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KARACHI, Nov 17: Pakistan’s champion wicket-keeper/batsman Rashid Latif hasbeen given a green signal to resume playing, quashing fears that hiscricketing career was over.Rashid was forced out of the current Test series last week in Zimbabwe withrecurrence of an old neck problem.The 34-year-old stalwart told that doctors in South Africa gave him the ‘go ahead’ to return to active cricket within a week after extensive physiotherapy considerably eased the discomfort in his neck and leftshoulder.”I am going to Lahore on Tuesday where PCB’s panel of doctors will examineme whether I can rejoin the Pakistan team at the earliest,” Rashid said. “Ihad already faxed the reports of the South African specialists to the PCB.”Rashid, who returned home Saturday night, was sent to Johannesburg (SouthAfrica) on the recommendation of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s chairman, LtGen Tauqir Zia, for a thorough check up by specialists.”The doctors in South Africa have told me that I can join the team inZimbabwe by the 23rd of this month for the one-day series,” Rashid said.PCB took a timely decision to contact the United Cricket Board of SouthAfrica and arranged for appointments with specialists in Johannesburg andPretoria.The South African specialists, Dr Carl S van Heerden (a neurosurgeon) andDr Thys de Beer, an expert in shoulder injuries, after conducting three daysof comprehensive tests, which included scans and related examinations cameto the conclusion that there is nothing seriously wrong with Rashid.Cricket circles here were anxious when initial reports from Harare indicatedthat Rashid’s playing career was threatened by a neck problem that couldhave paralysed the former Pakistan skipper for ever.Rashid, a salient part of Pakistan side since his comeback after athree-year hiatus in April 2001 when he was kept out by his arch rival MoinKhan, vehemently denied that he was injured before the team left forZimbabwe.”Actually the problem arose when I had nets in cold and rainy conditions inHarare. I felt a sudden numbness in my left shoulder. “Then I realised thatsomething was seriously wrong here and that I shouldn’t play until I feltfine. At first I was told my injury was a career threatening one,” Rashidexplained.On instructions of Pakistan coach Richard Pybus and physiotherapist DennisWaight, an initial diagnosis indicated the cervical nerves in Rashid’s neckwere affecting his left shoulder.”I could risk permanently paralysing my left shoulder if I continued playingand it left me worried which is why I opted to pull out of the Zimbabwetour,” a worried Rashid said.Rashid also appeared as a guest player in a Ramazan cricket tournament atUBL Sports Complex Sunday.”I just wanted to check for myself how I felt. Thank God, I did not feel anyproblem at all despite the fact I did some running in the field,” Rashidnoted with satisfaction.Rashid sounded optimistic as regards his rejoining the Pakistan squad afterPCB’s panel of doctors, Tauseef Razzaq, Meesaq Rizvi and Sohail Saleem,examine him on Tuesday.”I am extremely hopeful of rejoining my team-mates for the one-day series inZimbabwe and South Africa. If not, then my target would be the Tests inSouth Africa,” he hoped.Rashid further more praised Kamran Akmal, his understudy who is playing inZimbabwe Tests. “Kamran is a fast learner and is capable of improvingfurther. I see a bright future for this kid.”Rashid, who has played in 34 Tests and 140 One-day Internationals since hisdebut in 1992, expressed the hope that he will play in the World Cup earlynext year. “I want to play in the World Cup in South Africa and hopefullyPakistan will do very well there.”Rashid was on the sidelines during the last World Cup in England three yearsago, having played in the unsuccessful campaign in 1996, hosted jointly byPakistan, India and Sri Lanka.Pakistan lost a tense quarterfinal to old rivals India in Bangalore by 39runs with Rashid hitting two sixes in a run-a-ball innings of 26 before hewas stumped by Nayan Mongia off slow left-armer Venkatapathy Raju.

