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Ben Hilfenhaus finished with career-best T20 figures of 5 for 23, complementing the 109-run partnership between Peter Fulton and Henry Nicholls, to secure Canterbury’s seven-run win over Otago at Hagley Oval.After choosing to bat, Canterbury’s Fulton and Nicholls each struck half-centuries in their 71-ball third-wicket stand, which rescued Canterbury from 8 for 2 in the third over. Fulton, who scored 64 off 43 deliveries, reached his half-century off 36 balls, while Nicholls took one ball more to the landmark, eventually falling for 52 off 40 balls. Nicholls’ fifty was his third in five Super Smash matches. Their partnership came at close to 10 an over and had set Canterbury up for a strong total, before they lost 5 for 35 to close their innings. Fulton’s wicket, taken by Christi Viljoen, stemmed Canterbury’s scoring rate as they could add only 40 more in their last six overs and finished their innings on 157.Like Canterbury, Otago lost two early wickets – Anaru Kitchen and Neil Broom were caught behind off Matt Henry and Hilfenhaus respectively – before a third-wicket partnership of 60 between Michael Bracewell (38) and opener Hamish Rutherford (38) steered their chase. However, following Bracewell’s run-out, Otago fell swiftly from 70 for 2 in the 12th over to 94 for 5 by the 15th.Hilfenhaus took two of those wickets and followed it up with two more scalps in the 19th over to finish with a five-for. Needing 18 off the last over, Otago managed only 10 runs and finished seven runs short of Canterbury’s total. The win took Canterbury to fourth, tied on 12 points with Otago.Mitchell Santner followed up a 21-ball 45 with three economical overs to help Northern Districts defeat Central Districts by ten runs at Seddon Park.Having been put into bat, the Northern Districts scored 57 before the opening stand was broken off the last ball of the fielding restrictions when Dean Brownlie (36) was dismissed. Contributions from BJ Watling (35) and Corey Anderson (28) carried Northern Districts along at a fast lick before Santner and Scott Kuggelijn (23 off 10) provided a late surge to lift them to 197 for 5.Central Districts’ reply was led by Mahela Jayawardene, who had earlier bowled for the first time since March 2010 and gone for 15 runs in his solitary over. He followed up his century in the previous game with 64 off 36 deliveries in an opening partnership of 84 that took just 8.2 overs. He was dismissed by Santner, who then put the brakes on the Central Districts, conceding only 12 runs off his three overs. Central Districts managed only 58 runs in the 7.5 overs after their opening stand, and even an unbeaten 16-ball 37 from Josh Clarkson wasn’t enough as they fell short by ten runs. The win, Northern’s second in the series meant they remained on fifth while Central were on second place.

An injury to Morne Morkel’s left foot has opened a window of opportunity for Shaun Pollock © AFP

An injury to Morne Morkel during South Africa’s opening tour match might re-open the door for Shaun Pollock to play in the first Test against Pakistan, starting from Monday in Karachi.Morkel, who so impressed during the Twenty20 World Cup, only bowled two overs on the final day of the tour game, before going off with an injury to his left foot. Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, said that though an official prognosis from the team physiotherapist is pending, Morkel is a worry.”Morne picked up a niggle on his landing foot today and it is a little worry because he is an integral part of our plans. He will have a fitness test tomorrow [Sunday] before we take any further decisions,” Arthur said, before adding “Polly [Pollock] might come back into it.”The decision to drop Pollock, South Africa’s leading Test wicket-taker and most experienced bowler in subcontinent conditions, was a surprising one, not least to the man himself. It was the first time in hiscareer that he was dropped for any reason other than injury, South Africadeciding it was time to move forward and assess fresher talent. But asArthur was keen to point out, the decision is not the end of the road forPollock.”It is a new era in a sense. We are blessed with a lot of depth in ourfast bowling and it’s time we had a look at the younger guys. We have atough season ahead of us next year [series against India, England andAustralia away] and we need to have a settled squad in place by then. Sowe need to see if the younger ones are good enough.”We’ve got six good seamers on the scene and any can play at any time. Wecan rest one guy without damaging the team as we have variety. But at thesame time, Pollock is an integral part of our squad and who knows, hemight come back into it on Monday.”Pakistan has named two specialist spinners in their Test squad and murmursfrom the National Stadium suggest a spinning surface may be prepared.Rizwan Ahmed, the legspinning allrounder, picked up seven wickets againstthe South Africans in the tour game, but at considerable cost, and wasn’t the threatthat a Danish Kaneria is expected to be. Arthur was confident, however,that his side would cope.”Our batsmen are used to playing spin now,” he said. “We played AnilKumble and Danish on spinning wickets in South Africa and handled themfairly well and I am confident that our batsmen have the equipment andtechnique to handle that threat.”

