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Scorecard
Leicestershire crashed to their seventh home defeat after losing by eight runs to Warwickshire in the final Friends Provident t20 North Group match at Grace Road. Having restricted the Bears to 137 for 7 with a fine bowling and fielding performance, the Foxes were unable to match that with their batting, failing to chase down what looked a comfortable victory target and closing on 129 for 6.Former Foxes player Darren Maddy top scored for the Bears with a blistering 41 off 29 balls, hitting three sixes, while Chris Woakes and Keith Barker each claimed two wickets to help clinch victory.On a slow pitch, the home side were never up with the rate needed after the early loss of opener Jacques Du Toit, who was trapped lbw by Woakes. Brad Hodge tried in vain to keep the chase afloat, cracking four boundaries in a belligerent 22 before becoming Woakes’ second victim with the total on 31.The innings then crawled along with no boundary for 10 overs. That finally arrived when James Taylor produced a reverse sweep for a four off the bowling of Stef Piolet. Taylor went on to top score with 29, but by then it was all too little too late for the Foxes, with the asking rate having climbed to more than 11 an over.Barker ended their slim hopes of reaching the target by taking two wickets in an over, dismissing first Taylor and then clean bowling Wayne White. Despite Claude Henderson hitting Barker for the only six of the innings, the Foxes were still left needing 17 off the last over, and Neil Carter bowled well enough to ensure that did not happen.In the field the Foxes fared much better, with Hodge taking the early wicket of England batsman Jonathan Trott who was trapped lbw, and the big-hitting Carter bowled by Matthew Hoggard for 21.But Barker, Jim Troughton and then Maddy kept the scoreboard moving, with the latter in impressive form. After a slow start, he found his timing despite the slowness of the surface, smashing superb sixes off Henderson, James Benning and Nadeem Malik.A brisk innings from Woakes took the Bears to 137 and although the total hardly seemed enough, it proved more than adequate as the Foxes once again disappointed in front of their home fans.The only point gained they gained at home in the competition was because of a no-result for a washed-out game against Durham. Away from home the Foxes won six out of eight. As it turned out, even had they won for the first time at Grace Road, it would not have been enough, with Northamptonshire clinching a quarter-final place with a victory at Durham.

ScorecardSpinners Richard Dawson and Aaron Redmond played key roles as Gloucestershire gained only their third Friends Provident t20 win at the expense of Middlesex at Bristol.The home side posted 153 for 6 after losing the toss, Hamish Marshall making 52 not out and Alex Gidman 42. There were two wickets each for Pedro Collins and Tim Murtagh. Middlesex looked favourites until Dawson (2 for 20) and Redmond (1 for 26) bowled eight tight overs of spin in mid-innings, helping to restrict the visitors to 149 for 7 and give their side victory by four runs.Dawid Malan hit 44 off 39 balls, with five fours, but lacked support in a disappointing Middlesex batting effort. They needed 12 off the last over, but Steve Kirby bowled Malan with the first delivery and then kept the ball full to ensure there were no boundaries.David Payne claimed 2 for 38 on his t20 debut, while leg-spinner Redmond’s dismissal of Josh Davey was the first wicket since joining Gloucestershire for the remainder of the competition last week.Earlier, the Gladiators had lost openers Will Porterfield and Redmond with only 24 runs on the board. Porterfield pulled a catch to deep midwicket off Collins and Redmond was caught behind driving at Tyrone Henderson.It was 44 for 3 when James Franklin, on 22, overstretched to a delivery from Neil Dexter and was stumped by Ben Scott. Marshall survived a caught and bowled chance to Tom Smith on 10 and went on to share a fourth-wicket stand of 94 with skipper Gidman, who hit sixes off Smith and Murtagh in his 33-ball innings before being caught at long-on.Marshall reached his half-century off 38 balls, with two fours and a six, but Dawson and Kadeer Ali perished in the bid for quick end-of-innings runs and Murtagh produced a tight last over.Defeat cost Middlesex the chance of joining the clubs on 10 points in the South Division, while the result took Gloucestershire to six points from 10 games and just about kept their hopes of a top-four finish alive.