Somerset supporter Barney Spender is appealing for sponsors in his bid to raise money for the Ben Hollioake Memorial Trust.The 39 year-old ,who was brought up in Kingsdon near Somerton, where he parents still live and writes for the Times, is to run the Athens Marathon on November 3 and hopes to raise £2,000 for the Trust which has been set up to commemorate the Surrey and England cricketer who was tragically killed in a car crash in Australia in March.”Ben’s death was a terrible tragedy not just for his family but for the whole cricketing community,” said Spender. “I didn’t know Ben personally but those I have spoken to who did have nothing but a warm regard for a young man who had tremendous cricketing potential. As someone who has mingled with the cricketing fraternity as a journalist for some 15 years now, I feel it is a right to do something to preserve that memory.”The Ben Hollioake Memorial Trust, which will be overseen by the LordsTaverners, will raise money for a number of projects such as aiding young cricketers, cancer research – something that was close to Ben’s heart following his mother’s fight against the disease – and animal welfare.Anyone who would like to help Barney reach his goal of £2000 can send a donation to:
Barney Spender
Ben Hollioake Memorial Trust
11a Athenlay Road
Nunhead
London SE15 3EA
(cheques payable to Ben Hollioake Memorial Trust)

For techno lovers the ICC Champions Trophy will offer a glimpse of cricket’s brave new world.But romantics are less enthused as the game braces itself for a radical and controversial experiment with television technology.For the first time field umpires will be allowed to refer a multitude of decisions to the television umpire, including lbw and bat-pad appeals, as well as suspected bump balls and even catches to the wicket-keeper.Despite some opposition, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has identified the tournament as the perfect opportunity to move the “technology” debate forward.ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said when announcing the plan: “The ICC is going about it with an open mind. We don’t want to make umpires robots, we are only offering the best use of technology to assist them in their decision-making. Everyone wants to see the right decisions are made. If it is not successful, we will discontinue it.”In consultation with the broadcasters and umpires, the ICC has drawn up guidelines, detailing what aspects of particular decisions can be referred.The ICC cricket operations manager, Dave Richardson, said: “We have prepared a detailed guide on which aspects can be referred and the television producer knows what replay will be required for different decisions.””For lbw decisions the third umpire is not there to decide whether the ball is going to hit the stumps, only to judge whether the ball pitched outside leg or whether the batsmen nicked the ball,” he said. “This will help eliminate most of the mistakes made.”For catches at the wicket, the umpires should only refer when trying to decide whether the ball touched bat, body or clothing. If they don’t believe that the ball hit anything then they should rule ‘not out’ without recourse to the television umpire.The one area where television has proven limitations is catches close to the ground. Even with super slow replays it’s often impossible to tell whether the ball has kissed the ground. The ICC now wants the field umpires to be the sole judge of whether such catches are cleanly taken.The experiment is welcomed wholeheartedly by the South Africans, the pioneers in the use of television replays.Captain Shaun Pollock argued: “At some stage we have to try it and see how well it works. From the players’ perspectives we want to see the best decisions made and if technology can do that without taking too much time, I’m all for it. This is a good chance to find out.”But other players and captains have concerns. “Now it’s ‘howzat!’ – it will become just a plain ‘how is that?’ The beauty of appealing, that will be gone,” worried Wasim Akram, one of the world’s great appealers.”Guys like Shoaib (Akhtar), Brett Lee, going up in full flow, that will finish.”West Indies captain Carl Hooper is troubled about its effect on the umpires.”In lbw decisions, I want umpires to have a say. I hate to see umpires being pushed to one side. We should not be totally dependent on technology.”The ICC, though, argues that the umpire remains in charge.”They cannot shirk responsibility and become dependent upon the television umpire. When they refer they should be 90 per cent sure that the batsman is out and when replays are inconclusive they will have to make a decision.”Moreover, Richardson envisages a time when viewers could listen in to the communication between the umpires, adding another dimension to the cricket watching experience.”The umpires would be happy as people would gain an understanding of the thought processes that went into the decision,” he said.Australian skipper Ricky Ponting and Pakistan’s Waqar Younis are concerned that the increased use of the third umpire will slow down play even further.”As it is, it’s hard to get through 50 overs in time,” Ponting said.The ICC realises that there is a danger of slowing down the game and is demanding that decisions are made quickly, requiring a maximum of two replays and 20 seconds.Richardson denies that the time scale is ambitious.”We think it is pretty realistic now that we’ve worked out exactly what aspects of particular decisions can be referred and what camera angle to use.”Even if successful during this tournament, Richardson believes such a wide use of technology would be difficult outside of ICC managed tournaments.”I have my doubts over whether it will be feasible or practical throughout international cricket. During this tournament we can do it because we control the broadcaster but what happens during a series where there are only three cameras?” he said.Likewise, he does not expect the use of technologies such as Hawk Eye in the near future.”Hawk Eye is a great coaching aid for the umpires and provides excellent entertainment. It’s probably more accurate than a person but it’s very expensive and you have to draw the line somewhere – we still want the skill of the umpire to come through.”Richardson is hopeful that the experiment proves successful but warns against unrealistic expectations.”We are not going to solve the problem for those who want definite answers all the time – they will not be satisfied. But the crux of the matter is whether the umpires came to the right decision.”

