team and a Wallabies team.”However, while such an idea might suit older players who retire from first-class cricket to pursue a Twenty20 career, such as Dirk Nannes, it could make for some tough choices for younger men. Steven Smith, for example, has made his name as a Twenty20 player but his Test hopes could be scuppered if such a concept was in place.

ScorecardJames Franklin’s first one-day century inspired Gloucestershire Gladiators to a51-run win over Derbyshire Falcons in the opening Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture atBristol.The New Zealand all-rounder responded to his new position as opener by hitting133 off 121 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes, as his side ran up 230 for5 after losing the toss. Alex Gidman (35) and Chris Taylor (32) offered good support.Steve Kirby (3 for 44) then took two early wickets to reduce Derbyshire to31 for 2 and, despite 37 from Chris Rogers and 41 from John Sadler, thevisitors were restricted to 179 all out. It was an important win for Gloucestershire, beaten at home in their first two County Championship games of the season. Batting frailty in those matches led to the experiment of promoting Franklin up the order and he responded with a superbly-paced innings.Overcoming the early loss of Jonathan Batty and Hamish Marshall, the elegantleft-hander added 89 in 17 overs with Gidman and 70 in 10 overs with Taylor. Franklin owed his hundred to Taylor’s quick thinking. On 95 he would have been run out had his partner not sacrificed himself by crossing before bowler Tom Lungley’s throw hit the stumps.Soon afterwards the Kiwi reached three figures off 104 balls. Surprisingly foran international player of his pedigree, it was the first time he had done so inany one-day competition at home or in England. Franklin’s three sixes were all hit straight down the ground.Tim Groenewald was the pick of the Derbyshire attack conceding 37 runs from hiseight overs. After Kirby’s double strike, Rogers and Greg Smith put on 47 in 11 overs forthe Falcons third wicket before Smith (28) was caught at the second attempt bywicketkeeper Batty off Gidman.There was still hope for Derbyshire at 103 for 3. But then Garry Park, on13, carelessly swung off-spinner Taylor’s first ball of the game down the throatof Steve Snell at deep mid-wicket. The key wicket of Rogers followed when he had a swing at Franklin and skied a steepling catch to Batty. At 107 for 5, the Falcons were suddenly staring down the barrel.Sadler ensured their total would reach respectability by being last man out,having hit his 41 off 34 balls, but it was always in a losing cause. He became Kirby’s third victim, while Anthony Ireland and Taylor claimed two each.

Jerome Taylor and Ramnaresh Sarwan are back in the West Indies squad for the World Twenty20, having recovered from injury, while Wavell Hinds has been recalled after being dropped for the recent series against Zimbabwe.Both Taylor and Sarwan have been out of action since the Test series in Australia late last year. Taylor pulled up with a hip injury during the first match in Brisbane, and Sarwan has struggled with a back problem since the end of the series and wasn’t risked against Zimbabwe last month.West Indies ended a barren run of form with their 4-1 one-day series against Zimbabwe, but suffered an embarrassing start to that tour with defeats in Trinidad in a T20 international and the first ODI at Providence – the venue for both their group matches against England and Ireland – in Guyana.However, as they showed in England last year, West Indies have a potentially explosive mix for Twenty20 and Clyde Butts, the chairman of selectors, is confident of a strong showing from the team which is now coached by Ottis Gibson.”We have Chris Gayle at the top of the order and he can be a match-winner,” he said. “It is also good to have our experienced players in the middle-order – Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan – and this gives us strength in the batting. Wavell Hinds has been recalled and he brings a wealth of experience. He is a knowledgeable cricketer and we believe can make a good contribution in the middle-order as well.””Dwayne Bravo is one of the leading allrounders in world cricket and he is the key man with bat and ball. We are happy to have Jerome Taylor back in the bowling department and this is a big plus. I also believe Sulieman Benn will play a major role with the ball. Overall, we have a balanced side with good all-round strength.”We are confident our players will deliver on the home stage. If we play as a unit we have a very good chance of winning the [World Twenty20]. The strength is in the allround ability of the team.Gayle, Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Kemar Roach are at the IPL, so will have the advantage of recent Twenty20 action while some of the other members of the squad will take part on the Jamaica Cricket Association festival.Squad Chris Gayle (capt), Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Andre Fletcher, Wavell Hinds, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor

Prosper Utseya, the Zimbabwe captain, was delighted with his team’s shock defeat of West Indies in the Twenty20 fixture in Trinidad, and lauded his team’s self-belief for the victory.”It wasn’t a good way to start, but we managed to put up a good total which was great,” Utseya told AFP. His side was staring down the barrel at 0 for 3 after 2.4 overs before recovering to post a three-figure score.”It wasn’t a good pitch on which to play, since we were looking for something around 140. We thought that would have been a good total. Obviously, we fell way short of this, but we felt if we could get 100 runs on the board that we had enough belief in ourselves to be able to defend such a small total.”Utseya revealed that his team had prepared for the spin-friendly conditions at the Queens’ Park Oval. “We always thought the pitch was going to be spinner-friendly, so we decided to pack our side with spinners, and I thought they bowled brilliantly which was the key for us in our victory.”The guys have been playing some good cricket back home in our domestic competition. We were confident that we had prepared ourselves very well for this series in the Caribbean,” Utseya said.Utseya was however quick to caution against complacency. “But it is important for us to stay calm, and not get carried away with this victory. We still need to work on our game because there are still several areas in which we can improve to make us a better team.”Walter Chawaguta, Zimbabwe’s interim coach, explained that it had been decided at team meetings at the start of the tour that Zimbabwe’s spin attack was their strongest weapon and should provide the fulcrum of their game plan.”A lot of teams in Twenty20 cricket believe that the cleanest hitters and fastest scoring batsmen should be loaded at the top of the order, no matter what, but in our case it was a question of using our best bowlers up front, even if they are spinners,” he said.Graeme Cremer, who choked West Indies’ chase with a spell of 3 for 11 to take Man-of-the-Match award, was pleased with the conditions that aided him. “I am happy that we had a turning pitch for a change. We knew that the pitches would be low and slow, but we never thought that the pitches would offer so much turn.”When we saw the pitch [on Saturday], we felt it would turn, and we decided that we would bowl spin all the way through the match,” Cremer said.Cremer revealed that his bowling had come along since he spent time with Terry Jenner, the former Australia legspinner. “I learnt a great deal from Terry Jenner, when he came to Zimbabwe recently. I spent four days with him, and he taught me so much, and he helped me with a few deliveries which seem to be working.”

Ryan Sidebottom has been ruled out of the final ODI against Bangladesh after missing the second game in Mirpur and Stuart Broad’s back problem, which restricted him to six overs on Tuesday, is a further worry for England. Meanwhile, there are also concerns over Graham Onions who has arrived for the Tests with reports of a stiff back.Sidebottom has aggravated the injury he picked up in the first Twenty20 against Pakistan in Dubai and forced him to sit out the second of those matches. He played the opening ODI against Bangladesh, but it was a disappointing performance as he took 1 for 46 in 7.4 overs and he may have been under pressure for his place in any event.His spot for the second match was taken by James Tredwell as England changed tactics and played two frontline spinners, but England’s pace options were then stretched further when Broad couldn’t complete his spell. He will be assessed over the next two days ahead of the final game, but with the series wrapped up after the two-wicket victory in Mirpur the temptation could be to play it safe ahead of the Test series.”Broady we’re not sure about, it happened so soon and we need to give it 24-48 hours to settle down before any proper assessment,” said Alastair Cook. “Sidebottom is out of the next ODI, but fingers crossed he can get back to fitness. We have to check, we’re not 100% sure how serious his thigh is, but we will have a better idea in the next 48 hours.”Broad would have batted with a runner at No. 11 if he’d been required but Tredwell accompanied Eoin Morgan to knock off the runs. “As a bowler when you get a bad back muscles try to protect it. You run around looking a bit stiff for a while but hopefully it will settle down overnight,” said Cook.When asked about Onions’ situation Cook said it was the first he’d heard about it, but the list of injuries will no doubt be a worry ahead of the Tests. Ajmal Shahzad and Liam Plunkett are the reserve pacemen in the squad and one could play in the final ODI, at Chittagong, on Friday if Broad is unavailable.If the selectors feel cover is needed it could offer a chance to the likes of Steven Finn or Chris Woakes who both impressed on the recent Lions tour of UAE and were named in the preliminary 30-man squad for the World Twenty20. England are already without their leading quick, James Anderson, after he was rested from this tour due to his ongoing knee problem.

