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While foreign peacekeeping forces roam Afghanistan and new governmentinstitutions are being installed, sport, and especially cricket, is taking aback-seat.

Not so for the fledgling Afghanistan Cricket Federation (ACF) who are busyfighting a lonely battle to develop cricket in their war-torn country. Theybelieve cricket can play an important role in helping rebuild their nation’ssocial fabric and want to bring people together in friendly competition.They say cricket provides a healthy outlet for youthful energy as itencourages team spirit and turns attention away from guns and fightingtowards the field of play.It’s a long tough road ahead but their spirits are high and some good workhas already been done. But without aid in the form of donations, know-howand sponsorships they face an almost impossible task.A start has been made, however, as a little help came their way when inApril the cricket-friendly British Embassy staff arranged for a donation ofsome cricket equipment and, earlier, members of the International SecurityAssistance Force (ISAF) took time out to play cricket with the ACF team.Only the love of cricket could bring people together from cultures acontinent apart to play together in the unlikeliest of locations, Kabul andits environs.The ACF is trying to re-establish a cricket structure in a country that hasfar more immediate problems but they still managed to tour neighbouringPakistan during the 2002-03 season to play for the Cornelius Trophy, aGrade-II domestic tournament there and they plan to send a youth team forJuly’s Youth Asia Cup 2003.Although the Afghanis failed to make much of an impression on other poolmembers in the Pakistan tournament – not qualifying for the next round -they did gain invaluable competitive experience.A bright moment came their way when playing out a draw against Rajanpurwhen allrounder Mohammad Nabi scored an unbeaten 103. Was this the firstinternational century by an Afghani? We will have to wait till cricketstatisticians come up with an answer after Afghanistan plays some morecricket.Against Rahimyar Khan they went down by 189 runs while Okara blasted them byan innings and 113 runs. In their last pool match, Gujrat showed no mercywith a 10-wicket win and ensured the visitors finished with no points fromtheir four games.Some solace nevertheless was Nabi’s performance who topped their averages inbatting (226 runs at an average of 37.66) and in bowling (six wickets at anaverage of 24.83 with a best of 4-66).During 2001-02, the Afghanistan team had also competed in Pakistan¹sdomestic Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Grade-II but remained empty-handed. The starthen was skipper and president of the ACF, Allah Dad Noori who hauled in 18wickets in five games with a best of 9-89 in one match.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been providing the Afghan team withsome financial support apart from allowing them to play in local tournamentsand during the 2002-03 tour helped with a qualified coach, former allrounderNaeem Ahmed.After the tour Naeem said, “The Afghan players had all the needed talent anddesire but lacked professional coaching and exposure to competitive cricketwhich can only come if a cricket infrastructure is developed back home andthey play more cricket.”Speaking to Wisden CricInfo, Abdul Khalil, general manager of the ACFexplained: “Cricket was one of the few organised sports allowed under theprevious [Taliban] government, so it was, and is, a very important game forus and for the development of youth in Afghanistan.””The ACF was founded in 1995 and before the war [post-September 11] we had29 registered clubs and over 900 regular players nationally. We also hadbegun a schoolyard league that helped introduce cricket to ourschoolchildren.”He went on to express happiness that no known players were lost during thefighting in his country.”However, our main ground became an army command centre used by varioustroops, and most of our equipment, facilities and the league infrastructurewere destroyed.””We are trying to rebuild sponsorship and funds are urgently needed forcricket academies. Cricket should be an important social contributor toreconstruction in Afghanistan.””We would like to sincerely thank those who have helped us already and hopethat we can be assisted to rebuild cricket academies in three key provincesKhost, Jalalabad and Kabul, and for an opportunity to show that Afghanistanis also a country of sportsmen.”It was the ‘inventors’ of cricket who came up with some timely support forthe ACF on April 16, 2003 when the British Ambassador to Afghanistanpresented a quantity of cricket equipment to be given to and distributed tothe cricketers of Afghanistan by the ACF.The equipment included bats, balls, protective equipment, whites and twoartificial pitches. All through the efforts of one cricket enthusiast at theembassy, Andrew Banks, who managed to convince various individuals, sportscompanies and several English counties to donate.At a ceremony at his residence Ambassador Ron Nash LVO also presented Afghanplayers with off-field uniforms and an ACF tie.Cricket was first taken up by Afghani refugee youth who had fled to Pakistanafter the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the early 1980’s and carriedon playing till they could return home 10 years later – more than sufficienttime to inculcate cricket culture.Among them was nine-wickets-in-a-match man and ACF President, Allah DadNoori, who learnt cricket as a young man playing in Peshawar who then wenthome to help found the ACF in 1995.These young men convinced the ruling Taliban militia to allow cricket to beplayed and one may recall this strict regime had banned most sports as beingrepugnant after taking over from the Soviets. They brought most ofAfghanistan under their ultra-orthodox interpretation of Islamic Shariahlaw, banning women from outside jobs and education and ordering men to growuntrimmed beards.In 1998, Afghani boxers were banned from participating in an internationalboxing tournament in neighbouring Pakistan because they refused to trimtheir beards. The organisers felt the beards to be an unfair advantage asthey would soften knock-out punches.”We all pray that Afghans adopt not only the technical aspects of the gamebut the charisma that surrounds the cricketing field,” said Pakistan’slegendary batsman Hanif Mohammad after he was told that cricket had beentaken up in Afghanistan.

