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Tony Howard, the West Indies manager, has spoken boldly of his side’s chances in the World Cup ahead of their warm-up match against Kenya on Monday.”We have some quite detailed plans for the tournament and we plan to come hard,” he said. “We will think hard and play hard. We are in it to win it. We want it all. We want to win in front our home supporters. We are prepared to beat the best no matter what. We have no real doubts about our ability at this stage.”Few can forget Kenya’s remarkable win in the 1996 World Cup when they skittled the West Indies for just 93, recording their first one-day win. A decade on, Roger Harper – who made 17 batting at No.7 in that humbling match – is Kenya’s coach and remains cautiously optimistic over their chances.”Kenya is supposed to be the top associate country as far as cricket is concerned,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean anything unless you show it on the field and we have demonstrated this. I think winning the World Cricket League (WCL) meant a lot to this team, for Kenya as a whole, and we hope to do the same in the World Cup.”Kenya, buoyant after their impressive win in Nairobi three weeks ago, are also very familiar with Caribbean conditions. Three years ago, they were the invited overseas team for the West Indies domestic first-class championship, though they failed to win any of their seven matches.

Former Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu has confirmed he will play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) next month. As he is centrally contracted to Zimbabwe Cricket, Taibu must have sought and obtained their permission to take part.Taibu will join the Kolkata franchise on April 11 having played some matches in Zimbabwe’s domestic Twenty20 which gets underway next week. However, because the Logan Cup, the country’s first-class competition, has been rescheduled to start on April 17, Taibu will miss all the matches.It will be Taibu’s second stint in domestic cricket in the subcontinent. He previously played in Bangladesh during his international exile following a row with Zimbabwe Cricket.Two other former Zimbabwe internationals, Heath Streak and Murray Goodwin, have signed with the unauthorised Indian Cricket League, although neither was expected to feature in domestic games.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:35

Sammy pleased with ‘professional’ effort

West Indies’ bowlers delivered tight lines and intelligent variations of pace on a slow Khettarama surface to force a Sri Lanka collapse and prise a 23-run victory to end an otherwise barren tour. Dwayne Bravo collected four wickets, and Ravi Rampaul three, in the visitors’ defence of 162 for 6 which, like their bowling, had also been a collective effort.The victory gives West Indies a share of the series, though Sri Lanka keep the top T20 rank. Bravo, who hit a run-a-ball 31 in addition to his 4 for 28 with the ball, was named Man of the Match.Tillakaratne Dilshan struck his second fifty of the series but – although his own strike-rate was nearly 137 – his 70-run stand with Shehan Jayasuriya drew some of the momentum from Sri Lanka’s innings. Jayasuriya was out for 30 off 32 balls. His wicket set in motion a capitulation that cost nine wickets for 46 runs. Incoming batsmen attempted to hit out immediately, mindful of a climbing required rate, but managed only to find secure pairs of hands in the outfield.Jayasuriya was scoreless off his first seven balls and, although he struck successive fours off Jerome Taylor, he slipped into a pattern of finding fielders with his big shots. Dilshan also misread the pace of the ball off the pitch on occasion, and West Indies continued to squeeze in cheap overs through the first half of the chase. When Jayasuriya was dismissed – thanks to an outstanding running catch from Andre Russell at the long-on boundary – Sri Lanka’s required rate was nearing 10.Dinesh Chandimal was almost caught at the leg-side boundary first ball, but was securely held immediately after. Dilshan was out switch-hitting Rampaul in the same over, and Angelo Mathews was caught trying to clear the backward square leg boundary not long after that. From then on, Sri Lanka lost at least one wicket per over. Chamara Kapugedara was caught at cover. Milinda Siriwardana was stumped running at Sunil Narine. The hosts had unraveled definitively by the middle of the 18th over.This was after their own bowlers had withstood brief charges from Johnson Charles and Denesh Ramdin, who both hit 34 at either end of West Indies’ batting effort. The visitors had warmed up slowly, hitting only 17 from the first 26 balls, until Charles ignited the innings with a four-ball sequence that brought 22 runs. Charles ran at Sachithra Senanayake twice to lift him into the leg-side stands, and swept him twice as well, collecting a six and a four. The next over from Dushmantha Chameera was equally expensive. Andre Fletcher struck three fours as Chameera erred down the legside – though he also had Fletcher dropped off a slower ball, on 16.With 44 runs having come off the last two Powerplay overs, West Indies appeared to be surging. Siriwardana’s left-arm spin quickly brought the hosts some control. He trapped Fletcher in front with a slider, saw Marlon Samuels run-out later in that over, then struck again with his arm ball to have the visitors 75 for 3 after nine overs.West Indies attacked intermittently after that, but had their salvos briskly shut down. Andre Russell was dismissed in the 12th over after two sixes had come in the previous five balls. Ramdin cracked two sixes and a four in the 14th and 15th overs, but was soon forced to contend with a stream of good yorkers – particularly from Nuwan Kulasekara – which he could only dig out for singles or twos.Sri Lanka’s seamers were pinpoint at the finish. Although opposition hitters were at the crease, Malinga conceded only five runs in each of his last two overs, and Kulasekara no more than seven from his. Ramdin remained unbeaten at the end of the innings.