Mountaineers surged to the top of the points table with an easy 22-run victory over Desert Vipers in the sixth round of Twenty20 games at Harare Sports Club. Chasing 173 to win, Vipers were well on target until a middle-order slump ruined their chances, with victory for Mountaineers virtually certain after Timycen Maruma and Natsai Mushangwe ripped through the Vipers line-up.Vipers made a flying start to their innings despite Gerrit Rudolph’s early exit, with Raymond van Schoor slashing riskily at everything near off stump – but with a mammoth total to chase down it was a necessary policy. Mountaineers’ bowling and fielding were not up to their usual standard and Vipers raced to 52 for 1 in the first five overs.Van Schoor unluckily played on to Greg Smith for 33, but Craig Williams and Dwaine Pretorius kept the momentum going with a brief but productive stand of 37. But then Mushangwe, the legspinner, and Maruma, the googly bowler, were brought on and three quick wickets fell, reducing Vipers to 97 for 5 in the 13th over. They rallied briefly, but a fine catch by Donald Tiripano to remove Tobias Verwey for 11 was the deathblow to Vipers’ hopes.Christi Viljoen hit some lusty blows in his unbeaten 19 as Vipers eventually reached 150 for 9, but Mountaineers’ total was never in any real danger. Despite the ease of their victory, Mountaineers’ performance was not flawless, however, and they will have to get back to their usual standard in order to maintain their position at the top of the log.One thing Mountaineers will be happy with is the continued good form of Hamilton Masakadza, who is the tournament’s leading scorer with 237 runs, including a century against Southern Rocks, at a strike rate of 151.92. He overcame difficult conditions early on to record another half-century in this game, eventually falling for 52.The weather at the start of the day was overcast and uncertain, and the outfield damp after early-morning rain, but Mountaineers decided to bat anyway. For once there was a little movement for the bowlers off the pitch and in the air, and the opening bowlers Louis Klazinga and Christi Viljoen used up their four-over allocations right at the start. Mountaineers’ openers, Masakadza and Bernard Mlambo, were unable to start as quickly as usual, but they survived and kept the score moving with quick running to bring up the 50 in the eighth over.Masakadza then unleashed some savage strokes against the second-string bowlers. He hit four sixes – two of them, over square leg and long on, were massive blows by any standard – and by the time Mlambo was dismissed for 24 the score was 81 for 1 in the tenth over. Masakadza was bowled hitting across the line at Williams, but Maruma and Stuart Matsikenyeri ensured Mountaineers were able to set a match-winning target.In the second match of the day, Southern Rocks proved that they do not need their openers to carry their batting for them, but neither do they have the bowlers to defend scores and win matches. Once again they posted a highly respectable total, 177 for 4, only to find themselves unable to defend it against Mid West Rhinos. Outstanding innings by Craig Ervine and Alester Maregwede were topped by a brilliant unbeaten 86 from Riki Wessels, who took Rhinos to victory with ten balls to spare.Rhinos won the toss and decided to field, opening the bowling with Darren Stevens’ medium pace. It was a successful tactic as taking the pace off the ball and pitching it up was enough to throw the renowned Rocks opening pair off their game. Stevens removed Chamu Chibhabha in his second over for 7, hitting across the line, while at the other end Sikandar Raza hit the faster Mike Chinouya for two successive fours and was then bowled for 14.With the openers gone cheaply for a change, it seemed the crucial partnership was now that between Steve Tikolo and Sean Ervine. But yet another confused run out did for Tikolo, while Ervine played some superb flowing strokes but then threw his wicket away, lofting Ollie Rayner straight into the hands of wide long on to depart for 23 off 13 balls.Then came a magnificent unbroken partnership of 113 between the younger Ervine – Craig – and Maregwede, who both played their best innings of the tournament, although a couple of difficult dropped chances helped them. Both faced 36 balls, with Maregwede reaching 48 and Ervine 62, while they hit six sixes between them to take Rocks to a total that had not seemed possible after their poor start.In reply, Rhinos lost Vusi Sibanda in the first over for 4, but Wessels swiftly stepped into the breach, pulling, cutting and driving with power and certainty. Brendan Taylor gave him good support, and Wessels continued to profit after being dropped on the midwicket boundary just after reaching his half-century.Taylor chipped Chibhabha to Blessing Mahwire to depart for 28, and after Bothwell Chapungu’s brief cameo was ended by Raza, Wessels was joined by Stevens. He cracked an unbeaten 43 from only 20 balls to seal the game and send Rhinos into the top three on the points table.

Scorecard
India Green Women, led by Sulakshana Naik’s unbeaten 66, breezed through to a seven-wicket win against India Red Women in Ahmedabad. India Green, after opting to field, kept India Red down to a below-par 121, thanks to a three-wicket haul from captain Jhulan Goswami. Thirush Kamini had struck three fours and a six in her 48 and Anjum Chopra had stepped up the scoring at the death, but the India Green bowlers had done a fine job in ensuring the run-scoring was kept in check. In their reply, Naik was supported well in two important partnerships; she added 41 with Priyanka Roy (24) and an unbeaten 55 with Asha Rawat (24 not out) to seal victory with nine balls to spare.India Blue, the third team in the competition, face a must-win situation in their next game against India Green to keep their final hopes alive.