“But it is good news as more children are involved in cricket, the furtherthey will be from the fighting. The atmosphere will change as mothers andfathers come to watch their children play,” he added.In January 2000, the ruling Taliban militia approached the PCB to help ACFjoin the International Cricket Council (ICC).”They have written to us and want us to help recommend them for associatemembership of the ICC,” said Yawar Saeed, who was a member of PCB’sadvisory council.After a visit to review local cricket and facilities by Nasim-ul-Ghani,ICC’s regional development manager for Asia, the ACF received recognition asan Affiliate Member in 2001.After this struggle, and with stability now returning to Afghanistan, theACF has made an appeal to cricket-playing countries, their boards, sportsequipment manufacturers and sponsors to help donate to develop cricketfurther.They need to setup coaching academies, provide equipment to players, anddevelop grounds.A laudable plan that surely matches the spirit of cricket for soon we mayall enjoy one more team in the arena battling it out with bat and ball.

Prolonged and steady overnight and morning rain prevented any play duringthe second day of the Second Test match between Zimbabwe and South Africa atQueens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Zimbabwe were 154 for two wickets at theclose of the first day.The rain finally stopped in mid-morning, but extensive mopping-up operationswere required and the sky remained heavily overcast. The umpires eventuallydecided that there was no alternative but to abandon play for the day and,if possible, to extend the hours of the subsequent days as provided for inthe laws of the game.A result would now appear difficult to achieve on a good, if slow, battingpitch. Zimbabwe’s bowling does not appear to have the firepower necessaryto bowl out South Africa twice in the time remaining, even if the batsmenshould get enough runs. South Africa would have a better chance if theywere able to break through the Zimbabwe batting quickly on the third day,which should prove crucial.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:17

