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ScorecardMichael Dighton celebrated his return to Derby with a match-winning century that gave the Netherlands their first victory in the Clydesdale Bank 40 League. The 34-year-old Tasmania veteran scored a superb unbeaten 110 from 106 balls against the county he played for three years ago as the Dutch chased down a target of 207 on a slow pitch to clinch a seven-wicket win with four balls to spare.It condemned Derbyshire to their fourth defeat in Group B despite 73 from 91 balls by skipper Chris Rogers but no other batsman reached 30 for the home side. The game was in the balance when the Netherlands needed 76 from the last 10 overs but Dighton and former Sussex batsman Bas Zuiderent kept their nerves to seal a notable victory with an unbroken stand of 127 in 17 overs.Netherlands had started well after putting the Falcons in, with Mark Jonkman yorking Chesney Hughes in the second over. When Robin Peterson was caught behind down the legside off Jonkman, the home side were 33 for 2 but Rogers once again proved to be the key wicket for Derbyshire.The Falcons skipper seized on anything short or overpitched to reach 50 from 63 balls but none of the other batsmen could come to terms with the conditions. Wes Durston flickered briefly on his debut, depositing Pietar Seelaar over wide long-on into a car park, but the left-arm spinner emerged with credit to finish with three wickets for 39 runs from seven overs.When Rogers skied a pull to point, the Falcons were in danger of falling short of 200 and went into the last 10 overs with a lot to do on 149 for 6. John Sadler drove Mudassar Bukhari over long-off for six but clipped the next ball into the hands of midwicket and it needed some powerful blows from Steffan Jones to take the Falcons past 200.The Welshman hit 22 off 14 balls and was out to the last ball of the innings, caught at long-on off Seelaar going for his fifth four – but he had taken his side to a challenging total on a sluggish surface.Netherlands scored only 40 from the first 10 overs but Dighton made sure they never lost touch by pacing his innings well to reach his third fifty in the competition off 56 balls. Although he and Zuiderent did not hit a boundary for nine overs, they worked the ball around to chip away at the target which was reduced when Jones sent a wide sliding down the legside to the boundary.Dighton, whose highest score for Derbyshire was 68, reached his hundred off 103 balls and he celebrated by driving Tom Lungley over long-on for his second six in the penultimate over. Fittingly, it was Dighton who hit the winning runs by driving Garry Park through the covers for his ninth four to give the Netherlands only their second victory over a county side and their first in England.

Bowling change of the day
Luke Wright made a memorably succinct contribution to England’s World Twenty20 victory over Australia – his solitary over of the tournament produced the wicket of Cameron White and stifled the run-rate with five singles. Today, however, he didn’t have to wait nearly so long to get involved, as Andrew Strauss called him into action in the 14th over, midway through the bowling Powerplay. With visible self-belief, he bounded to the crease with the vigour of a Labrador puppy, removed Tim Paine with his second delivery, then had Ricky Ponting caught at fine leg for initial figures of 3-1-7-2.Anchor of the day
For all his indubitable class, Michael Clarke has never quite convinced as a limited-overs batsman, and as captain in the Caribbean recently, he singled himself out as a scapegoat after coming in at No. 3 in the final and plodding his way to a run-a-ball 27. So, what is there to say about his latest effort – 87 not out from 97 balls? On the one hand, it met the needs of his team entirely, as he stabilised the innings from a dicey 98 for 4, and enabled Australia to bat out the remaining 28 overs of their innings. On the other hand, it lacked a critical final measure of oomph, as 12 singles and a two from his final 13 balls would testify. With better support, it might not have mattered, but in a new-look side, the onus was on Clarke to be anchor and impetus.Innings of the day
It was left to England’s Irishman to demonstrate how to recover a one-day innings, from a near-identical scoreline of 97 for 4. Eoin Morgan waited 19 balls today for his first boundary, a bout of circumspection that compared to his 27-ball wait during his Test debut against Bangladesh last month. But whereas on that occasion, he gave his start away with a loose dab on 44, this time he ground urgently through the gears to leave the Aussies needing (and lacking) inspiration to dislodge him. He broke the run-chase with 10 fours in the space of his next 34 balls, the most audacious of which was a flippant uppercut for a one-bounce four over third man. The remainder of the innings was a cruise, but he still sealed it in style with an 85-ball hundred.Let-off of the day
Kevin Pietersen is playing his last “home” international at the Rose Bowl, after the announcement that he will be leaving Hampshire at the end of the summer. In five-and-a-half seasons, he has managed seven Championship matches, 17 List-As and two Twenty20 appearances, so this hardly amounted to a teary-eyed farewell, but it ought to have been more anticlimactic than his eventual 29 from 36. While still on 0, and facing up to Ryan Harris, he played loosely away from his body for Paine to claim what sounded like a faint snick. The umpire was unmoved, but later Snickometer replays suggested KP was a bit lucky.Debut of the day
Last month, the 21-year-old Steven Finn announced himself as the next big thing in England’s bowling ranks, as his 6’7″ frame routed Bangladesh in consecutive Tests at Lord’s and Old Trafford. Though he’s now being hidden during this five-match Ashes appetizer, the Aussies have had no such qualms about blooding their own lanky rookie, with the 19-year-old Josh Hazlewood becoming the youngest ODI debutant in their history. At 6’5″, he is a fraction shorter than Finn, but on initial inspection, he’s no less a prospect. He started nervously as Pietersen crunched his first ball for four, and eventually conceded 41 in seven overs. But his cross-seam cutter to bowl Craig Kieswetter was a peach, and it was notable that Ponting trusted him with a slip in a hunt for mid-innings wickets. On this occasion, the ploy failed, but many fine careers have been launched in defeat.Superfluous expenditure of the day
On the day that George Osborne announced stringent cuts in the government’s emergency budget, the Rose Bowl authorities were on hand to demonstrate that not everyone’s purse-strings require the same amount of tightening. The summer solstice has only just passed, and with the sun eventually setting at 9.23pm this was in fact the third-longest day of the year, not to mention one of the hottest. There wasn’t a whole lot of need for the floodlights that blazed away from the end of Australia’s innings, and didn’t really play any significant role until the final 15 overs of England’s run-chase. Still, they looked impressive, as indeed did the rest of the ground. Nine years after its inauguration, Hampshire’s international venue is finally coming into its own.