A 33-ball partnership of 64 runs for the eighth wicket between Josh Clarkson and Seth Rance led Central Districts to a two-wicket win over Northern Districts after five rain interruptions at Hamilton’s Seddon Park. Central Districts faced a revised target of 200 runs in 33 overs after Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten knock of 93 took Northern Districts to 266 for 6 in their 50 overs.Clarkson struck three fours and three sixes in his 24-ball 48 and was ably supported by Rance, who hit a 19-ball stay of 32. This after some tight bowling from Ish Sodhi and Scott Kuggeleijn – both of whom picked up two wickets each – had Central Districts struggling at 123 for 7. Once Rance fell with Central Districts needing another 13 runs to win, Clarkson took over and finished the match with five balls to spare.Earlier in the day, Mitchell struck seven fours and four sixes in his 93. Dean Brownlie struck 47 and Nick Kelly hit 57 runs, but that proved to be not enough for Northern Districts. The win was Central Districts’ first of the season in three games.Inclement weather in Dunedin and Wellington meant the fixtures between Otago and Canterbury, and Wellington and Auckland respectively were washed out without a ball being bowled.

The criticism of Australia’s conduct at the SCG has spread to other sports with three members of the country’s Hall of Fame calling for the team’s “moral compass to be returned”. John Bertrand, a sailor who won the America’s Cup in 1983, is the chairman of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and he wants a meeting with Cricket Australia to let it know its sides should be showing more respect to opponents.Australia’s behaviour during the match in Sydney has been under severe scrutiny. Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey have defended the team actions during the victory, but there have been a host of complaints in the fallout from a game that included issues over race, sportsmanship, umpiring, catching and walking.”We have a lot of clout in the sporting community and we will be saying to Cricket Australia that people need to step back and reassess what is happening here with a cool head,” Bertrand said in the Herald Sun. “The pressure to win out on the field has become too hot, and that pressure is all about winning at all costs.”That is not what sport is about … The fallout that we are seeing at the moment is not acceptable. It’s clearly damaging international relations and clearly a lot of people are upset.”Bertrand has joined the respected athletes Herb Elliott and Robert de Castella in believing the players are too arrogant. “Sport is only sport,” he said, “it’s not war.”Hussey said the players had “never stepped outside the rules or the laws of the game”. “We have a great pride in playing for the baggy green cap and for playing for each other,” he said in the Australian. “We know how hard it is to get an opportunity to play for Australia and we want to play as hard as we possibly can.”Neil Harvey, an Invincible from 1948, disagreed with Hussey and said Ponting “needs to look at himself”. “Certainly the captain needs to be stronger and keep his guys in line,” Harvey said. Harvey was also concerned by Australia’s failure to shake Anil Kumble’s hand at the end of the Test. “I don’t think they are very sporting.”