Our batting has been disappointing – Patel

Nawroz Mangal’s second consecutive Man-of-the-Match performance put Afghanistan back in the World Twenty20 as the side coasted to a six-wicket win over Papua New Guinea. Mangal hit a chanceless 65 not out to chase down PNG’s 127 for 6, as Afghanistan reached the target with 10 balls to spare.PNG’s decision to bat first was a curious one with the knowledge that all four morning games at Malahide prior to Thursday’s contest had been won by the chasing team. Afghanistan gleefully accepted the opportunity to bowl first and pinned PNG back to 20 for 2 in a boundary-free Powerplay.Both openers were caught behind for 5 in successive overs – Lega Siaka was out after flat-footed swish to Dawlat Zadran while Tony Ura feathered an edge off an attempted pull against Shapoor Zadran. Vani Morea fell to Mohammad Nabi in the eighth over for 9, given leg-before missing a paddle sweep, though replays showed there was some doubt as to whether contact was in line with off stump.Assad Vala, PNG’s leading scorer in the group stage, added just 7 before he was given out shuffling across his stumps to the medium-pace of Mirwais Ashraf. Mahuru Dai tried to bring life to PNG’s innings by scooping Shapoor over fine-leg but was out next ball for 11 after his uppercut found Mangal at third man to make it 55 for 5 in the 13th.Hamid Hassan had been out of the line-up for Afghanistan’s two losses in the tournament to Oman and Hong Kong, and bowled decently in his first three overs to take 1 for 16 including a reverse-swinging gem that bowled Jack Vare for 13 to end the 17th at 89 for 6. However, Hassan came in for some heavy punishment in the 19th from Norman Vanua and Charles Amini, conceding 20 runs to spoil his figures.Vanua, whose unbeaten 28 off 10 balls at no. 10 propelled PNG to a two-wicket win over Ireland, came in at no. 8 today and provided a similar spark, cracking Hassan over square-leg for six and again through the covers for four before Amini paddled a four behind square later in the over. Vanua ramped Mirwais Ashraf in the 20th and ended unbeaten on 22 off 10, while Amini’s run-a-ball 37 was PNG’s highest individual score in Ireland. The pair’s 38-run stand to end the innings gave the side hope.That hope was extended further on the first ball of the chase as Vanua got Mohammad Shahzad to chase a short and wide delivery, giving a toe edge for a golden duck. Another opportunity was available to get Asghar Stanikzai on 9 in the fourth over, but Amini’s dart for the stumps from mid-on was wide.PNG did their best to keep things tight but Afghanistan were patient enough to wait for the loose ball to release any building pressure. Mangal smacked a boundary over the leg side to start the sixth off Chad Soper and then heaved a half-tracker from Dai over the midwicket rope to start the ninth.The 57-run stand was finally broken by the legspin of Amini, who enticed Stanikzai to come down the track on a loopy good length delivery dragged wide outside off. The turn beat Stanikzai’s edge and Vare whipped off the bails for 22, ending the 10th at 57 for 2.The briefest bit of PNG momentum was stolen back immediately by Mangal, who counter-punched in the 11th by launching back-to-back sixes from Dai’s off spin back over the bowler’s head. The only blips in the chase from thereon were the wickets of Samiullah Shenwari and Mohammad Nabi. Shenwari’s attempted reverse-paddle off Amini went to Dai at backward point and Nabi skied a pull against Vanua to Dai at midwicket in the 17th.But Mangal had brought up his 50 off 43 balls by that point and any hopes of a PNG comeback were completely shattered when Loa Nou bowled consecutive front foot no balls in the 18th, the second of which was catapulted for six by Najibullah Zadran to bring the equation down to nine off 15 balls. Najibullah ended the match in the next over with another six.Afghanistan now go to the World Twenty20 for the fourth consecutive time while PNG end the tournament with three straight defeats when a win in any of those contests – against Namibia, USA and Afghanistan – would have clinched a spot in India for the side.

ScorecardFile photo – Todd Astle scored an unbeaten 96 and finished with a match haul of eight wickets•Getty Images

Todd Astle’s all-round performance in the both innings set up Canterbury’s 161-run over Central Districts in Rangiora.Set a target of 386 in the fourth innings, Central Districts were reduced to 34 for 3 by Canterbury with Astle and Matt Henry taking the lead. Tom Bruce then combined with opener Dean Robinson to take Central Districts close to 100 before Robinson fell for 34. Central Districts soon slumped to 99 for 5 and Bruce then found an able partner in Adam Milne with whom he added 54 for the sixth wicket. Bruce and Milne were dismissed by Astle for 67 and 61, respectively, and the legspinner ran through Central Districts’ lower order to dismiss them for 224.Canterbury built on their 75-run lead from the first innings thanks to middle and lower-order contributions by Henry, Ken McClure , Astle (45) and Ryan McCone (46). Henry and McCone added 87 runs for Canterbury’s ninth wicket. Henry’s unbeaten 52-ball 75, which included 12 fours and two sixes lifted Canterbury to a second-innings score of 310.Canterbury were driven to 320 in their first innings by Leo Carter’s 101 and Astle’s unbeaten 96, after they were put in to bat. Astle then picked up three wickets to bowl Central Districts out for 245. Will Young, the Central Districts’ captain, top-scored in the first innings with 63, while Robinson and Bruce chipped in with 42 each.

