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Scorecard File photo: Rakep Patel his 12 fours and a six in his 58-ball knock•ICC/Zainab Malubhai

Rakep Patel top-scored with a 58-ball 80 as Kenya beat Namibia by 11 runs in Windhoek to register their second win in the ICC World Cricket League.Rakep built on the foundation laid by Alex Obanda, the opener, who made a solid 78-ball 52 as Kenya finished with 287 for 7 in 50 overs. Namibia were driven by Stephan Baard’s counterattacking 106-ball 132 that allowed them to stay ahead of the asking rate for the first 20 overs.But once Baard, the captain, fell, the innings came apart as they lost their last five wickets for 55 runs. That the second highest total for Namibia was 33 by JP Kotze explained Namibia’s woes as they were bowled out for 276 in 49 overs. Shem Ngoche, the left-arm spinner, inflicted maximum damage by returning figures of 3 for 53, while Elijah Otieno and Nelson Odhiambo, the pacers, took two wickets apiece.Both sides will square off again on Sunday at the same venue.

Michael Slater has roared back to life on another day of unusual twists and turns in the Pura Cup clash between Tasmania and New South Wales at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. The aggressive opener’s attainment of a thirty-third first-class century provided the main highlight of the second day’s play, at the end of which the Blues find themselves at a score of 4/193 in reply to the Tigers’ 362.Until the left arm orthodox prowess of Daniel Marsh (3/35) sent the Blues into a tailspin in late afternoon, this had largely been New South Wales’ day. Despite continuing to battle in vain to beat the bat of Ricky Ponting (187*), it began with the visitors managing to exert something of a hold over the right hander’s scoring rate by setting deep and defensive fields throughout the morning. This had the twin effect of drying up the Tigers’ progress and of reducing the star batsman’s chances of recording double centuries in successive Pura Cup matches. Once young wicketkeeper Sean Clingeleffer (21) lost his wicket as he drove a Shane Lee (2/47) delivery uppishly to point, the end for the locals indeed came quickly.Despite a rushed visit to hospital last week after the onset of difficulties with his breathing, Slater (100) gave the appearance of a man very much at the top of his powers as the reply began. Against an attack which battled for line and length, the Test opener thrashed twelve punishing boundaries in an innings which provided a heady mixture of aggression and defence. Together with Corey Richards (69), the energetic right hander guided the Blues to a score of 0/146 an hour before the close. By that stage, the upper hand in the contest had clearly been assumed by the visitors.Not for the first time in this match, though, fortunes turned in almost the twinkling of an eye. Courtesy of a brilliant tumbling catch full length to his right, Marsh initiated the demise of Richards. Sixteen minutes later, Steve Waugh (7) lobbed back a second catch, affording the spinner his hundredth first-class wicket, after being beaten by Marsh’s flight. Then, Slater himself became the third player in succession to be deceived, incredibly enough, by a full toss, driving back another regulation catch off a leading edge after the ball had dropped on him quickly in the tricky cross-breeze ripping across the ground. By the time that David Saker (1/58) trapped Brad Haddin (1) in front of his stumps with a yorker, New South Wales was suddenly 4/188 and matters were evenly poised again.Alongside the sight of two centuries and five ducks in the Tasmanian innings, the spectre of three return catches off full tosses provided another very peculiar touch to the game. Not as novel nor as intriguing, though, is the forecast that rain will sweep into an until now sunny Hobart during the two closing days of what has developed into a fascinating contest.

