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Fifteen-year-old legspinner Shaquana Quintyne has been included in West Indies Women’s 14-woman squad for their home one-day series against Pakistan that starts later this month

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Aug-2011Two uncapped players from Barbados – Shaquana Quintyne, a 15-year-old legspinner, and Kycia Knight, a 19-year-old wicketkeeper – have been included in West Indies’ women’s squad for their home one-day series against Pakistan that starts later this month.The two players impressed for Barbados during the recently-completed WICB Women’s Championships. Knight also plays football for Barbados. The other twelve players were all part of the squad for the tour of India early in the year.The team will be led by Merissa Aguilleira, who was one of six women cricketers given a central contract by the WICB last year. The other five players – allrounders Stafanie Taylor, Stacy-Ann King and Shanel Daley, batsman Deandra Dottin, and offspinner Anisa Mohammed – are also part of the squad for the four ODIs against Pakistan. The first match is on August 28.West Indies Women’s squad: Merissa Aguilleira (capt & wk), Shemaine Campbelle, Britney Cooper, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Pearl Etienne, Stacy-Ann King, Kycia Knight, Anisa Mohamed, Juliana Nero, Shaquana Quintyne, Shakera Selman, Tremayne Smartt, Stafanie Taylor

Leicestershire and Ruhuna jostled, pulled, tugged, stepped on each other’s toes to try to make it to the train first, but both might have just missed it

The Report by Sidharth Monga21-Sep-2011
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outDinesh Chandimal’s second fifty in two games kept Ruhuna’s hopes alive•AFP

Leicestershire and Ruhuna jostled, pulled, tugged, stepped on each other’s toes to try to make it to the train first, but both might have just missed it. Both teams came in looking for their first win, hoping to make it big enough to spoil the party for Kolkata Knight Riders and Somerset, who won their first games and were due to face each other later in the evening. Leicestershire needed to chase down 161 in 13.2 overs to ensure automatic qualification, Ruhuna needed to keep them down to 140. As it turned out, led by Abdul Razzaq, one of the cleanest straight hitters of our time, Leicestershire threatened the improbable automatic qualification, but the Ruhuna spinners kept pulling them back. Razzaq perished in one final push for the run-rate boost, and the spinners then choked the lower order to fashion a dramatic win, allowing only 28 runs in the last six overs.Leicestershire were knocked out, but Ruhuna now had two points, level with Kolkata and Somerset, their net run-rate of -0.28 lagging behind Kolkata’s 0.1 and Somerset’s 0.05. With only two teams out of the four to go through, Ruhuna were expected to stay back and watch in hope that the final qualifier is one-sided enough to push one of the sides’ net run-rate down.Amid all this number-crunching, it was easy to overlook important good innings on a slow track. Before Razzaq’s smashing 68 off 46 came Dinesh Chandimal’s fighting 62 off 51 to help Ruhuna recover from 17 for 2 and 67 for 4. Recalled today to represent Sri Lanka in Tests against Pakistan, Chandimal found himself in early with Harry Gurney’s slower balls causing a big dent with the wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Udawatte.Chandimal batted intelligently, not taking many risks, hitting the big ones mainly down the ground, adding 44 and 41 with Milinda Siriwardana and Shalika Karunanayake. The stand with Siriwardana helped them recover after they had lost the first four inside 10 overs, the one with Karunanayake provided Ruhuna the final thrust. Karunanayake scored 28 off those 41, off just 15 balls. Forty-seven came off those last four overs, and Ruhuna had elbowed just past Leicestershire with the train approaching.Razzaq had played an important role in keeping Ruhuna down early on. The second wicket he took was his 100th in Twenty20s. While he played the support role with the ball, he knew he would have to do it all off his own bat. He countered the slowness of the track by simply refusing to play square. Sixty-one of his runs came in front of square, 32 of them down the ground. With his grip high on the bat, he just stood and waited to hit down the ground through the leverage of the long handle. Once he left the crease to smash Jayasuriya into the second tier behind long-on.Ruhuna, though, kept cutting off Razzaq’a support. Arosh Janoda got Joshua Cobb for 15 off six balls and Asanka Silva took out Andrew McDonald, captain in the injured Matthew Hoggard’s absence, for 24 off 15. When Will Jefferson got a rough lbw call to make it 81 for 3 in 9.1 overs, it was clear 13.2 overs would come and go. They came and went. Razzaq, though, wanted as big a run-rate gain as possible, and started trying to hit six off every delivery from the 12th over onwards. Thirty-three came in three overs, but Razzaq finally holed out after escaping two drops.With 33 required off 36, Leicestershire lost the plot for a bit. Paul Nixon and Wayne White fell playing big shots in the next two overs, and suddenly Ruhuna were the favourites to win. The tail could only manage singles as the noose got tighter and tighter. Then again they played out the 20 overs, reducing the margin to just four runs, which left Ruhuna with a minimum run-rate boost.By the time Ruhuna got rid of Leicestershire, the train was about to leave the station.