Steve Harmison, the England fast bowler, will make a surprising return to cricket just three weeks after a hernia operation. Harmison had only expected to be available for Durham’s Championship match against Surrey on August 13 at the very earliest – and that was even with his recovery going well.But he has been named Durham captain for their three-day match against Sri Lanka A which starts on Wednesday. He started running in the week following the operation and was given the all-clear at the end of July to resume more strenuous exercise.In his absence, and that of Matthew Hoggard, England’s attack has lacked an incisive edge. But Chris Tremlett showed great promise in the first two Tests against India, with 10 wickets at 19.60, and has received praise from Harmison himself.If Harmison’s comeback goes well, he could be available for Durham’s Friends Provident Trophy final at Lord’s on August 18.

It’s been a meteoric rise for Munaf Patel since he came to prominence witha 10-wicket haul against England in a tour game in February. On Test debuta few weeks later at Mohali, he did nearly as well, taking 7 for 97 asIndia battled back to win an even contest. Nudging the speedometer at90mph, he also showed the ability to reverse-swing the ball effectively,ending English resistance with a superb burst on the final morning.Since then, with Irfan Pathan struggling for form and consistency, Munafhas been thrust into the role of pace spearhead. He struggled initiallywith the one-day format, but an excellent spell against Australia onSaturday suggested that he was finding his feet in the hit-and-missversion.Given the new ball during the Tests in the West Indies – he took 14wickets in the four games – he was given first use of the white ball onSaturday after Pathan gave another insipid display in India’s openingmatch against West Indies. After practice on Monday morning at the RoyalSelangor Club, Munaf looked back on the past few months and spoke of theresponsibilities attached to taking the new ball.”Opening the attack isn’t really in my hands,” he said. “Whatever thecoach and the captain decide is after a great deal of thought, and in thebest interests of the team.”Coming on as first change against West Indies, he had figures of 1 for 18from five overs, the only bowler to escape a hammering as Chris Gayle andfriends romped to 141 from 20 overs. And after taking a bit of ashellacking early against Australia, he finished with 3 for 53, earningpraise from Ricky Ponting for the manner in which he had swung the ball.As for reverse swing, Patel felt that it was easier with the traditionalred ball than the white one. “You don’t get too much reverse with thewhite ball,” he said. “The batsmen too sense reverse, and are looking forany excuse to get the ball changed.”The red ball reverses more because you can use it for longer periods,while the white ball can at best be used for 50 overs and even then, it’schanged at least once during every innings. That’s one of the main reasonswhy it doesn’t reverse much.””I am fairly satisfied, but I want to put up an even better display,” saidMunaf, when asked to assess his displays so far. “My primary goal is tobowl according to the requirements of the team. There has been bounce andmovement for the quicker bowlers here, but it’s important to concentrateon line and length because those who stick to good lines and lengths arethe ones who are having success. The boundaries are fairly small and ifyou sacrifice accuracy for pace, then you will go for plenty of runs.”With rain having played a part in both Indian games, he admitted that theteam now faced a must-win situation. “There’s bound to be a bit ofpressure on us, but there’s pressure on West Indies too. There’s pressureon all teams. We want to win the next two matches and make it to thefinal.”We lost four matches on the trot in the West Indies, and here too,because of the rain, we lost the first match. We are focussed on puttingup a better performance on Wednesday [against West Indies].”The match against Australia was also his first opportunity to come acrossGlenn McGrath, unquestionably the greatest pace bowler of our age.”McGrath is a bowler who concentrates on line and length, he doesn’t havegreat pace but his control is remarkable,” said Munaf. “I have beenspeaking with him, and I will continue to speak to him as the tournamentprogresses. All the bowlers are eager to meet him and learn from him.”His team-mates continue to badger him to bowl quicker, but for Munaf,striking a balance is crucial. “Everyone wants that I bowl faster,” hesaid. “But I want to ally line and length with pace, not bowl all over thepark striving for pace. I can bowl quick, but my principal focus isaccuracy.”With Pathan and the other pace bowlers struggling to find their radar,it’s imperative that Munaf homes in during the next two games. Else, Indiaface the chastening prospect of an early flight home.