A high-profile panel of former greats chose Brian Lara over Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest modern-day batsman © Getty Images

Having to name one “great” batsman from among three contemporary favourites is a tricky task at any time. Yet a high-profile panel of former greats stuck its collective neck out and picked Brian Lara over Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar for his ability to dominate attacks consistently and over a period of time.The panel – John Wright, Ian Chappell, Tony Greig and Ravi Shastri – had gathered for Cricinfo’s fortnightly discussion The Round Table, hosted by Sanjay Manjrekar. Saturday’s discussion, part of the new audio service, Cricinfo Talk, was debating the question, How good is the modern batsman?The issue was discussed under the canvas of four trends: One, the fact that the 2006 Champions Trophy has served up only one score in excess of 300; two, that perhaps this was the golden age of batting pitches; three, that techniques were not being tested enough; and four, that averages belied sheer batting talent.All four panelists immediately identified the change in the nature ofIndian pitches during the Champions Trophy. While the prolonged monsoonyielded an under-prepared pitch in the earlier games at Mumbai’s BrabourneStadium, the last few matches at the other venues had ball dominate batfor an altogether un-Indian reason – bounce and carry.Wright, the former New Zealand opener and India coach, noted howpitches today were marketed differently, and how curators were attemptingto suit various conditions. Chappell and Shastri singled out Daljit Singh,the curator of the PCA Stadium in Mohali, for praise for his effective work on apitch that “produced an even contest, and good matches” and was “the best”in India.Shastri highlighted how the Mohali pitch had exposed India’s batsmen – withbounce and carry, and some lateral movement – against Australia and how, as a result of a lack of sixes, India were forced to push for the ones and twos but failedto do so in the manner that Australia did.Another factor raised was that of the one bouncer per over rule, whichShastri favoured. “It’s a good rule, because it gives the bowler a chanceto dictate terms and leave that doubt in the batsman’s mind,” he said.Noted Wright, “The front-foot play was diminished considerably. Batsmenneeded to rely more on technical expertise, such as balance and shotcontrol. Survival on flatter pitches is easier, but we saw with the bounceand movement than many batsmen struggled. It was quite unlike Indianconditions.”

‘It’s simple: the pitches play up, the batsmen struggle’ – Tony Greig © Getty Images

Greig summed it up – “It’s simple: the pitches play up, thebatsmen struggle” – while commenting on how batsmen weaned on flat pitcheswere suddenly finding unpredictable surfaces tough to handle. All fourexperts agreed that the Champions Trophy had exposed certain modern daybatsmen.In 2006, there have been 12 batsmen who averaged over 50, around three times the number of even a decade ago. So how does this square with the notion of declining quality? The consensus was that batsmen in the contemporary era were up againstweaker bowling as against batsmen till the mid-1990s. Chappell was quick to point out that he would have includedMark Taylor and Michael Slater as the opening pair in an all-time Australian XI over Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, for their ability to dominate quality bowling attacks.He gave the example of Hayden, whose average soon after he debuted at the international level was in the 20s and who couldn’tprogress beyond a certain level. On his phenomenal return, notably in theseries against India in 2001, Hayden averaged in the 60s and Chappell notedhow this could have been because of the difference in bowling quality.”Teams like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have diluted the bowling,” saidChappell. “If you look back at the ’90s, you had a more formidable bowlingattack going up against batsmen. You had Wasim Akram and Waqar Younisoperating in tandem, Allan Donald was there, Australia, as they’ve almostalways done, had a formidable attack, and even West Indies had CurtleyAmbrose and Courtney Walsh. Today, that’s not the case, as the pace justisn’t there.”Pace brought up the issue of helmets. It was argued that today’sbatsmen relied too much on safety precautions. Wright, having playedjust a small amount of his cricket without a helmet, pointed tosuccessful batsman like Gary Sobers, Greg Chappell and Viv Richards, whonot only scored runs against very fast bowlers while batting without helmets, but alsodominated attacks.