Bangladesh have named four players from the squad for the ongoing Chittagong Test – Raqibul Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo and Shuvagata Hom – to tour the West Indies with the A team from October 29

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2011Bangladesh have named four players from the squad for the ongoing Chittagong Test – Raqibul Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo and Shuvagata Hom – to tour the West Indies with the A team from October 29. Jahurul Islam was named captain of the squad.The Bangladesh A team is scheduled to leave Dhaka for the Caribbean on the same day the second Test against West Indies begins in Mirpur. Raqibul and Nasir, who are playing the Chittagong Test, are likely to leave only after the end of the home series against West Indies. Shuvo and Hom, on the other hand, are likely to fly with the rest of the A squad if they are not part of the XI for the second Test.Bangladesh A are touring the Caribbean for two four-day matches, two Twenty20 matches and three one-day matches.Bangladesh A: Jahurul Islam (capt), Mithun Ali (vc), Junaid Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, Robiul Islam, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shuvagata Hom, Nasir Hossain, Nasiruddin Faruque, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Mominul Haque, Noor Hossain, Shohag Gazi, Alauddin Babu.

Pat Cummins, the man most likely, and Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin, two of the least likely, delivered the most magnificent victory to Australia as the tourists chased the highest ever fourth innings total at the Wanderers, to square the series with S

The Report by Daniel Brettig21-Nov-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Brad Haddin scored his first Test innings of note in 2011, to set up a remarkable Australia win from an unlikely position•AFP