The Women’s ODI World Cup will be removed from a paywall after Alyssa Healy labelled the Nine Network’s failure to pick up the event as a “slap in the face”.Healy and fellow players were left annoyed on Sunday morning when it was confirmed that Nine had purchased simulcast rights from Fox to broadcast the next two men’s World Cups. However missing from the release was March’s Women’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand. That prompted Healy to offer up 20 vouchers to steaming platform Kayo for followers on social media.Foxtel have since confirmed to AAP they made the call on Sunday to make it part of their “freebies pack”, meaning viewers will be able to watch it on Kayo without a subscription.The move will please both cricket fans and players, after both Healy and Rachael Haynes criticised the move.”It’s a little bit of a slap in the face to say that we’re not commercially viable,” Healy said. “That someone doesn’t want to stick their hand up and say, ‘we’re going to put this on the telly so that everyone can watch it’. It’s a little bit hard to take in that regard.”Not having it on free-to-air excludes a fair chunk of our population who don’t want to pay or can’t afford to pay for subscription TV.”Under the broadcast structure, Foxtel purchases the rights to all ICC tournaments from the ICC’s global partner Star Sports.Fox can then on-sell the rights to free-to-air broadcasters, which is how Nine picked up the rights to this year’s Men’s T20 World Cup and next year’s ODI World Cup.Nine also simulcast the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, attracting 825,000 viewers for the final as well as criticism for placing it on secondary channel 9GEM while Married At First Sight was on the main channel.”I think people get obsessed with bums on seats and numbers at the ground,” Healy said. “But the reality of modern day sport at the minute is that’s not realistic for people to get there and watch the games live.”So for us it’s probably more relevant the TV audiences that we’re getting and even just looking the other night I think the first T20 here in Adelaide actually got really good number of of people watching the game considering we were fighting Nick Kyrgios for TV time.”AAP sought comment from Nine on Sunday if they had been offered the rights to broadcast the Women’s World Cup, but did not receive a direct answer.”Nine’s sub license agreement with Foxtel only includes rights to the Men’s T20 World Cup,” a Channel Nine spokesperson said in reply.The removal of the paywall subsequently came at the same time Haynes called for change.”It sends a really powerful message to see our female athletes have an opportunity to share in the spotlight,” Haynes said. “The visibility is extremely important. I am disappointed it’s not on free-to-air TV in Australia.”Meanwhile Nine confirmed it will screen every game involving Aaron Finch’s side at this year’s men’s T20 World Cup, which is being staged in Australia from October 16 to November 13.The network has flagged it will broadcast “other big match-ups”, likely to include a blockbuster between India and Pakistan at the MCG on October 23.Every match at the two World Cups will be screened on Foxtel and Kayo.Last year’s Men’s T20 World Cup, where Australia won the title for the first time, was not available on free-to-air in the country because when the initial broadcast deal was signed it was due to be a Champions Trophy event.