Ray Mali, the ICC president, believes Zimbabwe will be at the top of the ICC ODI championship table if the current team is allowed to remain intact for the next three years.Mali told the on Tuesday: “The programmes that they (ZC) have will, I believe, take cricket far and it has been demonstrated by what we saw over the last three one-day games, especially on Sunday when Zimbabwe was almost there. And I believe these boys – if they are given a chance to play for the next three years as one unit – they will be at the top of world rankings.”It is not a dream, I believe it can be done. Zimbabwe Cricket will have to continue exposing these boys to higher class, intensive cricket all the time. Zimbabwe Cricket will have my support, they will have the support of ICC with this type of cricket that has been demonstrated over the last few days.”Mali, the former head of the South Africa board, heaped praised on the current ZC leadership, saying they have managed to have a sustained developmental programme that will ensure a constant supply of talent.”At the same time I am excited by the involvement of schools in the cricket set-up which augurs well for the future because I believe with the participation of schools, from the Under-11 age-group up to the top, it means the future of cricket in this country is guaranteed.”There will be a constant flow of players going up and the quality of leadership that has been assigned to look after the cricket here is of the highest quality that you can find anywhere in the world. It compares well with what we have in South Africa and other parts of the world.”Mali was in Zimbabwe for a six-day working visit to familiarise himself with the happenings inside Zimbabwean cricket. He returned home yesterday afternoon along with the South African team.”We live in a world that is governed by the information that is sent out to the various members of the world community. I came out to Zimbabwe simply because I wanted to experience myself what is happening out here. We tend to get conflicting reports about the situation in terms of cricket but the most important motivation for my coming here is that my predecessor Advocate Percy Sonn was here in August last with the CEO of ICC Malcolm Speed.”At that stage Zimbabwe were busy having a new board in place, trying to set up new cricket structures and at the same time I was here 13 years ago as manager of the South Africa A team.”Now looking at the facilities that I saw in Bulawayo and Harare, I was quite amazed by the giant strides that Zimbabwe have taken to have facilities that measure up to world standards in terms of playing cricket.”Now even on the development front I did go to Emakhandeni (Bulawayo) to have a look because, unfortunately, in Africa we have had the unfortunate situation where facilities are wrongly placed.”You find good, better and more facilities in areas where there are fewer people using them. In South Africa we have facilities that are under-utilised and I am pleased to note that the Zimbabwe Cricket board are busy tackling that serious imbalance to have more facilities in the high-density areas.”

The National Selection Committee has announced a squad of 22 players for the training and fitness camps to be held in Quetta from July 10 to July 23, 2007. The camp in Quetta, second of the three camps organised to improve the players’ fitness levels, follows a disappointing tour of Scotland in which Pakistan’s both matches were rained off.The left-handed duo of Imran Farhat (opener) and Abdur Rehman (spinner) will join the squad as the only two new faces as 20 of the 22 players named were present in Abbottabad where the first camp was held.Talat Ali, the manager-cum-coach for the team’s tours to Abu Dhabi and Scotland, will be in charge of the camp while Haroon Rasheed, former Pakistan coach, and Aaqib Javed, coach of the National Cricket Academy, will serve as batting and bowling coaches respectively. With special emphasis on fielding, Mohtashim Rasheed, former first-class cricketer, has been appointed as fielding coach.The third and final camp is scheduled to take place in the coastal city of Karachi from July 25, 2007.Camp attendeesSalman Butt, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzak, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhter, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Iftikhar Anjum, Najaf Shah, Abdur Rehman

Shaun Tait is concerned the chucking slurs will hang over him, but he is baffled over why New Zealand questioned his action in the first place. He says he has “nothing to hide” and has offered to undergo ICC testing.Controversy arose when the New Zealand camp refused to clear Tait’s action following last week’s Twenty20 in Perth. Nevertheless, Tait bears no grudges.”I’m not out for revenge. I just hope something like this doesn’t hang over me for the rest of my career like it has with [Muttiah] Muralitharan,” Tait told the Queensland-based Sunday Mail. “To be honest, I don’t know how he’s handled it. You’ve got to be mentally strong to keep going about your business when people are questioning your action.”I’m comfortable with my action. I know it’s a bit unique. I tend to turn my wrist very late at the point of delivery, but never at any stage of my career has anyone tried to suggest I chuck. I’m not happy about it at all but I’m not the sort of bloke to lose sleep over it.”If the ICC want to test me, that’s fine, I’ll do it anywhere, anytime. I’ve got nothing to hide.”Tait, meanwhile, has come under more fire from New Zealand as the vice-captain Brendon McCullum warned him about “mouthing off”. In the build-up to the opener in Adelaide on Friday, Tait had questioned the side’s ability to handle his pace, something which Daniel Vettori had himself acknowledged anyway.”If he’s Glenn McGrath, he can probably throw comments like that out there,” McCullum told AAP on Saturday. “But my only advice would be to maybe get a few more statistics behind him before he starts mouthing off.”I just thought it was a bit reckless from Taity. He’s a good bloke but he’s only played 15 games. When McGrath was very good at talking it up, he also had some unbelievable statistics behind him.”