Sri Lanka’s promising young fast bowler Akalanka Ganegama was in devastating form as he guided defending champs Hatton National Bank to a comfortable 44-run win over Access Group in a key Mercantile `A’ division cricket match played at the Moors SC grounds on Saturday.Ganegama (20) knocked the fight out of the Access batting when he creamed off their top four batsmen for five runs, chasing an HNB total of 221 for eight off 50 overs. Ganegama’s victims included national players Aravinda de Silva (2) and Indika de Saram (0) as he finished with final figures of four for 29 off seven overs as Access were dismissed for 177 in the 38th over.Jeevantha Kulatunga in a late flourish slammed 41 off 42 balls inclusive of a four and three sixes to see Access to a respectable total.HNB sent into bat by Access, built their total around another national cricketer Tillekeratne Dilshan’s knock of 56 off 70 balls (6 fours).Sri Lanka players played prominent roles in guiding the fortunes of their respective companies to victory.At the Bloomfield grounds, Chaminda Vaas came up with a cameo all-round performance to see Seylan Bank to a convincing ten-wicket win over Singer.Vaas ran through the batting taking three for 13 as Singer were bundled out for 101 and then opening the batting, hit a sparkling unbeaten 72 off just 46 balls to see them home in the 15th over. Left-hander Vaas smashed two sixes and 11 fours in a fine display of power hitting.Sri Lanka vice-captain Marvan Atapattu and middle-order batsman Kumar Sangakkara hit fifties and shared a century partnership for Sampath Bank in their crushing 162-run win over East West at the NCC grounds.Sampath Bank rattled up the highest total of the day scoring 254 for 8 in 50 overs. Sangakkara made 51 off 79 balls (2 fours) and Atapattu, a stroke-filled 88 off 98 balls with one six and six fours as they shared a fourth wicket partnership of 112 off 22 overs.East West offered hardly any opposition being shot out for 92 in 31 overs with fast-medium bowler Aruna Bandaranayake capturing four wickets for 33.In the other match of the day, Janashakthi pulled off an 83-run win over John Keells at the Colts grounds. In reply to Janashakthi’s total of 182, John Keells could reply with only 99 with H.G.D. Nanayakkara taking 4 for 29.

Otago’s new look under the State sponsorship announced today was demonstrated at a funcation at the Otago Cricket High Performance Centre.Those attending the Dunedin function included Otago Cricket’s patron Arthur Ibbotson and Mrs Ibbotson, life member Iain Gallaway, president Warren Shirley, board members Stuart Heal, ‘Jazz’ Hewitson and Peter Dobbs, and representatives from Otago Cricket’s major sponsors, State, the Dunedin Casino and Bentley’s Hotel.State Otago Volt Robbie Lawson and State Otago Spark Rowan Milburn modelled the uniforms at the function.

Bihar recovered after a poor start to make 258 on the openingday of their East Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Assamat the Keenan stadium in Jamshedpur on Wednesday. At stumpsAssam reply were five for no loss off three overs.Opting to bat, Bihar lost three wickets for 24. All the wicketswere taken by medium pacer J Zaman who dismissed D Chakravarthy,A Hashmi and Rajiv Kumar in successive overs. The recovery processwas initiated by opener N Ranjan (58) and skipper Sunil Kumar(68) who added 104 runs for the fourth wicket off 32.4 overs.While Ranjan faced 141 balls and hit seven fours, Sunil Kumarfaced 170 balls and also hit seven of them to the ropes.Sunil Kumar and Sandeep Roy (24) continued the recovery processby putting on 55 runs off 19.3 overs for the fifth wicket. Therest of the batsmen, with the exception of wicketkeeper MSDhoni, however came to grief against O Singh who took four ofthe last six wickets to fall and finished with five for 81 off28.3 overs. Dhoni scored a valuable 40 off 62 balls with thehelp of eight fours. Zaman finished with three for 45.

Chris Rogers, the former Australia opener, has signed a one-year deal with Somerset who will become his fifth English county.Rogers retired from international cricket after the final Ashes Test at The Oval in August and his highest score, 173, came during the series at Lord’s although that was also the match where he was forced to retire hurt after suffering dizzy spells in the second innings.Somerset have said that Rogers is set to bat at No. 3 next season, meaning the opening partnership will remain Marcus Trescothick and 21-year-old Tom Abell who made 726 runs at 36.30 in 2015 and won the LV=Breakthrough Player award.”I’m really pleased to be joining a club of the stature of Somerset,” Rogers said. “I have always enjoyed playing cricket in England and as soon as I heard that Somerset were interested I wanted to make it happen. There have been quite a few Australian players who have done really well down at Taunton and hopefully I can add my name to that list. I’m looking forward to the challenge and can’t wait to get started.”Somerset held onto their Division One status in the Championship although were not secure until the final round. Their batting has continued to lean heavily on Trescothick and James Hildreth, who scored 1284 and 1390 runs respectively in the 2015 season, although the emergence of Abell was a significant development.Matthew Maynard, Somerset’s director of cricket, hopes Rogers’ wealth of experience will rub off on the younger players. “Chris Rogers is an outstanding batsman with an excellent attitude towards the game. He will score runs on the field and will have a positive impact off it as well. He is an excellent professional and our young players will learn a lot from him.”Rogers has previously played county cricket for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and most recently Middlesex until 2014. However, his connections with Middlesex ended in somewhat controversial circumstances when he became embroiled in an Ashes ticket scheme where a company Rogers co-founded was offering hospitality packages for sale.Somerset also announced the signing of 18-year-old wicketkeeper Ryan Davies from Kent. He has played for England Under-19s having joined the Kent Academy as a 13-year-old. Somerset have struggled for a regular wicketkeeper since the double loss of Jos Buttler to Lancashire and Craig Kieswetter to injury-forced retirement.Alex Barrow played six Championship matches in 2015 but averaged just 13.33 and the county subsequently signed New Zealand wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi and the former Hampshire gloveman Michael Bates.

