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Chemar Holder was bowling in Basseterre in St Kitts and Nevis less than three weeks ago when West Indies Under-19 were playing a bilateral series in Bangladesh, just before the World Cup warm-ups. West Indies lost all three youth ODIs against a second-string Bangladesh side, but Holder finished with a five-for while playing for Combined Campuses and Colleges in Nagico Super50, West Indies’ domestic 50-over tournament, in only his fourth List-A match.About ten days later, Holder got a call that one of the Under-19 players, Obed McCoy, was injured in Bangladesh and that he had been picked as the replacement. Needless to say, Holder was not expecting it.”It was a big news. I was happy but shocked,” Holder said with a laugh after West Indies got through to the semi-final with a five-wicket win against Pakistan. Holder flew in, got two practice sessions and made his debut straightaway. He grabbed everyone’s attention by cranking up some good pace along with their lead pacer Alzarri Joseph. Holder stuck to a strangling line outside off, got the ball to move off the pitch and picked up two wickets in his first three overs.”Well, yes it is different conditions compared to the ones back home,” Holder said. “The pitch is a bit faster at home. So I had to bowl at fuller length.”Not many people knew where Holder had come from. Just 17 years old, he had not been picked for any of the three West Indies Under-19 camps in 2015 and had only played for Barbados Under-19s until then. He had not really set the Under-19 regional tournament on fire, with three wickets from four matches, but was soon picked for the Nagico Super50.”Well, really and truly it was a good feeling because I played against international players,” Holder said about his five-wicket haul. “And taking five is a big thing. So coming here now, I am not getting complacent. The wickets may not be as good, so I just keep it simple.”West Indies captain Shimron Hetmyer could hardly stop smiling after the quarter-final win, and sung praises of Holder, who joined the team only a few days back.”The boys have coped with the wickets and conditions very quickly,” he said. “Even Holder bowled very well today. Just leading from the front with the ball with him and we have Alzarri Joseph also, so he was very good. Very good day for us.”Holder and Joseph provided their team with a dream start by reducing Pakistan to 57 for 5 before Umair Masood led their recovery with a century and put on 164 runs in 28.1 overs with Salman Fayyaz. Hetmyer admitted that the team became a little “complacent” after taking the early wickets.”Possibly I think we got a little bit too relaxed after taking the first five wickets of the game,” he said. “We got complacent and possibly we could have just kept grinding them and possibly it would’ve been a lower score for us to chase.”Even though the pitch was not flat like it usually is in Fatullah, Hetmyer said West Indies were always confident of chasing down the target. Opener Gidron Pope looked to slog from the first ball he faced and even though he did not succeed in his first four attempts, the openers soon set the tone with an important stand of 45 in 6.2 overs. Pope fell for an 18-ball 25 and Imlach top-scored with a more composed 54.”I think that probably wasn’t the plan (how Pope started),” Hetmyer said with a smile. “That’s how he plays his natural game and for a couple of balls he played, he should have given himself a chance. After he got accustomed to the pitch and how the bowler was bowling and he got on top of them and kept banging them as hard as he could.”We thought we gave them a score of possibly about 190 and they scored 227. We still thought we could get this score because it wasn’t that much of a big score. And just have a bat and get a few good partnerships. That’s what we did today, got good opening partnerships and with me and the keeper (Imlach) as well.”For the game today, how I came on to bat, I was just trying to play my natural game. The way I play back home in the Caribbean and how I play my cricket right through. I think it helped me today because I came out in a positive mindset and to play my shots, hit the balls in the air, I played my shots and I guess it came off for me.”Hetmyer also agreed that many people may not have expected his team to come this far in the tournament after having a poor run of form in the build-up to the tournament. But their fortunes turned once the World Cup started. Including the warm-ups, West Indies have now lost only one of the six matches they have played so far.”I think probably coming into the tournament a lot of people thought that because we lost the three games against Bangladesh all here, we wouldn’t really get this far. I think the guys got accustomed to the conditions and adapted as fast as they could, very fast I should say. We have just been playing our normal cricket as we play in the Caribbean and that’s what we have to continue from now on and play our normal cricket.”