Scorecard

April is meant to be a month of swing bowlers, green seamers and low scores, but Surrey went on an early-season run-spree at The Oval as they racked up 537 for 5 with centuries from Mark Butcher and Usman Afzaal to follow Mark Ramprakash’s 118. And their short stint in the field paid dividends when Iain Sutcliffe was brilliantly held by Ali Brown at third slip to give Pedro Collins his first county wicket.It was remorseless accumulation from Surrey throughout a sunny but bitterly cold day until Butcher called time on the feasting to leave Lancashire an hour to bat. Brown was within sight of becoming the fourth century-maker of the innings but had to settle for an unbeaten 74 in an unbroken stand of 160 for the seventh wicket.”As a batting unit last year, apart from Ramprakash, we had a pretty hit-and-miss time so it was important that we put a score on the board,” said Butcher. “There were quite a few nerves around before the first day, the first game of the season against a top team like Lancashire. We weren’t quite sure about the balance of our side, but with Matt Nicholson pulling out [with flu] it made things a little easier so we went with the extra batsman. It may have been slightly defensive but with the weather around and points at a premium, we were very happy with how it has turned out.”The notable batting came from Butcher and Afzaal, two further members of the former England batsman club that have dominated this game. Afzaal, in his first Championship innings for Surrey since his winter move from Northamptonshire, was positive from the outset after Ramprakash edged Oliver Newby, armed with the second new ball, to end a stand of 218 with Butcher. It was the same combination that should have accounted for him on 0 yesterday.With the cushion provided by Ramprakash’s masterclass, Afzaal greeted Gary Keedy’s first ball with a handsome straight six and appeared at ease throughout his innings. This was the venue of his third and final Test appearance, against Australia in 2001, when he celebrated a half-century with over-egged gusto that didn’t impress the visitors.He didn’t make much of an impression on the England management, either, and although he toured India and New Zealand that winter he didn’t find his way back into the line-up after concerns over his attitude and fitness. However, he remained a consistent county run-scorer until a poor 2007 at Northants – 570 runs at 35 – prompted another move. Division One action was an attraction and his move into the middle order has added further solidity to an impressive Surrey line-up.He went to tea on 99 and reached his century from 165 balls in the first over after the break. The celebration was much more restrained than those in 2001 when he’d made half the score. With the hundred tucked away Afzaal began to express himself and twice pulled Sajid Mahmood over midwicket for six.Butcher, starting the day on 80, wasn’t quite at his fluent best but the concentration remained firm and he brought up his hundred off 188 balls. However he, too, was given a life when he top-edged a pull on 89 only for Glen Chapple to misjudge the catch at mid-on. Chapple quickly left the field having felt a twinge in his back but returned to the field during the afternoon session, striking to remove Butcher with his first ball via a thin edge to the keeper. Lancashire, though, continued to strike after the horse had bolted into the neighbouring paddock.As Surrey marched on and the 130-over mark was passed – the cut-off for collecting bonus points – Lancashire waited for the declaration. Brown, who turned down an IPL offer to fulfil his Surrey deal, milked the bowling without unleashing his full power but still enjoyed a dart at Keedy.Lancashire’s bowlers struggled to make an impression although Mahmood produced a lively, and unlucky, spell in the morning when he had Ramprakash in some trouble. The one positive, perhaps more for the future than the present, was the continued performance of Andrew Flintoff. He showed no ill-effects from yesterday’s workload and sent down another 17 overs at good pace. Flintoff’s 28 overs were the most he’d bowled in one innings since the opening Ashes Test at Brisbane in November 2006. His next role will be batting, something Lancashire have to do for a long time before they save this game.