Pat Cummins, the man most likely, and Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin, two of the least, delivered the most magnificent victory to Australia as the tourists chased the highest ever fourth innings total at the Wanderers, to square the series with South Africa on the final day.At 215 for 6, Australia seemed to have as much of a chance to win as Haddin and Johnson had to make runs, based on their horrendous records this past year. Yet, somehow they forged a partnership of 72 to erase the bulk of the deficit, and after Haddin’s exit was followed by that of Peter Siddle, Johnson and Cummins ran down the final 18 required.No 18-year-old in cricket history could have enjoyed a debut as extraordinary as Man-of-the-Match Cummins, who followed seven wickets for the Test with a batting contribution of wondrous composure. He offered one chance, a sharp return-catch to Dale Steyn when nine were still required, and the resulting boundary was critical. Steyn, so often South Africa’s salvation, will curse his drop.Australia’s victory was a rare triumph in a close Test match – in recent years, they have made an unfortunate habit of losing the epics. Adelaide 1993, Sydney and Karachi 1994, Kolkata 2001, Edgbaston 2005 and Mohali 2010 all trigger painful recollections, but this result will do an enormous amount for a young team and a fledgling leader in Michael Clarke, so soon after the traumas of Cape Town.The result does not extinguish debates about the shape of the team, and injuries will also force changes for the home series against New Zealand. But Australia have now won the sort of match that can build a team and a tradition, and Cummins was right in the middle of it.South Africa will ponder plenty of what ifs, and are still without a home series victroy over Australia since readmission. But in Vernon Philander, the Man of the Series, they have at least found a seamer of high quality, and it was he who seemed on course to deliver victory.Philander’s relentless line with a hint of seam movement either way had accounted for Clarke and Michael Hussey, either side of Morne Morkel’s dismissal of Ricky Ponting, leaving Haddin, Johnson and the tail to confound conventional expectation and collect the remaining runs.Clarke was bowled early, Ponting chased a wide delivery into the slips, and Hussey was pinned in front of his stumps in the penultimate over of an extended afternoon session. Ponting, Haddin and Johnson are all at the mercy of Australia’s newly-formed selection panel.Dogged rain and heavy cloud delayed play until after lunch had been taken, and at 1pm local time the contest resumed. The moisture appeared to have freshened the surface somewhat, and added to the swing available to bowlers all match, making it a difficult scenario that confronted Clarke and Ponting.Their response was tentative, and Clarke’s careful forward push proved fatal as Philander found a fraction of seam movement on a perfect length to find the gap and flick the top of the stumps. Hussey may have been out to any one of his first few balls from Philander, who nipped the ball away with dastardly intent.At the other end Ponting was careful, plotting his way through each delivery with the careworn approach of a man weighing up his cricket mortality. For 33 balls on the final day he battled, but there were no boundaries forthcoming to get him going, and it was in belated search of one that Ponting departed. Morkel fired one short and wide, Ponting reacted a little too late, and the ball diverted off the toe of his bat into the slips. He lingered for a brief moment to survey his bat, then marched off to the most generous applause a tiny crowd could muster.Next man in, Haddin, reached the crease under arguably greater scrutiny for his spot than Ponting, Australian minds still reeling from the sight of his widely deplored second-day demise in Cape Town. This year Haddin had averaged 14.70 in 10 innings, and his keeping at the Wanderers lacked assurance. Yet he and Hussey had combined for Australia’s most lengthy Test partnership in the past 18 months, an epic 307 against England at the Gabba last November, and together they began to establish a bridgehead.Neither was entirely comfortable, Haddin beaten outside off stump a few times and once struck flush on the helmet by a Steyn ball that turned out to be more skidder than bouncer. Hussey had 31 when he pushed at Imran Tahir and edged behind, only for Mark Boucher to parry the chance beyond the reach of Jacques Rudolph at slip.A Tahir full toss and a Hussey cover drive brought the target within 100 runs of Australia, but Philander’s return brought perhaps the critical wicket. His first ball pitched on leg stump and caught Hussey on the crease, winning an lbw that was referred out of desperation and nothing else. Though Johnson’s first few balls were negotiated soundly enough, the second new ball was only nine overs away.Mindful of this fact, Haddin and Johnson attacked boldly on resumption, heaping four boundaries from the first two overs and quickly whittling away the target. Johnson was stopped momentarily by an apparent spike through his boot, but otherwise sailed on with a clean-striking approach. Haddin showed even more panache, driving Steyn straight and Morkel over cover and, notwithstanding an optimistic DRS referral against Haddin from Morkel, the 50-stand flashed by in 54 balls.Haddin’s first Test half-century of 2011 arrived in the final over of the old ball, and only 34 runs remained to be gleaned from the new. Philander’s first over brought a boundary, as did Steyn’s. However, Philander then had Haddin nicking a late away swinger behind, with 23 still to be made.The clouds had returned and the ball was hooping, the light also beginning to die. Siddle flicked one accomplished boundary, before Steyn claimed his first wicket of the innings when Australia’s No. 9 attempted a hasty repeat of the stroke.Cummins entered this match with a total of 27 runs in first-class and limited-overs cricket, and reached the crease with 18 still to get. A leading edge brought a precious three, and a series of nudges took the requirement into single figures.Second ball of Steyn’s next over and Cummins’ mis-hit drive flew through the bowler’s hands. The ball trickled down to the long-off boundary and Tahir was ruled to have touched the rope’s imprint – five to win. Cummins swung giddily for the remainder of the over, but survived, to leave Johnson on strike. Graeme Smith, gambling, brought back Tahir.Johnson pushed a single, and Cummins groped around a googly that struck him millimetres, at most, outside off stump. The DRS referral was duly denied by the umpire Ian Gould. Cummins left the next, a leg break, then collared a shorter googly through straight midwicket to raise the winning runs. Australia erupted, and the series was squared. Who but administrators would deny them a decider?