How the game played outThe first century of this LPL season courtesy Avishka Fernando, along with the second 200-plus score of the tournament, propelled the Jaffna Kings to a 23-run win over the Dambulla Giants to secure a place in Thursday’s final against the Galle Gladiators.That the margin of defeat was even that close, was down to a late onslaught from Chamika Karunaratne, who ended unbeaten on 75 off 47 deliveries – a knock that will leave the Giants wondering what might have been.Indeed, with both bat and ball the Giants were wasteful in key moments. Having been set a gargantuan target of 211, too many of Dambulla’s batters failed to build on promising starts. Phil Salt, the LPL’s leading run-scorer, looked dangerous, but top edged a short, slightly slower one from Suranga Lakmal; Niroshan Dickwella looked like he was preparing to do some serious damage but then whipped out the reverse sweep to ill-effect; while Najbullah Zadran had tonked two sixes in his 15-ball 25, before top edging a heave over cover. If any of them had stuck around a little longer, maybe Karunaratne’s knock might have been a match-winning one.Then in the field, there were a host of misfields, while Rahmanullah Gurbaz – who would go on to lay waste to the Dambulla bowlers on his way to a 40-ball 70 – was dropped twice, once on 11 and the second time on 32. He would put on a 122-run opening stand with Avishka, and in the end the pair would account for 170 of the Kings’ 210.Even on a Sooriyawewa surface that saw the ball coming onto the bat nicely – a far cry from the rank turners seen in Colombo during the group stages – a score beyond 200 was still a fair bit above par. That paired with an inability to hold onto the chances they did create, ultimately proved fatal for Dambulla.Stars of the dayWhere else to begin than with that man Avishka? Ever since he broke onto the national stage at the 2019 World Cup, everyone behind the scenes at Sri Lanka Cricket have sought to crack the code on how to consistently get the best out of him. His supreme hand-eye coordination has been apparent since his youth, but at the highest level there have been concerns over him coming undone by top-quality pace and lateral movement.A patchwork solution was found at this year’s T20 World Cup, when he was shifted to the middle order, thereby allowing him to get his eye in before unleashing. This worked well in the first round, though he was unable to perform come the World Cup proper.Related

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Here though, on a surface that wasn’t offering much by way of lateral movement, Avishka’s weaknesses were never likely to be tested. And so, he proceeded to wreak havoc on the Giants from the top of the order. His only real false shots came for his first boundary – a sliced drive on the up that ended up flying over the slip cordon – and his dismissal in the final over – top-edging a wide full toss to cover. In between he unleashed 10 fours and four sixes – two of which came off a Karunaratne over, the 18th of the innings, which he single-handedly plundered for 22.At the other end was Gurbaz, who at times put even Avishka’s belligerence in the shade. His knock though owed debt of gratitude to lady luck; twice he was dropped, both of which were relatively straightforward, if not exactly easy, chances. He took a particular liking to Lahiru Samarakoon, playing his first game of the tournament, taking him for two monster sixes down the ground in an 18-run eighth over. Though the pick of the shots was undoubtedly a skip down the track to hit Imran Tahir for a six that brought up his 50 off the just 28 balls. A hamstring injury briefly halted his innings, and he was out caught shortly after; the Kings will be hoping he’ll be back and ready for the final.Karunaratne meanwhile was the lone shining light for Dambulla. His savaging of the Kings bowlers, particularly Thisara Perera who he took for 21 towards the end of the innings, was never going to be enough considering the dire situation the Giants had found themselves in when he arrived at the crease, but it nevertheless brought about a sense of respectability to the final result, and probably more than a tinge of regret in the top and middle order. It was however a welcome reminder for Sri Lanka’s selectors about what this man is capable of.Turning pointIt’s hard to pinpoint a turning point in a game in which two batters are responsible for 80% of the runs scored in a single innings. However, the Giants will no doubt be asking themselves what might have been had they held on to the chances off Gurbaz, or simply been a little bit better in the field. More than once, there were half chances at runouts which were not capitalised on, while the misfield count surpassed the wicket tally.By contrast the Kings were on it from the get-go. While Tahir was dropping a skier from Gurbaz, there was Wanindu Hasaranga sprinting 40 metres and diving forward at full pelt to hold on to a similar chance offered by Salt.

