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Any team containing both Flowers is virtually unbeatable in Zimbabwean cricket, certainly over the long haul. Midlands, if they had ever forgotten it, found out again to their cost at Kwekwe Sports Club, where they lost to Mashonaland, by eight wickets and with almost five overs to spare, after running up a total of over 300.Craig Wishart, with 121, led the way when Midlands batted first, finally turning useful small innings into something substantial. He received good support from the top order, with Terry Duffin scoring 28, Travis Friend 49 and Doug Marillier 18. After his departure Sean Ervine hit a lightning unbeaten fifty, scoring 54 off just 28 balls, and the final total was an imposing 306 for five.Grant Flower alone of the regular bowlers conceded less than five an over, but Mashonaland were handicapped by the loss of captain Brian Murphy, able to bowl only one over before injuring his hand.Midlands began their fielding spell well, dismissing both Mashonaland openers for just 31. But a match is never won until both Flowers had been dismissed, and Midlands were unable to remove either. Both hit unbeaten centuries, at better than a run a ball, and tore the bowling attack to ribbons in an unbroken partnership of 279. So dominant were they that they still had 28 balls to spare when the winning runs were scored.With Manicaland losing in Bulawayo, Mashonaland were crowned the inaugural Faithwear One-Day Series champions, winning five of their matches, against three each by Matabeleland and Manicaland.

Leicestershire stayed on top of the Norwich Union League by retaining their 100 per cent First Division record against one of the chasing countiesBatting second for the fifth successive game, the Foxes continued their winning habit by overhauling Warwickshire’s total of 221 for 7 to win by five wickets with 12 balls to spare.In another example of their ability to withstand pressure, Ben Smith and Darren Maddy retrieved a desperate-looking situation at 132 for 5 and turned the match round with an unbroken partnership of 90 in only 11 overs.Warwickshire had one chance to break the stand but Neil Smith, tracking round the long-on perimeter, could only help the ball over the rope as Maddy (37 ) charged along in support of Smith’s unbeaten 65 from 59 balls.In contrast, Leicestershire’s early struggle had been due to exceptional catching, first when Vasbert Drakes took a one-handed effort at mid-off from Vince Wells and again when Dominic Ostler twisted backwards to hold a drive from Daniel Marsh at long off.

Manchester United have been linked with Tottenham Hotspur’s Toby Alderweireld all summer with the latest reports indicating that the Red Devils will have to wait until after the World Cup to land their transfer target.

Although the central defender has gained a reputation for being a reliable and consistent performer, United fans won’t have been particularly impressed by his latest showing in the World Cup, where Belgium emerged as lucky 3-2 victors thanks to a last minute Nacer Chadli goal.

Tottenham are reportedly seeking a huge fee for the 29-year-old, but his performance last night won’t have done Daniel Levy any favours as he struggled against an inventive Japanese side who punished Belgium for their complacency and were unfortunate not to progress.

Alderweireld didn’t make a single tackle in the whole 90 minutes and only managed to register one clearance and one block during the game.

In the Premier League last season, he averaged 3.6 clearances and 1.4 tackles per game.

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It is perhaps worth mentioning that Alderweireld has not yet returned to full match fitness as he was sidelined for most of last season.

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He has certainly shown enough over his last three seasons in the Premier League for Manchester United fans not to worry about their potential new defender.

However, it is worth mentioning that at 29, United will be forking out a lot of money for someone who has struggled with injuries when they could invest less on someone who could form the bedrock of their team for many years to come.

In 2013, Australia won the Women’s World Cup. In 2014 they took out the Women’s World T20. Now they are hoping that 2015 brings them the other major piece of silverware available: the Women’s Ashes. It is a prize the Australians have barely laid hands on over the past decade, despite their success in the shorter formats.Captain Meg Lanning and her squad leave for England on Monday night with great expectations, although recent history will be against them. Not since 2001 under Belinda Clark’s captaincy have Australia won the Ashes in England, and only once in the past 10 years have they claimed the trophy anywhere, with victory at home in 2010-11.This will be the third Ashes campaign that incorporates ODIs and T20s as well as Test cricket, and the weighting of points given to the formats has now been adjusted to ensure the Test result does not effectively dictate the outcome of the series. Coach Matthew Mott, who joined the group earlier this year, said the time for Ashes success was now.”The team’s record speaks for itself over the last 10 years,” Mott said. “But the one thing that has eluded us is the Ashes. It was 2001 the last time the team won in England. There’s a lot of payback ready and the girls are really excited about this opportunity coming up.”A lot of teams will say they’re in rebuilding phases. This is the time for these girls to capitalise. They’ve played together for a long time, they’ve had success and they’re all at the peak of their careers. It should be an exciting couple of years.”The series begins with three ODIs, followed by the Test match in Canterbury, and then three T20s that complete the campaign. The Test is worth a maximum of four points and the shorter matches two each, which means that a team needs to perform consistently across at least two of the formats in order to claim the Ashes.The Australian women’s team prior to their departure to England•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