ScorecardAdam Lyth continued his impressive form as Yorkshire replied to an Essex total of 399 in their County Championship Division One clash at Chelmsford. The 22-year-old left-hander, the first player to reach 1,000 runs this season, provided further evidence of his potential with a well-constructed 75.It was the 11th time this summer he had passed 50 in the Championship, three of which he has converted into 100s. Lyth looked on course for a fourth when he was bowled around his legs by paceman Chris White after an innings which contained 11 boundaries.Yorkshire, the Championship leaders, reached the close on 227 for 5, which represented something of a disappointment after Lyth and Jacques Rudolph had launched the innings with a partnership of 81.That ended when Andy Carter, a fast bowler on loan from Nottinghamshire and making his Championship debut for Essex, made a delivery climb on the opener to have Rudolph caught behind for 32. But it was left-arm spinner Tim Phillips who was the pick of the Essex bowlers.Varying his pace and flight well he has so far collected 2 for 72 from 29 overs. He had Anthony McGrath caught at short leg by Jaik Mickleburgh and then bowled Jonathan Bairstow as he pushed forward. The other Yorkshire wicket to fall was that of Andrew Gale who was within three of his half-century when he was caught behind cutting at offspinner Tom Westley.Earlier, Essex added a further 46 from 21 overs after they had resumed at an overnight 353 for 6. Three of the remaining wickets to fall were picked up by legspinner Adil Rashid as he finished with 5 for 87.Among them was Grant Flower who faced a further 43 deliveries in the morning without adding to his overnight score of 5, which came from only two scoring strokes in an innings of 78 balls. Flower was eventually put out of his misery when he drove into the hands of McGrath at mid-off.Last man Carter succeeded in dispatching Rashid for the only six of the innings but in trying to repeat the stroke was caught at deep mid-off in the same over.

ScorecardCraig Kieswetter hit his first County Championship half-century of the season as Somerset reached 517 all out on the second day against title-chasing Nottinghamshire at Taunton.It was only the wicketkeeper’s ninth innings in the competition due to England one-day commitments, but he will still have been relieved to hit 73 after a spell of poor form with the bat. Peter Trego made 54 and Darren Pattinson took 5 for 95. By the close Nottinghamshire had replied with 278 for 5 and required a further 90 to avoid following-on.Samit Patel (92 not out) and Chris Read (75 not out) led a determined fightback from 130 for 5 after Matt Wood had made 72 against his former team. Somerset began the day on 423 for 6 and Peter Trego was given a life on 38 when Wood dropped him at long leg off Pattinson. Trego went on to reach his fifty from 61 balls with eight fours and Kieswetter followed him to the landmark in the same over, having faced 87 deliveries and hit six fours.Pattinson claimed his fifth wicket when Trego drove a catch to Mark Wagh at deep cover. Trego and Kieswetter had added 113 for the seventh wicket, but worryingly for Nottinghamshire the ball was starting to turn, as Kieswetter found to his cost when bowled by Patel.Alfonso Thomas added an unbeaten 30 at the end of the innings and Nottinghamshire were left with six overs to face before lunch, which they reached at 15 without loss. Wood and Alex Hales extended their opening stand to 41 before Hales was caught at slip by Marcus Trescothick off the fifth ball of Murali Kartik’s first over.It was 48 for 2 when Wagh, on four, drove Trego to Zander de Bruyn at short extra cover, one of several imaginative field placings in catching positions in front of the bat placed by Trescothick. Wood reached his half-century from 87 balls with nine fours, punishing anything short with some attractive off-side shots, but with the total on 119 he edged another left-arm spinner, Arul Suppiah, to Trescothick at slip.It was 128 for 3 at tea and Nottinghamshire looked to be slipping into deep trouble when Charl Willoughby struck twice in the first over of the evening session. First he had Dave Hussey taken low down by Trescothick, his third slip catch. Then two balls later Alistair Brown lifted a good length ball straight to De Bruyn at cover.Read survived a difficult chance to Kartik at slip off Willoughby on five and gradually helped Patel turn the innings around. Patel’s reached his fifty from 103 balls, with eight fours and a six, whileRead’s half-century came from just 58 deliveries and featured 11 boundaries. By the close they had put on 148 in testing circumstances to keep Nottinghamshire in the match.