Michael Hogan, the veteran Australian seamer, will retire from professional cricket at the age of 41 following a testimonial year with Glamorgan in 2022.A late developer who made his first-class debut at 28 but has since taken 589 wickets across formats for Glamorgan, Hogan was the club’s leading wicket-taker in the County Championship in 2021 and took the final wicket in their Royal London Cup final win against Durham in August.His testimonial year was initially due to be staged in 2020 but has twice been postponed due to the impact of Covid. Hogan joined Glamorgan in 2013, playing through a British passport, and Mark Wallace, the club’s director of cricket, suggested he would be a likely inclusion in the county’s all-time XI.Related

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“The Testimonial has been a long time coming for Michael and it’s hugely deserved after years of incredible service at Glamorgan,” Wallace said. “Though we knew this day would eventually come, it is bittersweet because he’s been such a good player for us and is so influential, but he certainly deserves to go out on his own terms.”He’s been fantastic for Glamorgan and would probably take a position in our greatest-ever side and that shows just how good he’s been since arriving from Australia. He’s got a year left with us and knowing Michael he’d like to go out on a high and no doubt there are plenty more wickets left in him before he goes riding off into the sunset.””I am extremely grateful to the club for postponing my Testimonial and allowing me to hold it next year,” Hogan added. “It’s been a difficult couple of years on and off the pitch but winning the Royal London Cup made it all worthwhile.”Wales has felt like home and I’m looking forward to enjoying another successful season at this great club next year before I hang up my boots for good. I’m 40 now and need to spend more time with my young family, while it’s probably the right time for Glamorgan to look to the future and start moving in a different direction.”Glamorgan announced last week that David Lloyd would take over from Chris Cooke as club captain for 2022 and have already strengthened their squad for next season by signing Eddie Byrom, James Harris and Sam Northeast. They will expect to challenge for promotion in the Championship after a promising 2021 season.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive David White’s hints that the domestic first-class tournament, the Plunket Shield, may be trimmed has been criticised by Players’ Association CEO Heath Mills. Mills said that such statements on how “competitions are going to be cut” raised questions as the board and the players’ association prepare to meet to negotiate pay over the coming months.”We’re still hopeful that’s it [the negotiations] is a positive, constructive process. But when players hear the competitions are going to be cut, it raises the antenna as to how the negotiations are going to go,” Mills told . “The players believe very strongly in the domestic competitions and their value to New Zealand Cricket.”White had said last week that the domestic structure for 2018-19 was up for review – no changes will be made in 2017-18. He said the Plunket Shield specifically would need to be reviewed – perhaps cut from ten rounds to five – given the ICC’s push to make Test cricket more meaningful and profitable.”If we’ve got in a four-year period of two World T20s and a 50-over World Cup and two Test-match competitions, what is the right mix of cricket domestically to ensure we’re competitive at international level? That is something we’re absolutely looking at right now,” White said, adding more A-team cricket might be the way to go.”Maybe [reducing the length of the Plunket Shield]. Also more A cricket… Is there some more cricket that can bridge the gap from first-class to international cricket a little bit more? They’re all the kinds of things we’re discussing.”With the pay talks looming, Mills said cutting domestic long-format cricket could not be the answer to financial questions, if any, especially as the board’s “revenue has increased significantly” over the past few years, and the first-class system is the backbone of international cricket.”My view is we ought not to be cutting cricket programmes for the sake of it, and we need to ask ourselves why they’re being cut, when we know that New Zealand Cricket’s revenue has increased significantly over the last four-five years,” Mills said. “We don’t mind having a conversation about the structure of domestic cricket but it is absolutely the heartbeat of our high-performance programme, the bedrock of cricket in New Zealand. We think it is very important and we would like to ask questions about where the spending priority is? Domestic competitions are costing no more than they did five years ago.”