“Given that we’ve had success in both the World Cups recently in both the T20 and one-day formats it should bode well for us,” allrounder Ellyse Perry said. “But there’s not much margin for error in this series because you only play a few games in each format.”Perry was Player of the Match last time Australia played a Test, against England at the WACA in 2013-14, where she scored 71 and 31 and claimed eight wickets for the match. However, it was not enough to prevent England claiming victory.Test cricket is a rare sight in the women’s game these days, and generally only occurs for Australia when they take on England – since 1996 they have only once played a Test against another nation, when they beat India in Adelaide in 2006.”It’s truly wonderful, to be able to put on the baggy green is what most young cricketers look forward to doing,” Perry said. “We’re really thankful for the opportunity. It’s a true test of your skill and ability on the cricket field. Because you spend so much time in the field as a team it brings you closer together as well. Every time we play a Test together we learn a little bit more about our own games and about each other. I’m really excited to play again.”Departing for England will complete a busy few days in women’s cricket in Australia, after the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League was announced last week. The T20 tournament will mirror the men’s BBL with the same eight teams and the potential for international players to sign on. Perry said she had been pleased with the public interest surrounding the WBBL since its announcement.”It’s a huge step forward in terms of the development of the women’s game, not just in Australia but globally as well, with the chance for a lot of international players to come and play in what is probably going to be the premier tournament in the world,” she said. “The interest in it is really pleasing and a little bit surprising. A lot of people are anticipating the competition starting, and the fact that it’s integrated with the men’s competition is a really good development.””Things have been developing so quickly in the last five or six years. Even when I came into the team about eight years there were no contracts for players, it was just tours every now and then. Now there are full-time contracts for some of the top players in the country, we have a professional competition in the WBBL starting.”That’s testament to the huge amount of effort and investment that Cricket Australia have put into the women’s game here, and also there’s more interest from the public across all women’s sport in the last couple of years.”

As expected, Marvan Atapattu has replaced Sanath Jayasuriya in the Test side © Getty Images

Marvan Atapattu, the former Sri Lankan captain, and allrounder Upul Chandana have earned recalls to the Test and one-day sides respectively for a three-of-each home series against Bangladesh later this month. Uncapped left-hand batsman Malinda Warnapura and left-arm pace bowler Sujeewa de Silva have also been included in the15-man Test side.Atapattu makes a return to the Test side after 18 months. He last played against India at Ahmedabad in December 2005 before a recurring back injury saw him undergo surgery and miss out on a long spell of international cricket. Atapattu replaces Sanath Jayasuriya, rested for the Test series but included in the one-day squad. Jayasuriya will spend his time playing for Lancashire, where he will replace Muttiah Muralitharan, who returns home for the Test series.Chandana, 35, gets a national recall after two years during which period his place has been occupied by another legspinner, Malinga Bandara, who has also been named in the one-day squad.Warnapura, 27, has been in fine form for Sri Lanka A, the highlight of which was a career -best double century against Bangladesh A last month. De Silva has also shown good form with the ball in the recently concluded domestic season with 44 wickets at just 19.77 to help Colombo Cricket Club lift the Premier League title.Prasanna Jayawardene will continue to keep wickets in the Tests providing Kumar Sangakkara the opportunity to concentrate on his batting at No. 3. Sangakkara, Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas are presently in England playing county cricket. Vaas and Muralitharan will play only in the Test series before going back to their counties.Jehan Mubarak and Chamara Kapugedera, who are expected to tour to England with Sri Lanka A have been named for the one-day series against Bangladesh.Selection committee sources said that both players will be recalled from the England tour when the one-day series commences on July 18.Mahela Jayawardene retains the captaincy with Sangakkara as his deputy and Sriyan Samaratne, a former Air Force cricketer and administrator, has been named manager of the Sri Lanka team. He takes over from Michael Tissera, who quit at the end of his contract last month.Sri Lanka Test squad: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Malinda Warnapura, Sujeewa de Silva.Sri Lanka ODI squad: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Jehan Mubarak, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Farveez Maharoof, Upul Chandana, Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Kapugedera, Malinga Bandara, Nuwan Kulasekera.