Scorecard

Venugopal Rao, who has distinguished himself for Andhra Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, scored a fine century, and added 162 runs for the fifth wicket with Parthiv Patel as Rest of India consolidated their already considerable gains on the third day of the Irani Trophy match against Mumbai at Mohali. Rao’s 205-ball 113 left Mumbai pondering an improbably run chase over the final two days if they are to wrest back the trophy.Resuming at 84 for 2, Rest of India lost three wickets in the first session. Dinesh Mongia, one of those pushing for a place in the Indian squad, did himself no favours with a second low score in the match, caught behind off Aavishkar Salvi for just 12 (103 for 3). And fellow Test aspirant Aakash Chopra soon followed, caught and bowled by Sairaj Bahutule for 41 (126 for 4).When Joginder Sharma followed three balls later, caught by Ramesh Powar, Mumbai glimpsed an opening, but that was rudely shut in their faces as Rao and Patel dominated the second session, wearing down the bowlers. They batted on till after tea before Patel edged one from Salvi to Vinayak Mane. His 68 came from 150 balls, and having made 60 in the first innings, he is now virtually a certainty to keep his place behind the stumps for the first Test against Australia.Rao duly brought up his ninth first-class century before hitting a Powar delivery to Salvi (311 for 7), and Mumbai’s misery was complete when Zaheer Khan smacked an unbeaten 41-ball 46 in the final hour, including four big sixes. With both Zaheer and Shib Sankar Paul in excellent bowling form, Mumbai could be on a hiding to nothing tomorrow.

Scorecard

Five wickets from Jason Gillespie and an unbeaten hundred by Michael Clarke helped Australia to a comfortable eight-wicket win against Zimbabwe in the third one-dayer at Harare. In an outstanding performance, they romped home with over 19 overs to spare, and thus completed a clean sweep of the three-match series.Apart from a gutsy hundred stand between Elton Chigumbura and Mluleki Nkala, which helped Zimbabwe recover from 61 for 6 to a more respectable 196, everything went to plan for Australia. Ricky Ponting won the toss for the first time in the series and put Zimbabwe in on a good pitch, and Gillespie made a rollicking start. He bowled the first over in place of Glenn McGrath, who only came on as first change, and took the wicket of Brendan Taylor with his sixth delivery, moving the ball in to trap him lbw (4 for 1).Gillespie moved the ball sharply with a touch of lift, and all the batsmen found him a handful. Stuart Matsikenyeri, on 4 at the time, was dropped at second slip by Ponting, but Matsikenyeri did not make the most of his luck. He skyed the very next ball over the slips and straight down the throat of Shane Watson at third man (9 for 2).Gillespie gave Tatenda Taibu a torrid time, beating the bat time and again, before Taibu finally scampered a single to reach the other end. However, this exposed Vusi Sibanda, who then slashed half-heartedly at a lifting ball and edged through to Adam Gilchrist for 2 (10 for 3). A promising partnership developed between Taibu and Mark Vermeulen, but Vermeulen then tapped a simple return catch to Gillespie for 17 (42 for 4). Worse was to follow, as Gillespie fired in a yorker to Alester Maregwede and uprooted his leg stump (50 for 5).Taibu had by now fought his way out of his shaky period and was batting with superb judgment, wasting no chance to score off the rare loose balls and keeping the score moving along steadily. Ponting allowed both his new-ball bowlers to complete their quotas, and Kasprowicz, who played an invaluable supporting role, finally got his reward with his very last delivery, moving it in to beat Taibu and trap him lbw for 27. Zimbabwe were then 61 for 6, and appeared as good as finished.But then came the superb partnership between Chigumbura and Nkala that transformed a match that looked set to finish at lunchtime. Chigumbura, the promising Under-19 player who had struggled so far at international level, took a while to find the middle of the bat, but hit some handsome drives to reach his maiden half-century at this level.Nkala just missed his fifty, bowled by Brad Hogg’s faster ball for 47 (175 for 7), and then Chigumbura, in the penultimate over, swung across the line to be bowled by Hogg for 77 (195 for 5). The last three wickets fell for only two runs, and Zimbabwe were dismissed with an over to spare, Hogg taking 3 for 37. But at least they had made something of a match of it.Zimbabwe were handicapped by the absence of both their regular new-ball bowlers, Douglas Hondo and Tinashe Panyangara, through injury. Clarke and Gilchrist took two overs to assess the bowling of Mluleki Nkala and Waddington Mwayenga before opening loose with a flurry of boundaries. Clarke began with two handsome fours through extra cover, and after conceding 39 runs in the first six overs, the opening bowlers gave way to Tawanda Mupariwa and the debutant Ed Rainsford.