South Africa’s Global T20 league is the best way to keep players from leaving the country in search of opportunity elsewhere, according to Test and T20 captain Faf du Plessis. A former Kolpak player himself, du Plessis returned to South Africa in 2010-11 after two years at Lancashire and has since become a regular across all formats and in T20 leagues around the world. He hopes the new tournament will afford other players similar opportunity.”I spoke about it when the Kolpak thing started happening in South Africa – it was probably important that South Africa looked at different ways to try and keep players in the country. I think this is a huge step towards that,” du Plessis said at league’s formal launch in London. “Players don’t have to look outside anymore, from an opportunity point of view and from a financial point of view – they don’t need to go overseas and look for other stuff. This is going to be really important to keeping most of the players in the country.”Last season, several recently capped internationals including Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw, Dane Vilas, David Wiese, Simon Harmer, Hardus Viljoen and Stiaan van Zyl signed Kolpak deals, prompting fears of a player exodus. All of them cited financial security as a primary reason for their move, but there were also undertones that the strict transformation targets may have influenced their decision. The new Global League is expected to solve both issues.It is largely foreign-owned – with six of the eight franchises bought by non-South Africans – with players set to be paid in US dollars. CSA have confirmed there will be no targets besides the local-foreign quota imposed on teams, which should provide an incentive for players to stay. But for du Plessis, it’s not just the top tier who will benefit. He explained that South Africa’s domestic players could be the biggest beneficiaries of the new tournament, because it will provide them with exposure to a larger audience and open doors at other competitions.”I feel the domestic have been under-looked at sometimes,” he said. “You always just get your international players getting good opportunities everywhere around the world, but this will be a great opportunity for the domestic players to put their names out there to the world and somehow try and get into the IPLs and those kinds of tournaments. If you look at the Australian system, there is a lot more players that get picked up from there into the IPLs and that is because of the TV exposure from the Big Bash. This will be exactly the same.”AB de Villiers will represent the Pretoria franchise•BCCI

But the biggest attraction of the new South African league will remain the big South African names. For the first time in South African cricket history, the internationals will be available for an entire domestic T20 tournament. Du Plessis believes that will make be crucial for the profile of this tournament. “We’ve always come back from long tours and there was a lot of important cricket coming up so we haven’t always been around to play as much domestic cricket as was needed,” he said. ” For the whole South African team to be available to play in this tournament is the most important thing.”Eight marquee South African players have each been assigned, one to each team, nearest to where they are based. Du Plessis will play for the Stellenbosch/Paarl side following his recent move to Cape Town. Hashim Amla, who has moved domestic franchises from Durban to Cape Town will return to Kingsmead. JP Duminy will play in Cape Town, where he is from, Kagiso Rabada in Johannesburg, AB de Villiers in Pretoria and Quinton de Kock in Benoni, though he lives in Pretoria. David Miller has committed to his new home in Bloemfontein and Imran Tahir, who has played at three different South African franchises, will make his debut for the Warriors in Port Elizabeth.In addition to those players, eight internationals – Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Lasith Malinga and Brendon McCullum – have been confirmed to play, though they’re yet to be allocated to teams. Du Plessis was confident South Africans fans will have their interest piqued by these well-known T20 journeymen.”You are starting to see different T20 leagues taking up different gaps during the year and current international players can’t participate in all of them – it’s just not possible. What that does is bring in your ex-players, as Brendon talked about, your ‘mercenaries’. South Africa is no different to any other place. The fans would love to see Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and all those players,” he said, adding that the foreign ownership will also increase awareness around the event. “It will create much more emphasis on cricket in South Africa especially for domestic players.”