Ireland women have named the squad they hope will earn them a place at the 2009 World Cup. Heather Whelan, who has been captain since 2005, will continue to lead them in the qualifiers in Lahore next month.Their latest World Cup campaign, in 2005, was disappointing: they came bottom, having failed to win a match. Most of the squad have experience from that campaign, though, and with a busy summer under their belts – including a full domestic programme, participation in a men’s league, summer tour to Sussex and the European Championships in Holland – and intensive training, they are confident of making the World Cup.Pakistan represent the biggest challenge of the group. Though Ireland women have never lost to them, Pakistan will be out to settle some scores from when their men fell to Ireland men in the World Cup earlier this year.But some of Ireland’s players from that match, and indeed the World Cup, are on hand to lend their experience. Trent Johnston, Adi Birrell and Matt Dwyer are helping out the women with one-to-one coaching, alongside their bowling coach Thinus Fourie, who is also an Ireland international.The women’s coach Miriam Grealey said of the preparations to come: “We will be working on playing spin, footwork, and batting with more aggression and confidence, but also on areas for individual development. We are working hard on our consistency which is the key to winning.”Our fielding has really improved over the last couple of years, we have watched and learned from the likes of Australia and New Zealand and, in this area, I feel we are on a par with any of the top nations.”We recognise that the conditions will be tougher in Pakistan, so physical fitness, conditioning and circuit training are all part of our overall preparation.”Squad Anne Linehan, Caitriona Beggs, Cecelia Joyce, Ciara Metcalfe, Clare Shillington, Eimear Richardson, Elaine Nolan, Heather Whelan (capt), Isobel Joyce, Jean Carroll, Jill Whelan, Jillian Smythe, Marianne Herbert, Nicki Coffey.

Michael Hussey craves another opportunity to bat higher up the order but admits it is unlikely he will win regular elevations in the near future. Despite being the world’s top-ranked one-day batsman, Hussey is usually Australia’s No. 7 and only a last-minute decision gave him a chance at five during the six-wicket win over England on Saturday.The patient partner as Damien Martyn cruised to 78, Hussey accumulated 32 from 85 balls in a successful rescue mission from the trouble of 3 for 34. “If that situation arises again I’d love to do it, but I don’t think it’s going to be a common thing,” Hussey said in the . “We are just going to have to be very flexible and adapt to how the game is going. That’s one way we can improve as a team. If we are going well then Andrew Symonds would be perfect in that situation.”Hussey has to juggle his batting outlook in ODIs as the situation varies from recovery to attacking mode, but he has shown his incredible versatility by reaching an average of 79.58 in 45 games. There is also a feeling from many supporters that he is wasted batting so low. At midday on Wednesday almost 85% of voters in a www.baggygreen.com.au poll felt he should always enter higher than No. 7.”It was nice, a good opportunity to get some good time in the middle,” he said of his move to five. “It’s something I’ve been craving, really. The scoring rate was still pretty good at that stage so I didn’t have to rush. I could take my time and just hang in there for a while.”Quite often I have to come in and try to tee off straight away. That’s good fun as well. But I quite enjoy coming in when we are in a bit of trouble and trying to resurrect the innings. That’s very satisfying.”Hussey said Australia had been slow starters and he was confident the side would improve during the tournament. “We are going to get better each game because of the fact we haven’t had a lot of cricket after a long break,” he said. “Hopefully the rustiness will keep getting out of our system as we go along. Generally we’ve been slow starters.”