Shahid Afridi has said he views his upcoming stint with the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League as an opportunity to gain exposure and prepare for next year’s international assignments

Umar Farooq12-Dec-2011Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, has said he views his upcoming stint with the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League as an opportunity to gain exposure and prepare for next year’s international assignments. Afridi and Pakistan team-mate Abdul Razzaq have both signed with the Renegades for Australia’s new Twenty20 tournament, and Afridi said he was taking the tournament very seriously because he had sacrificed his off season to play in it.”My commitment with the Big Bash holds a lot of importance because it was an off season for me,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “It will not only help me maintain momentum but also give me good preparation considering the tough conditions and strong opponents in Australia.”Afridi goes into the tournament, which starts on December 16, on the back of an impressive year with the ball in which he has taken 45 wickets in 27 ODIs at 20.82, with four five-wicket hauls. He struggled with the bat during the 2011 World Cup but got his highest score of the year, 75, in the third ODI of Pakistan’s recent series against Sri Lanka in the UAE. He said he expected his legspin to be effective on Australian pitches but hoped to also contribute with the bat.”Legspinners can achieve a lot in Australian conditions and I am looking forward to contributing with my bowling,” he said. “I’ve been satisfied with my bowling performance but there is need for improvement in my batting. I am looking to play some good innings.”Razzaq goes into the series after missing the ODIs in Bangladesh due to a shoulder injury he sustained during the series against Sri Lanka. He said he had completely recovered from that and was looking forward to getting back to Twenty20 cricket. Razzaq averaged 29.22 for Leicestershire during the Friends Life t20 in England this summer and said he hoped to find form in the BBL.”The format is very exciting and familiar but equally tough,” Razzaq said. “I picked up an injury last month but I am fine now and looking forward to the Big Bash event. I hope I can find good touch.”

Shahriar Nafees and Shakib Al Hasan batted for almost two sessions to rescue Bangladesh from what had looked set to be yet another low total, after Aizaz Cheema had reduced them to 43 for 4 in helpful morning conditions

The Report by Abhishek Purohit17-Dec-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShahriar Nafees led by example at the top, after being put in to bat•AFP