Moeen Ali during a rare outing for Warwickshire © Getty Images

Moeen Ali has denied rumours that he is off to Worcestershire at the end of the season when his contract with Warwickshire expires. There had been suggestions that he was frustrated at a lack of first-team opportunities and was off to New Road to join his cousin Kabir, but he says nothing has been agreed as yet.”It’s just a rumour at the moment,” he told Cricinfo. “I think Worcestershire have approached but I don’t know anything about it.”Ali made 68 against Nottinghamshire in May during his first outing for the firsts this year, but he was then dropped to make way for Alex Loudon’s return. He has played just one match since. Worcestershire have made a formal approach for Ali, the England Under-19 vice-captain, regarded as a future England batting star.Although he says he’s happy to bide his time in the second XI, and even though he denies a move is imminent, Ali does say that he, Kabir and his older brother Kadeer of Gloucestershire, have ambitions to represent the same county team. “We’re all hoping that me, my brother and my cousin can play one day together. It would be nice.”But he refused to say which county they would like that to be. “I don’t know,” he says. “It’s too early to say.”

Hosts Ireland will play Scotland in the final of the ICC Trophy on Wednesday (July 13) at Clontarf near Dublin. Ireland defeated Canada by four wickets while Scotland beat Bermuda by six wickets to set up the final between two sides who have never won the tournament.The final World Cup qualifying slot will be awarded to the team that finishes fifth. Holland and UAE will play off for this spot at Clontarf on Monday after Holland defeated Denmark and UAE overhauled Namibia.Peter Gillespie and Andrew White hit Ireland to victory in a tense semi-final against Canada. With the run-rate mounting – they required 240 for victory – Gillespie struck a six and a four from consecutive deliveries in the 48th over before White completed the win with a six from the second ball of the final over. White, who was also at the crease when Ireland beat West Indies and Surrey, finished 28 not out while Man-of-the-Match Gillespie was unbeaten on 64.Jeremy Bray failed to make a mark at his home club. He was out for 10 with the score on 12. Eoin Morgan followed 29 runs later for 20 and, though captain Jason Mollin made a personal tournament best of 44, Ireland were pegged back to 106 for 5. Trent Johnson led the recovery but when he was caught in the deep for 44 to become Kevin Sander’s third victim, Ireland were left needing a run a ball with only four wickets in hand. Gillespie and White, though, held their nerve.In the other semi, Bermuda elected to bat against Scotland at The Hills, but they struggled to 26 for 3. Scotland’s leading wicket-taker Paul Hoffman was the spearhead as only Albert Steede of Bermuda’s top seven batsmen made double figures. Bermuda’s innings was rescued by the controlled hitting of Dean Minors and Lionel Cann. When Cann joined Minors at the crease Bermuda were heading for humiliation at 88 for 7, but he struck 45 from 38 balls for Cann, while Minors added an unbeaten 53 to lift the surprise semi-finalists to 219 for 9.Scotland had a shaky start to their reply, at 52 for 3. The Scottish batting line-up, though, has strength in depth and Gavin Hamilton and Cedric English found their form at an opportune time. Both Hamilton and English made their first half-centuries of the tournament to shepherd Scotland to safety. Hamilton was caught out for 59 but English remained unbeaten on 75 as Scotland won by six wickets.Holland moved to within one match of the World Cup finals by thrashing Denmark by 89 runs. The Dutch were unlucky to miss out on automatic qualification from Group B but bounced back with determination. Bas Zuiderent and Dan van Bunge both hit centuries as Holland amassed 314 for 6 in 50 overs. Denmark did not get close in their reply and were bowled out in the final over for 225.UAE ended Namibia‘s dream of a second consecutive appearance at the World Cup. Gerrie Snyman contributed 82 not out to a competitive target of 240 for 7, but UAE produced their best batting performance of the tournament to reach the target with 18 balls to spare. Syed Maqsood (84) and Khuram Khan (92) were the key men for UAE.In the play-off matches for ninth to 12th place, USA picked up their first victory of the tournament in beating Papua New Guinea by eight wickets and Oman beat Uganda by six runs.

Glenn McGrath: returning on February 9 © Getty Images

Australia’s crown jewels, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, will make their long-awaited comebacks within 24 hours of each other, after their lengthy absences through injury and suspension.McGrath, who has undergone ankle surgery since his disappointing performance against Bangladesh last July, intends to play for a New South Wales second XI in a four-day game against Tasmania on February 9. The very next day, Warne’s year-long suspension for taking a banned diuretic comes to an end, as he joins Victoria’s second XI for the last three days of their fixture against Queensland.The initial target for both bowlers is a place in Australia’s Test squad for the forthcoming tour to Sri Lanka, although it will be a tough ask for them to regain sufficient form and fitness in so short a time. After a five-match one-day series, the first Test begins on March 8 at Galle.Nevertheless, Ricky Ponting, who will be taking over from Steve Waugh as Australia’s Test captain, was buoyed at the prospect of having his champion bowlers available once again.”When you know you’ve got guys like McGrath and Warne to come back it is pretty exciting,” said Ponting. “Glenn’s probably been frustrated a fair bit over the last few months, having got back and then needing another operation on his ankle. I’m sure he’s dying to play again and get back into this Australian side.”Ponting hinted that the absence of Warne and McGrath was a major factor in Australia’s disappointing showing against India. “That was probably the most disappointing thing about this summer, the Test series against India, that we didn’t ever get a chance to have our full-strength bowling against their full-strength batting attack. That would, I’m sure, have led to even better cricket.”McGrath completed a bowling session in the SCG nets on Wednesday morning, after admitting on Sydney radio that he was confident about his ankle being right. An NSW spokesman added: “He’s a pretty good chance of playing in that second-XI match.”