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Bangladesh’s struggle on their tour of Sri Lanka continued as they were bowled out for a meagre 195 in a warm-up game against the Sri Lanka Cricket Development Squad XI in Colombo.Gayan Wijekoon, the seam bowler, and Gihan Rupasinghe, the legspinner, bagged three wickets each for the home side and it was mainly Javed Omar’s defiant 81 that saved the Bangladeshis from humiliation. Omar struck 11 fours off 109 deliveries while Tapash Baisya made a quick 54 off 76 balls with six fours and a six. Aftab Ahmed was the only other batsman to reach double-figures.The Sri Lankans were 109 for 2 in reply when bad light forced an early closure on the opening day. Shantha Kalavithigoda, who was recently included in the Test squad, got them off to a steady start – after a 67-run opening stand with Harsha Vithana – and was unbeaten on 54 at stumps.This is the only practice game ahead of a two-Test series that begins at the Premdasa Stadium on Monday. Bangladesh were whitewashed 3-0 by Sri Lanka in a preceding one-day series.

The Mumbai High Court will hear the case regarding ESPN-Star Sports and BCCI on Thursday, September 9. ESPN-Star Sports had earlier challenged the Indian board’s decision to award the four-year telecast rights, of matches to be played in India, to Zee Network. The matter was due to come up for hearing today, but was postponed, reportedly because the BCCI received the summons late. Also ESPN-Star Sports has sought more details and clarifications from the BCCI and Zee Networks.ESPN-Star Sports asserted that it was the highest eligible bidderciting the qualifying cretia in the BCCI’s tender. On July 7 the BCCIinvited bids for television rights to the next four years’ cricketplayed in India. That tender document stated: “The bidding will berestricted to broadcasters only.”Only those entities that have existing in-house production, telecasting units and channel network and have successfully telecast live and delayed International Cricket events of International standard for a period of at least two years (not as a Licensee) will be entitled to the Invitation to Tender and right to submit offers. Bid documents will be given to such entitiesonly.”ESPN-Star Sports contends that Zee Network does not fulfill thesecriteria.

Hampshire 2nd XI choose from twelve to take on Sussex 2nd XI in the ECB Trophy semi-final match at The Rose Bowl on Monday 11 August, starting at 11am.Hampshire reached the semi-final of the 50-over contest by winning all eight of their group matches, and will go into this clash as favourites.From the twelve, the only injury worry is Jimmy Adams, who sustained concussion and a bruised eye in the Frizzell County Championship match against Northamptonshire at The Rose Bowl. He is to see a specialist today (Friday) to gain clearance, but coach Tony Middleton is confident that he will be ready.The home side have reached the final in three of the last four seasons, without success and will be looking to redress this, starting with the semi-final.Admission is free to this game.Live scores of this match will be shown on the Hampshirew Web Site throughout the day.Hampshire squad: James Hamblin, Jimmy Adams, Will Kendall (capt), Lawrence Prittipaul, Greg Lamb, Chris Benham, Kevin Latouf, Iain Brunnschweiler (w-k), Charlie van der Gucht, James Hibberd, James Bruce, James Tomlinson.

Pakistan take on Sri Lanka Saturday in an encounter whichprovides Waqar Younis and his boys a chance to exact somerevenge of last April’s humiliating defeat in the final.Having beaten Sri Lanka by comfortable margins in the leaguematches, Pakistan surrendered tamely in the final, now afamiliar occurring.On paper, Pakistan are more talented than Sri Lankans butsomehow the present team seems to choke in the quest fortrophy.Playing an international match after five months due to thecancellation of New Zealand visit, Pakistan should have noexcuses if they failed to deliver the goods as the playersare fresh having appeared in a domestic knockoutcompetition.Since their arrival here, Pakistan players had couple ofpractice sessions and if the team management is to bebelieved then everyone is fit and raring to go. But withplayers and team management kept under wrap and not allowedaccess to media, Saturday’s match would reveal the state offitness of the players.However, news leaked to the press indicate that all is notwell with at least two players Azhar Mahmood and ShoaibAkhtar, eternally fit for tours but unfit after sending downfew overs, was battling injuries.It is almost certain that Azhar will sit out today’s clashbut Shoaib is likely to make the team.With Inzamam-ul-Haq to watch the match from the cosyatmosphere of the dressing room, middle-order batsman NavedLatif is expected to win his first international cap at theexpense of Taufiq Omar.Sri Lanka on the other hand are expected to make one change.They may bring in Kumar Sangakkara in place of RomeshKaluwitharana who failed with the bat but had a good sessionbehind the stumps.With weather expected to be cooler and less humidity, a highscoring game is on cards as the wicket is hard, firm andideal for stroke-making.Probable teamsPakistan (from): Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, YousufYouhana, Shahid Afridi, Taufiq Omar, Naved Latif, WasimAkram, Abdur Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria, ShoaibMalik, Younis Khan, Rashid Latif, Azhar Mahmood.Sri Lanka (from): S.Jayasuriya, M.Atapattu, A.Gunawardena, M. Jayawardena, R.Arnold, R. Kaluwitharana orK.Sangakkara, K. Dharmasena, C.Vaas, D.Fernando,M.Muralitharan, C.Buddika.