Shakib Al Hasan and Shahriar Nafees showed that it was possible for Bangladesh batsmen to play shots without throwing their wickets away, with the country’s first century partnership in Tests since June 2010. The duo batted for almost two sessions to rescue Bangladesh from what had looked set to be yet another low total, after Aizaz Cheema had reduced them to 43 for 4 in helpful morning conditions.At no stage in their partnership were Shakib and Nafees subdued, and without doing anything reckless, put on 180 at more than three-and-a-half runs an over. Though the Mirpur track eased out completely after seaming around in the first session, Bangladesh had caved in for 135 on a flat Chittagong surface a week ago. With their Test status being called into question by some, they had everything to prove. Shakib and Nafees showed that there was more to Bangladesh cricket than a large and fanatical fan following.Fog and dew had delayed the start by 75 minutes but also encouraged Misbah-ul-Haq to ask the under-pressure Bangladesh batsmen to face his fast bowlers – although Pakistan went in with only two of them as against Bangladesh’s three. Cheema’s morning spell read 8-2-18-3 but Shakib ensured he was kept out of the attack for most of the second session, hitting him for three fours in four deliveries soon after lunch.Shakib’s aggression forced Misbah to turn to his spinners but there was not much help for them from a pitch that had now revealed itself to be a typical flat first-day subcontinent pitch. Shakib continued to play positively against Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, working them on the leg side, and driving and punching through extra cover. A back-foot punch off Ajmal brought up his 50 and he stepped out next ball to caress a flighted delivery to the extra-cover boundary to bring up the century partnership – Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes were involved in the previous one in Manchester, against England in June 2010.Nafees had earlier showed his team-mates the way to play the fast bowlers on a surface that was aiding seam in the morning. Wary of edging angled deliveries to the four slips, Nafees aimed to play straight as much as he could. Though that meant letting go of a few scoring opportunities, he went hard when he was given width and pulled with panache. Nafees hammered Umar Gul’s first delivery of his second spell through extra cover to reach his third 50 after his return to the Test side in August.Going against the propensity of Bangladesh batsmen to implode after reaching half-centuries, both batsmen continued in the same vein after getting to their landmarks. With the light fading in the Dhaka winter, Shakib cut Gul for two boundaries in an over to move to 99 and brought the appreciative crowd to its feet with a characteristic chop through point to reach his second Test hundred. Nafees clattered Ajmal through extra cover to move to 97 but Gul sent down an accurate bouncer in his next over to have him gloving it to the wicketkeeper. By then, though, Bangladesh had restored their pride, and Pakistan had looked clueless for the first time in three weeks on this tour.Things had looked almost predictably bleak for Bangladesh in the morning after Cheema, especially, and Gul were relentless in exposing the hosts’ frailties. Getting sharp seam movement, Cheema had Nazimuddin padding up in his first over, though everyone except umpire Shavir Tarapore thought that the bounce would have taken the ball over the stumps.Gul did not get the kind of movement off the pitch that Cheema managed, and in the absence of swing, he had to rely on his accuracy and the element of surprise. After Tamim Iqbal had tentatively survived against several pitched-up deliveries, Gul dug in the bouncer in his fourth over. Tamim did what Tamim does, and the top-edged hook was taken safely by Cheema at fine leg.With Bangladesh bringing in a fast bowler at the expense of Mohammad Ashraful, Mahmudullah was given a promotion in the batting order to No. 4. It didn’t work, as Cheema rattled Mahmudullah’s stumps first ball with one that nipped in between bat and pad.Nasir Hossain, who had batted as low as No. 8 in the first innings in Chittagong, was sent in at 21 for 3. He looked thoroughly uncomfortable initially, stabbing and getting beaten as the ball jagged around. Another prod at an away-going Cheema delivery produced the edge and ended in the gloves of Adnan Akmal to make it 43 for 4. Another Test involving Bangladesh could have been decided by the first innings, but for Nafees and Shakib.

Central Districts bounced back from a sluggish run in the HRV Cup, with a comprehensive 53-run victory against Wellington at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2012
ScorecardCentral Districts bounced back from a sluggish run in the HRV Cup, with a comprehensive 53-run victory against Wellington at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. Wellington’s decision to put CD in to bat backfired spectacularly as Jamie How and Peter Ingram crunched a hefty 201-run stand for the first wicket to set up their side for triumph.Leading from the front, captain How smashed eight sixes and as many fours in his 48-ball 102, while Ingram missed his hundred by three runs when he was bowled by Andy McKay for 97 off 54 balls, in the 17th over. CD couldn’t finish too well after losing the openers, but it didn’t matter as they still piled on an imposing 222 for 2 in their 20 overs.Opener Michael Pollard scored 53 off 35 balls to give Wellington a slim chance of chasing the target, but his contribution went in vein as Wellington lost regular wickets at the other end. James Franklin (27 off 15 balls) was the next highest scorer, leaving Wellington without enough fire power to gun down the steep target. They eventually finished at 169 for 9, and the defeat meant they were stuck firmly to the bottom of the table with just two wins in ten games.