ScorecardDaniel Bell-Drummond was to the fore as Kent’s wonderful T20 season continued•Getty Images

This season’s NatWest T20 Blast has shown, quite clearly, that it is a myth that England’s T20 tournament needs to be played in a block to attract high-quality overseas talent. Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Shahid Afridi, the list of star players who have appeared this season is long, illustrious, and that is only a snapshot.What this season’s tournament has also shown, as did last season’s Big Bash League, is that a team and a tournament does not necessarily need high-quality overseas talent to be popular and successful. No team embodies this more than Kent.Kent, to much derision, did not sign a single overseas player for this season’s T20 Blast, and yet, following another typically clinical and well-rounded victory over Somerset in front of a large crowd are top of the South Group with 16 points and are well on track for sealing a home quarter-final.This was a match, like much of Kent’s season, that was not won by one man, or by one performance but by multiple, complementary performances, contributing more broadly to a tried and tested strategy.

Insights

This season should serve as something of a wake-up call for a Somerset squad who are not as good as they used to be. Marcus Trescothick’s days in the format appear over, Peter Trego is certainly not the destructive presence he used to be, Alfonso Thomas is another ageing force, James Hildreth, not a ferocious T20 player at the best of times, also seems past his peak while Jos Buttler is no longer available. Somerset have arguably lived too long on their three consecutive finals appearances between 2009 and 2011. The time to change and regenerate has come.

Nothing represented Kent’s confidence in their own method more than the innings of Daniel Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly as the opening pair put on 112. It would have been very easy for either of these two men, emboldened by their starts to look too big, to aim too high, to perhaps, be selfish and look for a century of their own. Instead both men played at a pace appropriate according to conditions, the opposition and the batsmen they had below.Denly was the first man to fall. Looking to push on with Kent 112 without loss after 13.4 overs he was caught deep on the leg side attempting to clear the boundary-rider. He was, naturally, annoyed to have got out, but there was no anger or worry in his face as he left the middle. He trusted what was to come.So confident were Kent, they promoted Alex Blake, who had hammered a fifty against Hampshire earlier in the season, to No.3. Blake came and very quickly went. Experiment failed. Move on.This was again when Bell-Drummond’s restraint was key. He recognised that as the settled batsman his wicket was almost worth double. But crucially he did not hold back, rather he just did not do anything reckless. Not scoring and not getting out is probably worse than just getting out. Bell-Drummond was proactive and positive. He struck consecutive fours in the over that Blake was dismissed, and two more in the following over.Northeast, Kent’s standout player this season, managed just 7 from 13 balls, but with Sam Billings next in, there was, again, a sense of calm to Kent’s batting, even with them a few short of what they would have wanted with two overs to go, at 166 for 3.Billings played three remarkable shots in the penultimate over, scoring three leg-side boundaries, all off balls that pitched well outside off stump. Such brilliance epitomised Kent’s supremely confident innings. Just seven runs and three wickets came from the final over, including the dismissal of Bell-Drummond for 77, but his innings went beyond numbers. An opener batting through a T20 innings brings a calming presence that the scoreboard does not do justice to.Somerset captain Alfonso Thomas felt a target of 173 was “a few too many” but it was not one that was beyond a powerful Somerset batting line-up. However given Kent’s form and Somerset’s comparative struggles, Kent were always favourites.Indeed not at any point in the chase did Somerset ever seem to be threatening Kent’s score. Eleven came from the first over, but with the third going for two and the fourth going for just one Somerset were behind the rate. The pressure of the scoreboard told when they lost Johan Myburgh in the Powerplay before Jim Allenby fell in the eighth and Peter Trego and James Hildreth went in the ninth to leave Somerset reeling at 57 for 4.It was then that Kent deployed their spinners, James Tredwell and Fabian Cowdrey, and they squeezed the remaining life from Somerset to ensure Kent’s victory well before the end of the match. The final over bowled by Matt Coles was, rather anti-climactically and almost comically, slugged for 34 including three no-balls. But it was a mere stain an otherwise superb victory for Kent.Somerset, who have had Gayle and Luke Ronchi this season – along with Corey Anderson due to play before he was injured – remain in eighth and even if they win all three of their remaining fixtures are unlikely to make it to their quarter-finals.