ScorecardMichael Carberry saw Hampshire home and kept their Division One hopes alive•Getty Images

Hampshire have preserved their Division One status on the final day of the season after defeating Nottinghamshire by eight wickets at Trent Bridge. They secured the victory needed to keep their hopes alive after chasing down a victory target of 200, and their perseverance was rewarded shortly after 3pm, when news filtered through from Headingley that Sussex had succumbed to the county champions, Yorkshire, by 100 runs.”I’m so happy right now. I don’t know what it feels like lifting a cup, but this probably feels just as good, if not better,” said Fidel Edwards, Hampshire’s former West Indies fast bowler whose match haul of 10 for 145 was instrumental in the victory.”To come here and win was a great effort where we showed our class,” Edwards told BBC Radio Solent. “It’s a great feeling to be staying Division One. It’s been a good team effort and we’re really happy right now. Come next year, it’s going to be hard to beat us.””We’ve played some really good cricket in the last few weeks,” said James Vince, Hampshire’s captain. “I think we’ve got the balance of our side right, and that will stand us in good stead for next season. Fidel Edwards has been outstanding. On a flat pitch like this one having someone like him who can get wickets makes a big difference.”Openers Jimmy Adams and Michael Carberry had laid the foundation for the win by putting on 89 together on the third evening and after a watchful half hour they took their stand into three figures. Adams moved to his 50 from 81 deliveries and Carberry followed shortly afterwards, running Stuart Broad for back-to-back boundaries to the vacant third man area to reach the milestone.The opening stand reached 129, at which point Jake Ball struck with two wickets in as many deliveries. Adams chopped on to his stumps after making 70 and then Lions captain James Vince was cleaned up first ball by his fellow squad member.Carberry’s half-century had arrived in 110 deliveries and he made sure there was no way back into the contest for the hosts as he unleashed a flurry of shots, before scampering a single to mid-on to clinch the contest.Carberry closed on 84 not out and Will Smith was unbeaten on 34 at the end. Nottinghamshire’s defeat, their first loss in eight matches, confirmed their third place finish in the table.