Australia’s tour of Bangladesh appears increasingly in danger of being cancelled, with Cricket Australia’s security team on their way home to brief players and the board following a series of meetings in Bangladesh over the past two days.CA’s head of security Sean Carroll, team security manager Frank Dimasi and team manager Gavin Dovey have held meetings with Australian and Bangladeshi officials after the squad’s scheduled departure was postponed at the weekend. Their trip followed a new travel warning from Australia’s government that: “There is reliable information to suggest that militants may be planning to target Australian interests in Bangladesh.”Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had contacted CA directly on Friday to inform them of the updated travel advice. On Monday, the United Kingdom government also updated its travel advice for UK citizens to state that: “Militants may be targeting western interests in Bangladesh in late September; UK officials have been advised to limit attendance at events where westerners may gather.”News agencies have also reported that an Italian charity worker was shot dead in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone on Monday evening, and both and AFP reported that an online statement in the name of Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attack.ESPNcricinfo understands the BCB was caught off guard by the departure of Dimasi and Dovey from Bangladesh on Tuesday – the Bangladesh board had expected the two officials to remain in the country until the Australian team arrived. Both CA and the BCB have, over the past two days, expressed their strong desire for the two-Test series to go ahead, though CA’s chief executive James Sutherland said on Sunday that the safety and security of their players and staff was “the absolute priority”.”There has been no change to our position on the matter,” a CA spokesman said on Tuesday. “Following yesterday’s meetings, our head of security, team manager and team security manager are on their way home from Bangladesh for further meetings with the Department of Foreign Affairs and to brief our board, management and players on the situation.”The BCB on Monday expressed its confidence that the series would go ahead as scheduled, and also named a squad for the first Test in Chittagong. The first Test is scheduled to start on October 9, with the second Test due to begin in Dhaka on October 17.