The Cricinfo Round Table panel © Getty Images

Chappell was emphatic: “I didn’t ever honestly thinkthat a bowler was going to bowl to hit me. We backed our instincts and ourskills. The only way I ever thought I’d get hit on the head was by my ownmistake, if I’d top-edge a hook back onto my skull.” Greig stressed on how the batsman’s courage was not being tested enough,and that certain aspects of batting had gone astray.So how does one identify greatness? It’s a feel that one gets from watching a batsman, was the consensus, and the statistics usually back it up. Shastri pointed out that while technique and ability were definite criteria, what mattered most was consistency.The panelists were asked to name their greats, and the common names from the past included the two Richards, Garry Sobers, Graeme Pollock, for their ability to score consistently throughout their careers.And so to Tendulkar, Lara and Ponting. The panel’s choice was clear, Lara over Ponting. Sunday’s face-off just got more interesting.The entire Round Table will be webcast live on November 14.

Devon Smith took Windwards to a win with a sparkling 59 © Getty Images

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Powered by Brenton Parchment’s 75 and Xavier Marshall’s 55, Jamaica reached the target of 209 to beat Barbados by six wickets to earn a consolation win in the KFC Cup at Bridgetown in Barbados. Despite the loss, Barbados finished second in the preliminaries of the KFC Cup. Jamaica, meanwhile have failed to reach the semi-finals for the second consecutive season.Batting first, Barbados managed a modest 208 thanks largely to an unbeaten half-century by the veteran Floyd Reifer. Gareth Breese, the offspinner, named man-of-the-match broke the back of Barbados with his figures of 4 for 24.
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Trinidad & Tobago, the defending champions, hurtled towards their fifth straight loss and ended their season winless as Guyana chased down their meagre total of 172 in the final round of the KFC Cup in Barbados.Sent in to bat first at the Windward Sports Club, T&T continued their dismal run putting up a paltry total of 172 which was never going to challenge Guyana. Sewnarine Chattergoon, the left-handed Guyanese opener, hit an unbeaten 78 and shared an opening stand of 131 with Krishna Arjune (55) to take his side to the top of the points table. Earlier, T&T were dealt a huge blow when Daren Ganga, the captain, had to pull out with a leg injury leaving Dinesh Ramdhin to lead the side.
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Windward Islands scored a comprehensive victory over Leeward Islands in their final round match of the KFC Cup at the Cable and Wireless Sports Club Ground to earn themselves a semi-final berth.Devon Smith, the West Indies opener, led the way with an attacking 59 off 48 balls to chase down the target of 145. Earlier, the Leewards were shot out for 144 in just 38.2 overs after an inspired opening spell by Darren Sammy and Deighton Butler, who picked two wickets apiece.Speaking to CMC Sports at the end of the match, Rawl Lewis, the Windwards captain, said, “We are now looking forward to the semi-finals in Guyana, I think the guys have worked hard and though we will be considered by many as the underdogs in the tournament, I think that we have performed well in the preliminaries and we will be hoping to do the same in Guyana in an effort to reach the final”.

Canada 250 for 9 dec and 250 for 4 dec (Dhillon 102*, Davison 78) drew with Bermuda 107 and 221 for 9 (Smith 53, Sandher 6-68)
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John Davison’s aggressive 78 helped Canada pile on the runs in the second innings© Wisden Cricinfo

Canada narrowly failed to secure an outright win in their league match against Bermuda in Toronto, but a draw was still enough to win them a semi-final berth in the ICC Intercontinental Cup. Resuming their second innings on 91 for 2, Canada stretched their total to 250 for 4 before declaring, setting Bermuda an improbable victory target of 394. A more achievable goal for them was to bat out the rest of the day and achieve a draw, which they just about managed to do, scoring 221 for 9.Canada’s second-innings total was largely the result of Haninder Dhillon’s unbeaten 102 and John Davison’s 78. Davison spanked his runs off just 87 balls, hitting seven fours and four sixes. He was finally dismissed by Dwayne Leverock, but Dhillon continued the run-glut, adding 110 for the fourth wicket with Ashish Bagai, who contributed 31. Leverock finally ended the stand when he caught Bagai off his own bowling (239 for 4). Dhillon, meanwhile, went on to complete his hundred off 138 balls, and the declaration came soon after.With 15 points already in the bag from the match, Canada needed only two more to go past USA and secure a place in the semi-finals of the competition. They did that when Bermuda’s fourth wicket fell, at 83. Clay Smith held the batting together with his 63, as Bermuda put up a much-improved performance in the second innings. Kevin Sandher, a left-arm spinner, ran through the lower order, finishing with 6 for 68, but the last-wicket pair of Jekon Edness and Kevin Hurdle offered stubborn resistance, and were undefeated at the close to ensure a draw.Canada join Scotland, the top team from Europe, in the semi-final stage of the competition. One team each from Asia and Africa will join them for that leg, which will be held in Sharjah in November.