At a time when Australia’s ODI fast-bowling depth is being tested, they seem to have no shortage of quality batsmen to call on. Centuries to George Bailey and Steven Smith won Australia the first ODI against India in Perth on Tuesday, and for the second game they will likely bring in a bloke with a List A batting average of 72.86 in the past three years. And one of the most in-form batsmen in the country probably still won’t get a game.The former is Shaun Marsh, the back-up batsman in the squad and the likely beneficiary of David Warner’s absence for paternity leave over the next two games. The latter is Usman Khawaja, who is joining the squad for the Brisbane and Melbourne ODIs, and is enjoying a remarkable run of form whatever the colour of the ball: not since October has Khawaja been dismissed below 50 in any format.Yet it is hard to argue with the probable batting line-up Australia will use in Brisbane, where Marsh is expected to open with Aaron Finch. After all, Marsh was second only to Smith on the Matador Cup run tally in October, with 390 at 65.00, and the last time he played for Australia he plundered 182 in the Hobart Test against West Indies. Khawaja’s return from injury bumped Marsh from the Test side; now Marsh looks set to keep Khawaja out of the ODIs.It is nearly three years since Khawaja last played ODI cricket for Australia, and even then he played only three games without reaching double figures. However, since his most recent ODI appearance Khawaja has thrived in one-day cricket, averaging 56.88 in List A matches, although he played only three Matador Cup games this summer due to a hamstring injury. Khawaja hopes his selection is the first step towards becoming an ODI regular.”The hunger is to play as many forms of the game as possible,” he said on Wednesday. “I’ve made it clear that I’ve always wanted to play one-dayers. But sometimes it’s about timing. If I’m going to get my opportunity, I don’t know, but when I do get it hopefully I can take it and be more than just a Test cricketer. At this moment I’m really happy with how I’m hitting the white ball.”Already 2015-16 has been a breakout summer for Khawaja in the Test team – he scored centuries in all three Tests in which he batted, in Brisbane, Perth, and Melbourne. His last two BBL innings, an unbeaten 109 before Christmas and 62 on Monday, suggest his white-ball form is indeed strong.”I’m really happy with how the Test stuff went,” Khawaja said. “There’s a lot of one-day cricket coming up in the next year. I’d love to be a part of it. Hopefully I can contribute moving forward.”However, Khawaja knows he will likely be warming the bench for the second ODI in Brisbane on Friday. “I haven’t been told anything,” he said. “I’m just using common sense – SOS [Marsh] is already there so I’d assume he’d slot into Davey’s spot and I’ll be the spare batsman. That’s what I’m expecting.”Australia will be aiming to secure a 2-0 lead in the five-match series in Brisbane, after their win in the high-scoring opener in Perth on Tuesday. India managed 3 for 309 against a new-look Australia attack featuring debutant fast bowlers Scott Boland and Joel Paris, whose combined figures read 0 for 127 from 18 overs, but Australia’s batsmen chased down the target with four balls to spare.

Chris Martin, the New Zealand seamer, has expressed surprise at being selected for the Twenty20 World Championship but hoped he would excel in the tournament. “I’d scheduled this time of the year to do a few university studies,” Martin told the .Martin, who will share the new ball with Shane Bond, was picked as John Bracewell, New Zealand’s coach, wanted specialists to play in the tournament. “The likelihood of me having to bat is quite minimal and you need to have specialists at either end, I think,” Martin said.Martin said the Twenty20 format would be harsh on the bowlers. “I’m leaving the country without my ego, I think,” he said. “If I can go at under ten an over then I’ll be happy, so it’s not usual for any type of cricket I’ve played in the past.”Martin said he had only played about half a dozen games of Twenty20, but had enjoyed them. “It’s got a nice speed to it, which you sort of get used to – performing under quite intense pressure,” he said. “And the crowds come along to watch as well which is quite a bonus.”People are still learning how to play it and there are some countries around the world that have played it a lot more than New Zealand. So for us to arrive with the right game plan and the right philosophy will be quite important to us doing well. It’s also one that I’ll hopefully look back on as being a highlight.”Meanwhile, Brendon McCullum, the wicketkeeper, hopes to bat up the order and take charge of the innings with some big-hitting. McCullum started his international career as an opener before dropping down the order.”I have a little bit of responsibility to try to score a big innings somewhere along the line,” he said. McCullum was looking forward to play with his brother Nathan McCullum, who was picked for the tournament for his all-round skills. “It’ll be good,” Brendon said. “I caught up with him last week and I know he’s pretty excited.”The offspinner Jeetan Patel, who is suffering from flu, has been working on pitching the ball in the blockhole at the indoor nets. “Being able to hit the hole is a big part of Twenty20 so I’ve been working on that, but it seems a little bit fake doing it indoors so I can’t wait to get away and start doing some real work,” Patel said.