ScorecardA season’s best 197 by Darren Stevens ensured Kent held County Championship leaders Nottinghamshire to a hard-fought draw in Tunbridge Wells.The 34-year-old just missed out on the third double hundred of his career but his near six-hour stay, with 24 fours and two sixes, nevertheless helped the visitors ease into a first innings lead of 108 and ensure a deserved draw.A tinder dry and slow pitch that offered little or no assistance to either spin or seam bowlers allowed Nottinghamshire to bat out the 62 remaining overs in the match for the loss of only three wickets before the sides shook hands on a draw just before 5pm. Nottinghamshire lost promising opening batsman Alex Hales (16) moments before lunch when the tall right-hander pulled a short one from Matt Coles into the hands of 12th man Warren Lee at deep mid-wicket.Then, after a second wicket stand of 103 in 36 overs, number three batsman Mark Wagh (34) played back to a turning ball from James Tredwell – his first of a new spell from the Railway End – that squeezed through bat and pad and onto off stump to make it 125 for 2. Kent gave new overseas recruit Malinga Bandara a much-needed 25-over work out and were rewarded with the scalp of Australia’s David Hussey (22). The classy right-hander missed an attempted paddle sweep to lose his off stump, but it proved the final wicket of the game.Nottinghamshire’s makeshift opener Samit Patel marched on to post his first half-century of the summer from 110 balls, with seven fours and a six, and was unbeaten on 76 when the umpires drew stumps. His fourth-wicket partner Steven Mullaney had also enjoyed the final session, reaching 48 from 47 balls, only to be denied his 50 when the game ended in stalemate with the visitors taking nine points to Kent’s 10.At the start of the day Stevens had reached 197 when he drove loosely outside off stump against Andre Adams to nick an inside edge to wicketkeeper Chris Read and bring an end to a magnificent 238-ball stay.Resuming on their overnight score of 478 for 6, Kent added another 92 despite losing Coles in the sixth over of the day. Adams picked up his first five-wicket championship haul for Nottinghamshire with the prized scalp of Stevens then Paul Franks wrapped up the innings by taking the final two wickets.He ended a ninth-wicket stand between Simon Cook (26 not out) and Bandara (29) when the latter holed out to long-on then polished the job off by pegging back the off stump of last man Amjad Khan (5) to leave Kent on 570 all out.

Kieron Pollard, the West Indies batsman, has been fined 25% of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during his team’s one-run defeat at the hands of South Africa in Antigua. Pollard was charged with a Level 1 offence under article 2.1.8 of the code which relates to conduct contrary to the spirit of cricket.The incident took place in the 18th over of West Indies’ innings when Pollard ran towards the non-striker’s end in such a way that he impeded the bowler’s – Dale Steyn – path to the ball. Pollard pleaded guilty to the charge.”A competitive attitude is to be promoted and cherished on the cricket field but players must also remember at all times to play within the spirit of the game,” Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, said. “On this occasion Kieron has overstepped the mark and I have fined him 25 per cent of his match fee, a penalty that he has accepted.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dirk Nannes had the best figures by an Australian bowler in Twenty20s•AFP

Michael Hussey reprised his favourite role, of the rescue artist, to steer Australia to a competitive total before Dirk Nannes’ pace and some world-class fielding confirmed there would be no repeat of last year’s embarrassing first round World Twenty20 exit. Bangladesh’s defeat also meant defending champions Pakistan, the team most likely to take the flight home in case Group A was decided on net run-rate, also progressed to the Super Eights.Bangladesh were dreaming of another famous upset in a global tournament in the Caribbean after their armada of spinners thrived on a pitch with bounce and turn at the Kensington Oval to cut Australia to 65 for 6. The slow bowlers had been so effective that there had been no boundaries for more than ten overs after Michael Clarke got off the mark with a lovely hit over long-off in the fourth over, before Hussey and Steven Smith pounded 74 runs to push Australia to 141.Playing with typical Australian resilience, Hussey and Smith more than doubled the total in the final seven overs. The boundary drought ended with Hussey swiping a short ball from Abdur Razzak to square leg in the 15th over. The real acceleration came two overs later, when Hussey surgically picked off 17 runs off Mashrafe Mortaza – there was an effortless flick for six, a tickle to fine leg for four and a dab to third man for four more.Smith’s runs were collected in a more brawny manner. A powerful lofted cover drive brought him his first four and there were two brutal leg-side sixes off Razzak in the penultimate over, before he was run-out for a quick 27, his first major batting performance on the international stage.The pair’s heroics came after a limp top-order show. Mortaza surprised Australia’s power-hitting openers with the extra lift he extracted from the track in the opening over, but regular programming seemed to have returned when David Warner muscled a six and a four off Shafiul Islam in the next. Mortaza had Shane Watson top-edging towards backward square leg in the third over, before Bangladesh’s spinners came on to choke the runs, which resulted in a slew of wickets. Neither Clarke nor the promoted Brad Haddin could score fast, and the Twenty20 specialists, David Hussey and Cameron White, also flopped to leave Australia fretting.But on a pacy pitch, Bangladesh’s top order was even more feeble. Shaun Tait worried Imrul Kayes with a string of fast and furious deliveries in the first over before trapping him with a slower one. In the next over, Tait swooped at third man to take a tough, low catch to send back the experienced Mohammad Ashraful. Nannes’ short-of-a-length bowling fetched him two wickets in the fourth over when Aftab Ahmed and Mahmudullah miscued attempting cross-batted strokes. With Bangladesh at 15 for 4, both Australia and Pakistan fans were a happy lot.Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim, two of the best Bangladeshi batsmen, showed some fight and hitting ability in a 48-run stand but another stunning catch ended their resistance. Hussey enhanced his claim for the Man-of-the-Match award by haring back towards the square leg boundary and diving to pluck a slog-sweep from Shakib.Bangladesh’s chances evaporated with that dismissal, and they hobbled along to 114 before being bowled out in the 19th over. Australia’s dominance in the field was shown by the number of dot balls they bowled – 58. The bowling attack looks fearsome, the fielding is top-notch and after sweeping through the initial phase, if Clarke’s men repeat their performance against India, the odds on Australia claiming the one world title to elude them will shorten considerably.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outAndrew Symonds soared to 50 off 43 after making only three in his first 17 balls (file photo)•Associated Press