ESPNcricinfo looks at five players that might be on Pune Warriors’ radar

Tariq Engineer22-Feb-2012One innings has been enough to make Richard Levi an IPL target•Getty Images

A week ago Richard Levi would probably not have made this list. What a difference 20 overs makes. The international spotlight fell well and truly on Levi following his record-breaking 117 in the second Twenty20 against New Zealand in Hamilton. The IPL has already come calling too. Levi’s agent Arthur Turner told ESPNcricinfo that, “Franchises are interested in his services and offers have been made.” If his 45-ball hundred is any indication of his potential, Levi could well have an outsized impact on the tournament.Ryan ten Doeschate is the only player from an Associate country to have played in the IPL. Kevin O’Brien could well be the second. The Ireland allrounder’s majestic century against England in the 2011 World Cup will live long in the memories of those who had the privilege of watching it. He doesn’t have a particularly great record in Twenty20, averaging 18.58. But he has made a hundred and with a strike rate of 139.46 plus the ability to bowl medium-pace, he could be a useful addition.Jacob Oram might be injured, but when he is on the field, he is one of the better allrounders in T20 cricket. He will be available for the entire seven weeks of the tournament, and having played for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in the past, knows how to operate in Indian conditions. In the 2011 World Cup, he took 12 wickets at an average of 18.41. His standout performance came in New Zealand’s upset victory over South Africa in the quarter-finals. In that game, he took 4 for 39 and pulled off a stunning catch to dismiss Jacques Kallis to earn the Man-of-the-Match award.No England players were bought in the 2012 player auction but Ravi Bopara could be worth a second look. Bopara has impressed in the one-day series against Pakistan, scoring two half-centuries in three games and averaging 54. He can also turn his arm over and though he won’t be available for the entire tournament, a month of Bopara could prove a worthwhile investment for Pune.Lonwabo Tsotsobe has been quietly going about his business in limited-overs cricket, and is currently ranked No. 2 by the ICC in ODIs. The left-arm fast bowler has never played in the IPL, and went unsold in the auction, but his career T20 numbers are impressive. He has taken 36 wickets from 35 games at an average of 21.80 and gives away only 6.46 runs an over. His numbers in T20 internationals are even better. In nine games, he has taken 10 wickets at an average of 19.50 and has an economy rate of 6.09. South Africa also have no conflicting international commitments, so Tsotsobe could well join his South Africa team-mate Wayne Parnell in Pune’s squad.Edited by Siddarth Ravindran

Alister McDermott was the chief tormentor as Tasmania’s batsmen were suffocated by Queensland on a day one of the Sheffield Shield final in Brisbane

Daniel Brettig16-Mar-2012
Scorecard
Steven Cazzulino occupied 198 balls without striking a boundary•Getty Images