Ronnie Irani was keen to accentuate the positives after England’s six-wicket defeat to a Sir Donald Bradman XI at Bowral today.Needing 280 to win, the home side were led to the target by the former Australia batsman Mark Waugh, who made an unbeaten century as England were beaten with 21 balls to spare.England’s innings was built around a maiden international hundred from Owais Shah and a rapid 53 from Adam Hollioake, which boosted the innings in its latter stages.Irani, who was leading England for the first time, said: “The honour was great and more than anything I believe we have got some talent in the one-day set-up.Adam Hollioake has come in there and I thought he did extremely well, he’snot been with us all winter but it didn’t show.”It’s a small ground but the way he hit the ball cannot be taken away from him, he got the runs on the board. Owais Shah did well and it’s all about character at this level. And if you were picking on character then Adam Hollioake and these guys would be in your side.”That’s how I looked at it today, it was disappointing in that it was anotherEngland loss at this stage but there are a few guys back in Sydney who turnedthe Aussies over in the Test match and you have to look at the positives alittle. But I am not kidding myself, the result is disappointing.”Bradman XI captain Mark Waugh said his team had half an eye on the deteriorating weather in the early stages of the chase.”It looked very dark out the back so we wanted to make sure we had the rightscore at 25 overs,” said Waugh. “After that it was back to normal cricket and some fun.”(Bowral) has got a special feeling about it. Don Bradman played his cricket here and so there is that tradition about it and it’s a great little ground. I would love to see New South Wales play some ING Cup games here. It’s actually got that English village cricket theme about it.”

Despite slate grey skies and a blustery wind keeping the temperature down, Graham Thorpe illuminated the day and warmed a decent crowd with an innings of sparkling shots and dominance. The Surrey left-hander, undoubtedly England’s main run threat, was ably supported by Michael Vaughan, who nestled comfortably into England’s problematic No 3 slot, registering his highest Test score with calm authority.These two came together with England having been pinned back by Pakistan’s notorious combo of Wasim and Waqar. The much anticipated Lancashire duel between Wasim who graced Old Trafford for 11 years as the overseas player and Michael Atherton was a brief one. But it was Waqar who snared Atherton when he edged to Latif for four and England, in pursuit of Pakistan’s fine first innings total of 403, were struggling at 15 for 2. Marcus Trescothick had looked in form but played inside a Wasim delivery and lost his off bail.However, England portray a robustness and confidence that had not been evident until recently, and coach Duncan Fletcher has energised this team – these days England do not crumble like a chocolate chip cookie. Not only did Vaughan and Thorpe repair the damage, they did so with aplomb, repeating the tableau of yesterday and continued the run feast which has been the hallmark of this match.Shots were sprayed all round the wicket, Thorpe hooking and cutting in style and he mercilessly ravaged his former Surrey colleague Waqar who went for five runs an over at one stage. Meanwhile the rather more refined Vaughan demonstrated a flawless technique honed on the seaming pitches of Headingley and he moved effortlessly closer to a maiden century.It was a welcome contrast from the pace diet of yesterday to see master spinner Saqlain wheeling away from the Warwick Road end in a long unbroken spell punctured only by a rain break when an hour was lost just after tea. He enjoyed some turn and some moral success but was unable to break the partnership which had put on 64 by lunch, reaching 173 at tea. When rain finally brought the curtain down with just over 18 overs left, Vaughan and Thorpe had plundered 189 valuable runs with Thorpe two short of his first century in a Test at Old Trafford.Earlier Pakistan had extended their overnight score to 403 all out, and once again Darren Gough was forced to kick the turf in frustration as Nick Knight spilled a chance at slip, the second to go down off Gough, Rashid Latif the escapee.Latif didn’t capitalise though; he wandered carelessly out of his crease in search of a single, Trescothick pounced and threw down the stumps. Next Caddick was smashed high over mid-wicket for six by Saqlain who biffed 21 unbeaten runs with some imaginative, if unorthodox shots, the fun ending when Gough trapped Waqar leg before.