The Sri Lankan cricket board has announced a change to England’s winter tour schedule. It had earlier been agreed that three one-day internationals would take place in the second half of November, followed by three Tests in December, but now a change of venue has become necessary.Colombo had been expected to stage all the matches, except for the first Test at Galle, but that will now change following the recent election of Thilanga Sumathipala as board president. He is known to favour the Rangiri Stadium in Dambulla, which is situated to the north of the country and is not subjected to the same heavy rains that can affect venues in Colombo.The stadium was embroiled in financial and land-leasing disputes following its inaugural match on England’s last tour in 2001, but it recently came into its own during the triangular series against Pakistan and New Zealand, staging the whole tournament after Colombo was affected by floods.

Just minutes after seeing his side cruise to a nine wicket victory over wooden spoonists Essex, Somerset Coach told me, “We were very very good. On a flat wicket at Chelmsford the boys did well to bowl them out twice.”He went on, “Jamie Cox’s innings was the best that I have seen him bat, and he received good support from Rob Turner, with Richard Johnson and Jason Kerr bludgeoning important runs at the end.”What was the situation regarding the Championship runner’s up position I asked him.The coach said, “It looks like the Kent game will end in a draw, which means that we need six points from our final match next week to be certain of second place. This will leave Kent needing twenty points from their last match at Old Trafford, which is a tall order.”

ScorecardKumar Sangakkara’s hundred helped propel Surrey to a winning total•PA Photos

Classy hundreds from Steven Davies and Kumar Sangakkara propelled Surrey to a 77-run victory over Derbyshire in a high-scoring Royal London Cup match at Guildford.A crowd of 3000 saw some rich entertainment as Davies and Sangakkara added 204 in 31 overs for Surrey’s second wicket to set the hosts on their way to 326 for 6. Wes Durston led the chase with a thrilling 129 from 98 balls, which contained five sixes and 16 fours, but no other Derbyshire batsman could give him much support and they were despatched for 249.Surrey were given a fine start by Jason Roy, who twice drove Mark Footitt wide of mid-on for fours in the paceman’s opening over on his way to a bright 24. Footitt then made one bounce at Roy to have him taken at the wicket in his fourth over but, from 40 for 1, the Surrey innings was then dominated by Davies and Sangakkara.The two left-handers built their partnership expertly, with Davies twice pulling Alex Hughes’ medium pace for six and Sangakkara beating his partner to three figures with a thrilling assault on Footitt when the paceman returned for his second spell.From successive balls, Sangakkara square drove Footitt for four before flicking him over the midwicket ropes for two sixes. And spectators were on their feet again in the next over, when Davies pushed a ball from offspinner Durston to deep cover to complete his own hundred from 96 balls, two less than it had taken the Sri Lankan.Sangakkara scored 109 from 104 balls, with two sixes and nine fours, before he was stumped off the bowling of Durston – and Surrey lost another four wickets while adding a further 82 runs.Rory Burns fell for 11, mishitting a full toss from Hughes to extra cover, and Davies was held on the deep midwicket boundary off the same bowler after an enterprising 115 from 117 balls, taking his competition tally to 351 runs at an average of 87.75.Footitt had Tom Curran caught at deep cover for 29 in the closing stages and Gary Wilson lofted Ben Cotton to long off to depart for 2 in the final over – but Zafar Ansari scored a useful unbeaten 25 as Surrey posted their highest List A total against Derbyshire. It was a chastening 10 overs with the ball for Footitt, the left-arm fast bowler who has been added to England’s fourth Ashes Test squad, and his final figures were 2 for 86, with his second spell of three overs costing 38 runs as Davies and Sangakkara cut loose.Derbyshire’s openers then enjoyed a stand of 115, although Billy Godleman contributed just 27 to that as Durston quickly stole the limelight. Chesney Hughes, Wayne Madsen and Shiv Thakor also fell cheaply but Durston continued to pile on the runs, passing the hundred mark in 74 balls.He had just swung his fifth six, over wide long-on off Tom Curran, when two balls later he tried to repeat the stroke and skied to Curran’s younger brother, Sam – who took a well-judged catch at midwicket.Durston’s exit left Derbyshire on 203 for 5 and their lower order quickly fell away. Scott Elstone made 39 in a late cameo but no one else troubled the scorers as Surrey allrounder James Burke finished with a one-day career-best of 5 for 28.