Each apparently content in their post-international careers, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Chaminda Vaas still have the ability and sheer presence to turn a team’s mood upside down in one evening, proving that the IPL is as much about cool heads and years of experience as it is about youthful exuberance. Gilchrist began by winning the toss and larruping 38 from 17 balls, becoming the first batsman in the IPL to reach 1000 runs, Symonds overcame a sluggish start to slam the game’s only half-century, and Vaas snuffed out Chennai Super Kings’ chase with three wickets in his opening burst. The result was that the defending champions Deccan Chargers smoothed over their opening-day loss to Kolkata Knight Riders with a professional win.This win was set up by Deccan’s batsmen, namely their three big overseas imports. A frenetic burst at the start, powered by Gilchrist, was followed by a sedate period when Deccan were tied down by Chennai’s assortment of spinners and medium-pacers, but the decisive spell that followed went the visitors’ way. Herschelle Gibbs’ innings was nowhere near as manic as his captain’s but it proved far more valuable, because he saw out a tough period on a surface with variable bounce and then accelerated at the end.Symonds proved a good ally, initially playing second fiddle to Gibbs – at one stage he was 3 off 17 balls and then soared to 50. Gibbs and Symonds fell in succession, after getting Deccan past 150, and a 22-run final over, bowled by two men due to Sudeep Tyagi’s full-toss barrage, left Chennai needing 191 to win. Chennai conceded 63 in the last five overs and that proved to be the decisive period of the match.Gilchrist, who at the toss said matter-of-factly that he wasn’t too concerned at his team’s first loss, set the tone by smashing Sudeep Tyagi’s first over for 18 runs. Albie Morkel was also tonked for fun runs and after three overs the score was 41 for 0. A double-wicket over from R Ashwin, called on to bowl the fifth over, changed the mood in the stadium and forced Deccan to consolidate. Ashwin was taken off after that big over and from 55 for 2 Deccan added just 12 runs in the next four overs.Upon resumption after the strategic time-out, Gibbs created a few risk-free shots to keep the runs flowing. Justin Kemp, on his IPL debut, was taken for two calculated fours, wrists rolled on both occasions, and Muttiah Muralitharan was reverse-paddled to third man. Murali didn’t offer the batsmen any room and that meant they had to try different scoring options to make runs. Symonds had been especially bogged down after failing to score off Murali, Ashwin and Kemp, who in 16 balls allowed him just three singles, but in L Balaji’s second over he carved a six and four off consecutive deliveries to move to 14 from 20 balls.A 95-run stand off 75 balls was ended when Morkel fielded and hit the stumps off his own bowling to send back Gibbs at the start of the 18th over, and five balls later Symonds was caught a frame short of his crease for 50 off 43 balls. Chennai had a good chance to keep Deccan down, but Tyagi’s horror evening culminated with Rohit Sharma and T Suman flogging three fours and a six before a second beamer ruled him out after five deliveries. Kemp bowled the final ball and allowed just one, but Deccan went into the interval all charged up.That drive was clearly channeled into their effort in the field. Before this tournament few outside the Deccan camp would have backed Vaas to feature heavily for the defending champions, given that he had played just seven games in the past two seasons for indifferent returns. But for the second game running, he jolted the opposition top order with a double-wicket over, and by the time he took his third wicket, that of the bulwark Matthew Hayden, Chennai were hemorrhaging at 31 for 3. It was simple stuff; pitch straight, get some cut, let the batsmen cope with the rest. As he had in Mumbai, Vaas even snuck in a maiden over. It was top stuff.Vaas began his second over by cleaning up M Vijay with an inside edge, had Suresh Raina pull him for six, but when he pitched fuller Raina was lured into a fatal prod to Gilchrist. Much was made of Hayden’s expected use of the Mongoose bat, but he came out with a normal piece of willow and fell for just 17, paddling Vaas to RP Singh at short fine leg. Pragyan Ojha struck with his third ball to get S Badrinath miscuing an attempted inside-out drive to long-off and at the end of the Powerplay, Chennai were 37 for 4.Even a 16-run Jaskaran Singh over, during which Dhoni and Kemp plundered boundaries, didn’t deter Deccan. Symonds came on to bowl some seam-up stuff and cleaned up Dhoni (42 from 29), and in the next over Rohit struck to leave Chennai at 115 for 7. Symonds capped a good evening with a second wicket and Chennai finished on 159, a total that owed much to Morkel’s belligerent 42.