ScorecardVeteran Dominic Cork and youngster Liam Dawson rescued Hampshire with a 62-run unbeaten stand for the seventh wicket as Warwickshire’s bowlers caused problems for the home side on a rain-shortened first day at the Rose Bowl as the visitors battled for Division one survival.Dawson and Cork’s dogged resistance came after Hampshire had been reduced to a paltry 85 for six – largely thanks to a three-wicket burst from former England international batsman Darren Maddy, who took 3 for 25.Openers Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams had got Hampshire off to a slow but steady start and they had reached 29 before Chris Woakes had Carberry caught by Rikki Clarke. Adams fell just two runs later when Maddy – exploiting cloudy conditions ideal for swing bowling – trapped him lbw plumb in front.Australian Phillip Hughes and Dawson combined briefly to steady the innings, but in bowler-friendly conditions every other ball looked capable of breaching their defences. Hughes was next to depart when Maddy, bowling at probably half the pace of some of England’s pace attack who troubled Hughes so much last summer, clean-bowled him with another well-directed cutter.Better was to follow for Maddy just two balls later when Hampshire hot prospect James Vince departed, snared by a neat catch from Ian Bell. Despite the chaos around him in front of a sparse home crowd, Dawson remained a picture of calmness at the non-striker’s end as the wickets tumbled.But while he coped admirably as Chris Woakes, Andrew Miller, Clarke and Maddy found extravagant movement, boundaries remained in short supply and he was forced to deal predominantly in scampered singles.Sean Ervine was the next Hampshire batsman to give Dawson temporary company, working his way to a 21-ball 15 before Maddy was once again in the action, taking a good catch off Clarke’s bowling. With Warwickshire smelling blood as Michael Bates’ dismissal to Keith Barker’s left-arm swing left Hampshire six down and still shy of 100 runs on the board, veteran Cork stepped to the crease.He not only provided a sturdy presence but showed the increasingly cautious Dawson that quick runs could be made, finding the boundary with a regularity beyond his team-mates.With Cork blasting his way to 41 from just 38 balls and seemingly set to bludgeon his way to a quick-fire half-century, the rain – which had threatened to settle in for the afternoon – finally arrived, bringing a close to proceedings.

ScorecardDimuth Karunaratne’s maiden one-day hundred and a little help from Duckworth-Lewis saw Sri Lanka A beat Pakistan A by seven runs at the P Sara Oval on Thursday. With two overs remaining, Sri Lanka still needed four runs to win with its number ten and eleven at the wicket, but bad light forced play to be called off. The resulting D/L calculations gave the hosts their first win in the triangular series, which also features South Africa A. Sri Lanka and South Africa will meet in the final on September 6.When Karunaratne fell lbw to Mohammad Irfan in the 41st over, Pakistan looked to be in the driving seat. But Seekkuge Prasanna threw his bat around to make 30 off 17 balls, with four fours, to tilt the game in Sri Lanka’s favour. The last two batsmen then hung around long enough for the light to intervene.Pakistan’s total was built around a solid hundred from Asad Shafiq, who scored at a run-a-ball, with seven fours. He got little support from the rest of teammates, however, with only Sheharyar Ghani making more than 30.

Ian Buxton, the former Derbyshire captain, has died aged 72 at his home in the Derbyshire town of Matlock.In 15 season at Derbyshire he played 350 first-class matches making 11,803 runs at 23.94 as a middle-order batsman. He also captured 483 first-class wickets at 26.38, including 12 five-wicket hauls, with his medium-pace bowling.One of the highlights of his career was when he took 11 wickets in a day to inflict a defeat on Worcestershire in 1968. He was county captain between 1970 and 1972.Buxton was one of the last of those who was able to play professional football as well as cricket, enjoying spells with Derby County, Luton Town and Notts County before joining Port Vale in 1969 and was a regular throughout the rest of the club’s 1969-70 Fourth Division promotion-winning campaign. The club paid the £500 registration fee to sign him permanently, in the knowledge that his cricket commitments meant he would miss the last four games anyway.