In a day and age where transfer fee’s are continuing to soar upwards each year signing a player for a relatively small sum of money and watching him turn in performances that outstrip those of a £30 million pounder is a glorious sight. In the midst of these over expensive footballers there have been a few cheap gems to wade through the crowd and make a name for themselves in the Premier League. Looking back over 20 years of England’s top flight, players bought for something like £3 million,which was still considered a huge fee back in the early nineties, who went on to become legends and the focal point of success during their time at the club aren’t as common anymore.

There is nothing more satisfying then seeing your club sign a relative unknown for a nominal fee and watch him tear the Premier League up like he’s prowled the football fields of England for years. Over the years there have been some unbelievable footballers who have commanded a few that pales in comparison to what some modern day players earn in a month. Unearthing an unpolished jewel for peanuts and polishing it into an 24 carat diamond isn’t as common as it used to be and you could say that some of the romance that used to exist in football is lost because of that.

But lets not get lost in the doom and gloom of all that and celebrate the top ten cheap Premier League revelations that have cropped up over the years.

Click on Ole Gunnar Solksjaer to reveal the top 10

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England Under-19 fast bowlers Sam Curran and Saqib Mahmood took two and four wickets respectively to help dismiss West Indies Under-19 for 221 and complete a 61-run victory in Chittagong. Curran began the defence of 282 in splendid fashion, dismissing Tevin Imlach and no. 3 Shimron Hetmyer for ducks in the first over of the West Indies chase. The other opener Gidron Pope made 60 out of the team’s first 84 runs at a run a ball before he was dismissed in the 18th over. The only other innings of substance came from the no. 7 Keemo Paul, who made 65 off 58 deliveries. Mahmood ran through the lower order and West Indies were all out in 43.4 overs.England had relied on a collective performance to post 282 for 7 after winning the toss, their second successive imposing total of the tournament. Opener Dan Lawrence was impressive again, making 55, while Callum Taylor top scored with 59. Jack Burnham made 44 and George Bartlett 48, and Curran also contributed 39 off 36 balls at no. 6 before wrecking the start of the chase.Fiji Under-19 suffered another massive defeat in their second match of the World Cup, losing by seven wickets to Zimbabwe Under-19 in Chittagong, two days after a 299-run thrashing against England. This time Fiji batted first and were shot out for 81 in 27.4 overs, with only three batsmen making double-figure scores and no one getting past 20. Offspinner Wesley Madhevere began his tournament with figures of 5 for 24, while legspinner Blessing Mavuta claimed 3 for 13 in Zimbabwe’s victory.Zimbabwe made short work of the chase, getting to 84 in 18.5 overs but lost three wickets in doing so. They were 27 for 2 at one stage. However, opener Brendan Sly made an unbeaten 29, while Jeremy Ives scored 23 off 26 balls, to seal victory. Medium-pacer Josaia Baleicikoibia took 2 for 19 for Fiji.The Namibia Under-19 bowlers dismissed Scotland Under-19 for 159 in Cox’s Bazar after which their top-order batsmen polished off the chase in 26 overs with nine wickets in hand. After winning the toss, Scotland lost their opener Jack Waller to Fritz Coetzee off the first legal ball of the game and never really recovered. They slumped from 59 for 2 to 97 for 8, before their last two wickets propped them up to 159 before they were all out in 36.3 overs. Owais Shah’s 39 at No.3 was Scotland’s top score, while Michael van Lingen took 3 for Namibia.Unlike Scotland, Namibia had a strong start to their chase, with their openers adding 95 in 15.3 overs. Niko Davin fell for 52 off 37 balls, while SJ Loftie-Eaton was unbeaten on 67 when the winning runs were hit with 144 balls to spare. He had added 67 for the second wicket with his captain Zane Green, who was unbeaten on 39 off 42 balls.