Alister McDermott was the chief tormentor as Tasmania’s batsmen were suffocated by Queensland on a draining day one of the Sheffield Shield final in Brisbane.Claiming three wickets in an afternoon spell that tilted the balance of play, McDermott added a fourth when he removed Steven Cazzulino after an obstinate 68 that contained not even a solitary boundary – the batsmen handicapped by a slow outfield in addition to the questions posed by the bowlers.The captain Ricky Ponting managed only one, leaving Luke Butterworth and Tom Triffitt to hold their ground in the day’s closing overs as Queensland’s bowlers tired. McDermott, Steve Magoffin and the Bulls captain James Hopes all had their energy and fitness sapped by the Brisbane sun and Ryan Harris was clearly frustrated at times by the sort of day on which he could easily have claimed five wickets on his own.Tasmania have at least given themselves something to bowl at in weather that should offer further assistance in the next few days. They would though, want to add to their tally on the second morning. Ponting had won the toss on a Gabba surface that showed some evidence of the tackiness of drying paint and moisture, the only question being how long that would last.Aware they were in for a difficult morning, Ed Cowan and Cazzulino began carefully, scoring mainly with deflections through the legside and leaving as much as they could. Cowan was struck an eye-watering blow to a ribs from a Magoffin delivery that cut back and appeared to disturb the surface, but held his ground to raise a 50-run opening stand.A little exasperated by the number of plays and misses his bowlers gained without catching an edge, Hopes called on the legspin of Cameron Boyce, and met with success almost immediately. Boyce was delivering his second over to Cowan when he managed to catch the edge of a footmark outside off stump, causing the ball to kick and spin sharply. Cowan had shaped to cut, but could manage only lay a glove on the ball before Chris Hartley held a juggling catch.Coming in at No. 3, Alex Doolan showed the most fluent touch of any Tiger, striking four boundaries and impressing with his upright strokeplay. Together with the limpet-like Cazzulino, he took the visitors to a seemingly comfortable 1 for 138 before McDermott intervened.Swinging and seaming the ball a little on a full length, McDermott coaxed Doolan into an impulsive drive, the edge snapped up by Harris at first slip. Ponting was next in, but was dismissed by a delivery that lifted sharply, catching the shoulder of the former Australian captain’s bat before looping just far enough for Joe Burns to catch it on the dive.Nick Kruger matched Ponting’s score, scratching around before fending limply into the slips cordon, to give McDermott three critical wickets in the one mid-afternoon spell.Paralysis then gripped the Tasmanian innings, as Cazzulino fought for survival but was capable of no more than that, while James Faulkner battled with his timing on a testing pitch and slow outfield. Harris and Magoffin, the latter afflicted by an aching body, beat the bat repeatedly, leaving Hopes to split the visiting pair.Finding some late in-swing, Hopes won an lbw verdict as Faulkner shouldered arms, and next over Cazzulino’s vigil was terminated when McDermott angled across him on the ideal length to catch a thin edge.A Shield final speciailst after strong displays in 2007 and last year, Butterworth struck the first boundary for 33 overs, and with the wicketkeeper Triffitt attempted to salvage things in the final hour. Whether they can cobble enough runs on day two against a refreshed attack remains open to question.

Steve Magoffin has signed for Sussex as an overseas player for the early part of the 2012 season.

George Dobell02-Apr-2012Steve Magoffin has signed for Sussex as an overseas player for the early part of the 2012 season.Magoffin, the 32-year-old Australian seamer who has previously enjoyed stints in county cricket with Leicestershire, Surrey and Worcestershire, will arrive in time for Sussex’s second championship game of the season. He has taken 247 wickets at an average of 26.62 in his first-class career. He is also an improving batsman who will some steel to Sussex’s lower order.Sussex had signed swing bowler Tim Southee, but the New Zealander was forced to pull out of the deal.Magoffin, who was recently part of the Queensland side that won the Sheffield Shield, was called up as cover to the Test team during the tour of South Africa in 2009 but has never played international cricket. He qualifies for a work permit through his marriage to a British woman.”We had done a deal with Tim Southee,” Sussex professional cricket manager Mark Robinson said. “But that got pulled out for medical reasons and just around the same time, we received notification that Steve may be available.”We were moving very quickly to seal a deal which should be good for the club and the dressing room. He fits the bill of what we need in terms of how he bowls and him as a person.””I am delighted to be heading to Sussex for the beginning of the county season,” Magoffin said. “Sussex is one of the most successful county clubs in England in recent times, and it is an honour to be considered by them to be their overseas player.”I have always enjoyed my time playing in the UK and my wife and I are very much looking forward to our time in Hove and meeting everyone from the club”.Sussex’s Captain Michael Yardy said: “Steve has been a successful bowler throughout his career and we’re very pleased that he’ll be wearing a Sussex shirt this year.”His experience and skills will complement our improving bowling attack in both one-day and four-day cricket”.