After considering a variety of options, the BCCI has finally identified the road ahead for the next two seasons of the IPL at its working committee meeting in Mumbai on Sunday. Bids have been invited for two new teams but they will be in existence only for the next two years. IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla confirmed the new teams will make way for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals when their suspension ends in 2018. Shukla though was noncommittal about whether the IPL will be a 10-team or an eight-team competition from 2018.”The working committee had made four recommendations, out of which one recommendation has been accepted by the committee,” Shukla said. “That the two vacant spots should be auctioned for two years. After two years we will decide whether we should go for two more franchises or we should confine ourselves to eight teams only.”However, given the short-term deals on offer, questions are already being raise over whether investors will be interested although BCCI authorities are confident that they will lay down bidder-friendly conditions to help them recover as much money as they have invested. As an incentive to the bidders, the BCCI is also likely to recommend that 12 players from the suspended franchises be split between the two new teams before the player auction.While the BCCI statement issued after Sunday’s working committee meeting did not elaborate on the specifics of the new bidding process, Shukla said details like the base price for the bids and the cities that can be bid for will be worked out over the next three weeks and finalised at the AGM on November 9.”The tender document will be prepared and it will be approved in the AGM on November 9. And then the tenders will be released,” Shukla said, adding that the bidders will have the final choice on which city they want to represent. “Whoever is the highest bidder will get the franchise and it is up to them to decide which city they prefer.”Ahmedabad, the adopted home of Rajasthan Royals, is out of contention as a host city since the Motera stadium, the home of top-flight cricket in the city, is being renovated. Jaipur, the original home of Royals, is unlikely to be included in the list of eligible cities since the Rajasthan Cricket Association remains suspended by the BCCI. Chennai’s fate will depend on the outcome of the Chennai Super Kings owners’ litigation against the two-year suspension.Shukla said that the interest of players from both the suspended franchises “will be protected”, but didn’t elaborate on it. ESPNcricinfo understands that the players contracted with the two will be put into the annual auction pool after six players from each are allotted to the new owners on the basis of lots. The BCCI feels such a move would ensure balance of the two new teams and ensure star appeal for both to allow the new owners to recover their money in a short period.The remaining 35-odd players will be put into the auction pool and will be up for grabs for all eight franchises. However, it is understood that the BCCI will ensure that all the players who were on the suspended franchises’ roster in 2015 will be available to them once again when the suspension lifts in 2018.This means that the big auction scheduled for 2017 could be pushed back by a year to 2018, when the two new teams are scheduled to make way for Super Kings and Royals.While the base price for the franchise bids is being worked out, according to an IPL insider, it will be “much lower” than in 2010 when two new teams were inducted at a high price. “We will try and ensure that the new owners will recover the money they put into the IPL for two teams,” he said.At the inception of IPL, the base price for teams was $50 million. While the ownership was in perpetuity, the franchise fees were fixed for 10 years. In 2010, the base price rose to $225 million for a ten-year period. However, in 2012, when Deccan Chargers was resold to Sun TV’s owners for five years, it was sold at Rs 86 crore per year, less than a half of the 2010 base price.