Kris Srikkanth, chairman of the Indian team’s selection committee, has termed the victory over Australia in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam a confidence-booster ahead of the World Cup. India went into the game without five first-choice players and their inexperienced bowling attack conceded 289, but the young batting line-up responded calmly to complete India’s highest successful chase against Australia.The victory was set up by Virat Kohli 118, and there were half-centuries from Yuvraj Singh, who has struggled for form and fitness over the past few months, and Suresh Raina.”It was an important win in the context of the World Cup because it creates confidence in the team,” Srikkanth told the newspaper . “When you win against the No. 1 one-day team in the world chasing a record total, it is all the more satisfying.”The way we approached the game was fantastic. The good sign is that the youngsters are putting up their hands and taking up responsibility. It has proved that we have strong bench strength. It’s always heartening to see youngsters winning matches for you. It is a good sign for any country.”Injuries and fitness concerns have meant India have only sporadically fielded top players like Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in recent one-day tournaments. With the 2011 World Cup set to begin in four months, the selectors have a rotation policy in place for one-dayers to ensure the first-choice stars are fit and fresh for the competition.Following the Australia series, India play five ODIs at home against New Zealand and five more in South Africa, apart from three-Test series against both teams. Srikkanth said there was a plan in place to manage the personnel in the lead-up to the World Cup.”We have held meetings with the captain, coach, team management and the BCCI,” Srikkanth said. “We know what they are doing with the board. We have drawn up a beautiful plan in coordination with all sides concerned. We’re on track.”

Nick Compton carried his fine Twenty20 form into the first-class format as his first century of the season helped Mashonaland Eagles earn a draw against Southern Rocks at the Harare Sports Club. Rocks, however, took one point from the game after securing the first-innings lead.Compton, who was the leading run-getter in the Stanbic Bank 20 Series that Eagles won in November, came to the crease with his team in trouble at 61 for 5 in their second innings. By stumps on the third day, Eagles had lost another wicket and Compton was unbeaten on 44 with his team at 127 for 6. At that stage, Rocks were odds-on favourites to win the match, having taken a 36-run lead in the first innings. But Compton found an able partner in fast bowler Trevor Garwe, and the two defied Rocks well into the second season on the final day. When Garwe was out for 64, Eagles declared at 293 for 7, with Compton unbeaten on 136. Rocks needed 256 to win in half a day, and the match petered out to a draw.Rocks had taken the advantage on the first day, bowling Eagles out for 202 after putting them in to bat. Seamers Robertson Chinyengetere and Michael Chinouya took three wickets each as Eagles struggled to get going, with none of their batsmen reaching 50. Their bowlers responded well on the second day, reducing Rocks to 180 for 7 at one stage. Eagles seamer Innocent Chinyoka took 4 for 53 and Rocks needed Steve Tikolo’s 57 to give them a first-innings lead. Rocks bowlers then struck five early blows to give them a chance for their first win of the season, before Compton’s match-saving innings. Eagles stay above Rocks in the table, with two points compared to their one.Matabeleland Tuskers were hampered by incessant rain at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo as they tried to catch up with Mountaineers at the top of the table. The first and then the fourth day were completely washed out and neither team picked up any points.Tuskers elected to bat first and when play began on the second day, managed to reach 264 in their first innings, riding on Paul Horton’s 121. Tuskers’ bowlers then gave them a shot at the first-innings lead, reducing Mountaineers to 99 for 4 on the third day. But rain played spoilsport and ensured there was no more play in the match.

Australia women beat New Zealand women by four wickets in the second Twenty20 of the Rose Bowl series at the Saxton Oval in Nelson. New Zealand elected to bat and started rapidly with openers Aimee Watkins and Sarah Tsukigawa adding 21 runs inside the first three overs before Tsukigawa was dismissed. A third-wicket partnership of 29 between Watkins and Sara McGlashan took New Zealand to 62 before Watkins was dismissed. That triggered a collapse as New Zealand lost seven wickets for 60 runs. Debutant Sarah Coyte picked up two middle-order wickets and was involved in two run-outs as New Zealand managed to reach a below-par 122 for 9.Australia got off to a solid start, reaching 38 for 1 in just under six overs. Shelley Nitschke was run out on the same score and Australia lost momentum after that. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and at 79 for 6, it looked like New Zealand would defend their total. However, an unbeaten 44-run partnership for the seventh wicket between wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy (28) and Coyte (14) carried Australia home. Australia now lead the eight-match Rose Bowl series, that comprises five Twenty20 and three ODIs, 1-0. The first Twenty20 in Hamilton was abandoned due to rain. The third T20 will be played on February 18 in Invercargill.