ScorecardRob Newton brought more gloom for Derbyshire•Getty Images

Rob Newton made his first century of the season in the Specsavers County Championship as Northamptonshire took control against Derbyshire at Wantage Road, reaching 247 for 4 and a lead of 289 by the close of day two.Newton, who was awarded his county cap before the game, followed up a first-innings 67 with a century in 189 balls, his 12th in first-class cricket, reaching three figures by flicking Jeevan Mendis past midwicket for his tenth boundary.The second fifty was quite hard work on a fairly slow wicket against the older ball, taking 123 balls and scoring just two further fours, as the boundaries that flowed before and just after lunch dried up and Northants ground Derbyshire down with steady accumulation.Northants are not accustomed to playing in such a manner – Newton’s century was just the second they have made in the Championship this season and the century stand he shared with Alex Wakely was just the fifth of the year.Wakely was also forced to play carefully and struck just a six – heaving a Mendis full toss over midwicket – and one four in his half-century from 100 balls. He fell for 79 in the final over of the old ball, driving at Tony Palladino and getting an edge to wicketkeeper Daryn Smit who took a good low catch. And when Conor McKerr sent a full ball into the stumps of Rob Keogh Derbyshire opened a route back into the game.But until those late wickets, their hopes of a first four-day victory for two years were fading with just one wicket in the first 65 overs of the Northants second innings – that of Max Holden – pinned lbw by a McKerr yorker for 31.Their attack was very ill-disciplined in the morning session where Northants raced past 50 in just the 11th over. The regained a little control of the run-rate after lunch with Alex Hughes bowling wicket-to-wicket and a good second spell from Tom Taylor.Coming in from the Wantage Road end, Taylor provided some hope in his seven overs where he found a little movement to beat the bat several times. But it was the only period of concerted pressure Newton and Wakely faced as they grew the lead.Their second effort with the bat ensured a great day for Northamptonshire after Ben Sanderson completed his first five-wicket haul of the season in the morning session to bowl Derbyshire out for 176 and handing Northants a handy first-innings lead of 42.Sanderson struck in the eighth over of the morning to end a seventh-wicket stand of 59 that had frustrated Northants on the first evening. But Taylor, who survived 48 balls to the close of day one, added only three runs before shouldering arms and losing his off stump.And Sanderson’s five-for came when Tony Palladino tried to pull and got a thin edge to wicketkeeper Ben Duckett.Hughes, who was dropped in the gully to the second ball of the morning, was left to try and farm the bowling from No. 11 Conor McKerr but calling him back for a second run that was most certainly available, McKerr simply didn’t respond and was run-out without facing a ball. It left Hughes stranded on 62.

ScorecardBen Foakes continued his run-making streak•Getty Images

An unbroken fourth wicket stand of 117 in 19 overs between Rory Burns and Ben Foakes took Surrey to victory by seven wickets in their Royal London One-Day Cup match against Middlesex at the Oval. Middlesex, with just one victory in four matches, are now facing an uphill struggle to progress.Surrey were chasing a slightly under-par Middlesex total of 243 for 9. Middlesex made the urgent breakthrough they needed when Toby Roland-Jones bowled Mark Stoneman for ten in the fifth over.But Surrey responded well, as Scott Borthwick flicked Tom Helm over square-leg for six. And Kumar Sangakkara got into his stride when he hit Helm for successive fours, on-driving and then lofting over mid-on.This pair put Surrey firmly in control with a second wicket partnership of 91. But Borthwick then chipped Dawid Malan to long-off and Sangakkara, who had been untroubled throughout his innings, suddenly drove Malan straight to cover for a 68-ball 59 to leave the game in the balance at 127 for 3. But then Burns and Foakes took charge.When Middlesex batted they only looked capable of a formidable total when first Nick Gubbins and then John Simpson were at the wicket, but neither player survived to play the much-needed major innings.They were already depleted without their England and Ireland representatives, and then they decided to play Nick Compton ahead of the impressively in form Stevie Eskinazi.Tom Curran broke through for Surrey with the last ball of the ninth over when Malan pulled to Stoneman at deep square-leg for just 14.That brought Compton to the wicket but the former England batsman’s innings lasted just five deliveries. He was caught behind nibbling outside his off stump, and that meant Middlesex were 42 for 2 after ten overs.Gubbins kept swashbuckling away at one end but at the other Adam Voges soon perished when he was caught down the leg-side for nine. Gubbins, it seemed, would need to make a century, and he looked well capable of it until he swiped Ravi Rampaul to Stuart Meaker for an 86-ball 65.Simpson then took responsibility for the Middlesex innings. He was almost caught at long leg when he had made 51 but the missed half-chance didn’t cost Surrey too dearly because he was lbw to Gareth Batty for 75, attempting to shovel the ball to leg. Batty’s ten overs cost just 38 runs, while Rampaul took 4 for 40After Gubbins and Simpson the highest Middlesex scorer was James Franklin, with 35, and they needed ten wides from the Surrey bowlers to get as many as they did.