Paul Downton, the managing director of England cricket, said he would be “very surprised” if Alastair Cook was not England’s captain at the World Cup and described him as the “natural leader” of the current side.England have just lost their fifth ODI series in a row under Cook, and their sixth out of seven overall. That slump has mirrored Cook’s own form and he has made just one half-century in his last 21 one-day innings. Downton said the selectors had already discussed the issue at length after the English summer and came to the conclusion that Cook’s record, and the need for a proven opener in Australasian conditions, were decisive factors.England’s World Cup campaign starts in less than two months but that view, according to Downton, has not changed. When combined with the way Cook turned the Test team around to beat India 3-1 and the number of impressive performances by players brought in under Peter Moores, it amounted to another strong ECB endorsement for his captaincy.”He’s having a terrible time at the moment,” Downton said. “Nobody knows that more than him. Why do we still think he’s the best person for the job in Australia? In September, the selectors got together and spent nearly a week kicking the tires and working out were we best to stick with Alastair – given we were going to be playing a World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, with two new balls, where his track record is good, where he’s been captain for three-and-a-half years; the only time he really had a full-strength side they got to the final of the Champions Trophy and should have won it.”Yes, he’s in miserable form but form can change and just as we saw during the summer, we felt strongly that all his experience, his toughness would come out. Bear in mind he’s gone through a traumatic summer in terms of the pressure on him but, in doing so, that dressing room is very much his dressing room, in a way it could never have been before. The amount of young people that we’ve introduced into that side, where he and Peter and others have created an environment where they’ve thrived have been terrific. So he’s the natural leader of that group of players.”Downton will attend the selection meeting for England’s World Cup squad on Friday, when Moores, James Whitaker, Mick Newell and Angus Fraser will sit down to discuss the 15. Downton does not have a vote in selection – although he said he would give his view if asked.”He’s not appointed captain at the moment,” he said of Cook. “He’s our current captain and he will captain in the seventh ODI. I would be very surprised if he was not captain at the World Cup.”He’s a remarkably strong guy and his track record says that he will score runs. Everybody goes through a bad period. He’s not captain forever, of course. But to the specific question: who is the best person to take us to the World Cup? The discussion we had in September, it’s Alastair Cook. It hasn’t helped that he hasn’t scored any runs yet because this question keeps coming up. But I’ve got to think that form will turn.”With England likely to enter another World Cup in less-than-perfect shape yet again, Downton conceded that the 50-over game had not been given the regard it was due. He said that the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup, both due to be played in England, would have an increased priority.”The fact is we have not taken one-day cricket as seriously as other nations, it’s always the period when we rest cricketers, so that clearly has to change going forward,” he said. “We play more Test cricket probably than anybody else. Ultimately that’s been the driver of English cricket and one-day cricket has been an afterthought. It’s only at global tournaments that people really take it seriously. I’ve got to change that, we owe it to everybody to change that.”As I look forward, my role is to say that in 2017 and 2019 we’ve got two global tournaments. We have to produce a side that certainly by 2019 will go to the World Cup as one of the favourites, and hopefully it will happen by 2017 when you look at the group of young players we have now.”Despite the defeat in Sri Lanka, Downton suggested that “the positives far outweigh the negatives” and that England were much closer to settling on their ideal XI. The performances of players such as Moeen Ali, Joe Root, James Taylor and Chris Woakes have been encouraging, even while the likes of Cook and Eoin Morgan have struggled for form.Downton also said it was time for people to start getting “excited again” about English cricket after the turmoil of the past 12 months, which included the sacking of Kevin Pietersen and subsequent allegations of bullying within the dressing room.”We had a massive rebuilding job,” Downton said. “We took the view that we weren’t going to rebuild with Kevin in the side and that’s history. Since then, I think the regeneration has been extremely strong and the way in which our young players came in and kept the whole thing going is phenomenal. That to me is the story of the summer, that we have an emerging England team that will be very exciting for the next few years.”We made noisy decisions but as far as I’m concerned for English cricket they were absolutely the right decisions and now we’re starting to emerge from a pretty traumatic time and it’s time for people to get excited again.”Asked about the accusations made in Pietersen’s autobiography, Downton said: “There is no formal complaint of bullying at all on anybody’s record during that whole period. It’s not something that has come up anywhere else; it was a surprise the way in which Kevin portrayed that environment. None of the other players recognise it, in terms of the people who have come out and said what a successful period for English cricket it was.”All one has to do is read Kevin’s book to see how disaffected he was at the time. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to explain to some people’s satisfaction what happened. I can repeat what we said at the time, which was that people felt Kevin had become disengaged from the side and that we needed more from our leaders.”Many have criticised the ECB for the way the affair was handled and Downton admitted that mistakes were made. He also acknowledged that some supporters were left feeling disenfranchised by the ECB’s stance – perhaps an acceptance that Pietersen won the PR battles if not the war – and promised that the governing body would do more in future to connect with and unite those with a love for the game.”I’m sure we could have handled it better – but it’s history, we can’t change it anymore,” he said. “My only driving force here is what’s best for English cricket. Am I content that we made the right decision? Absolutely.”I want to enfranchise everybody and I want them to be part of what’s happening in English cricket. I cannot see any reason to be going over old ground because it’s actually not relevant anymore. I’m sure I made mistakes at the time.”I think as an organisation we don’t communicate as well as we could and it’s something we will in invest in. We must engage with the public more and we must be more open and it’s absolutely my intent that we should do.”

Website regular Phil Hogarth was a very happy man when he called in at the County Ground to collect the items that he had successfully bid for in the recent Junior Sabres website auction.Phil, who lives at Hinton Blewitt in North Somerset bid for several items in the auction and was successful with his bids for Peter Bowler’s bat and Keith Dutch’s batting gloves.When he was collecting his items he told me: "I am really delighted to have got Peter Bowler’s bat and Keith Dutch’s batting gloves. The website auction was a great idea because it’s not very often you get the chance to own genuine items like this."Phil told me that he is a Somerset member and his son James, who would be rather envious of his dad when he appeared with his `new toys’, is a Junior Sabre so would benefit from the money that was raised by the auction.The items that he purchased will not however be kept in a show cabinet. Phil is a right handed batsman who plays for Harptree in the Bristol League and has every intention of using his new pieces of cricketing equipment.He told me: "The bat seems to have a good middle on it and feels just right for me. I shall be using next season and if it scores as many runs for me in the rest of my playing days as it did for Peter Bowler last season then I shall be more than happy!"Meanwhile the club has just taken delivery of the new 2003 Club Diary, which is a mine of information and a must for all Cidermen fans.The diary is available from the club office (01823 272946) in the Colin Atkinson Pavilion and is priced £7.50.