Gilchrist immediately took to Mupariwa, driving him for three successive boundaries before he dragged the fourth ball on to his middle stump from outside off. He made 44, including seven fours and a six, off only 27 balls, and Australia had raced to 68 for 1 in the ninth over.As usual when Gilchrist departs, a degree of anticlimax followed, with Clarke and Andrew Symonds scoring briskly, but not spectacularly. Symonds can at times rival Gilchrist, but not today. He had scored 20 off 22 balls when he drove Mupariwa uppishly to Mwayenga at mid-on (115 for 2).Clarke was determined to make good use of his opportunity at the top of the order, and he batted impressively to reach his half-century from 68 balls, playing some memorable strokes, especially on the off side. It was a race to reach his century before Australia won the match. A six and two fours in succession off Chigumbura took him to 99, and next ball he scored the single needed to reach his ton before Australia completed victory in the next over. Watson, with 17 not out, was the sleeping partner in the winning stand of 84.

Mike Burns and his Somerset team were thwarted by the rain at Derby on Friday as they attempted to win their second successive championship match of the season, and will hope for better weather when they resume at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning.Despite the umpires making three separate inspections during the early part of the afternoon any hopes were abandoned when play was eventually called off by umpires Mark Benson and Allan Jones just after three o’clock.Back at the County Ground in Taunton, chief executive Peter Anderson reflected on the Cidermen’s season so far. He told me: "Some people have expressed disappointment following the team’s defeat by eight runs in the championship match at Bristol, and our National Cricket League defeat when we played Durham last weekend. We were pretty poor against Durham make no mistakes about it, but our bowlers who were criticised did have a wet ball to contend with."He continued: "There are several very pleasing signs however from the season already. Our quick bowlers are bowling sides out in sixty overs, and that is a vindication of coach Kevin Shines tactics of putting a strong bowling side out because to win matches you have to take twenty wickets, especially in Division Two.""The batting is coming together now and it is pleasing to see Jamie Cox scoring runs. Peter Bowler and newcomer James Bryant put together a gutsy performance against Durham in the championship when the pressure was on us, laying the foundation for a good win, and our newcomers are also beginning to find their feet in this team."He went on: "The young players at the club are a great value to us and there are several of them waiting in the wings ready to make their mark. Players like our rising star Gareth Andrew, Michael Parsons, Robert Woodman, Steven Wheeler, James Hilditch and Richard Timms all show great potential, not forgetting Tom Webley and Cornishman Michael Munday who are both playing first class cricket for Cambridge UCCE and Oxford UCCE respectively.""Again this is a vindication of our coaches Kevin Shine and Mark Garaway who have worked hard in the development field with these promising young players, and down through the age groups there are some lovely little gems waiting for their chances," he added.Regarding the current crop of injuries at the club the Somerset boss said: " Early season injuries started with Matt Wood who was hospitalised after contracting a virus at Southampton. That affected his availability to play, and has set him back, however thankfully he has now fully recovered and is playing again.""Matt Bulbeck having had a history of back injury has had to rest from bowling for three weeks because of a suspected stress fracture of the back, and Neil Edwards who had such a successful tour to Australia with England at Under 19 level has been suffering from glandular fever, but is now thankfully ready to resume light training."The chief concluded: "The whole of our pre season was upset by the virus that several of the players contracted at Southampton which is why we often had to use fifteen or sixteen players in the warm up matches."

A winning cash prize of £6,000 is at stake as Bath Cricket Club, fromSomerset, and Bramhall Cricket Club, from Cheshire, contest the final of theNational Club Championship at Lord’s on Thursday 6 September.The prize-money has been donated by competition sponsors, play-cricket.com,the ECB’s recreational web-site partner, and guarantees the losing finalistsa £3,000 consolation.Of the two finalists, from a competition which featured 379 originalentrants, only Bath has ever previously made it to Lord’s – in 1998 when itlost to Yorskire’s Doncaster Town. This year it crept into the finalcourtesy of winning a low scoring semi-final at High Wycombe.In a rain affected match of 37 overs-a-side, High Wycombe batted first andposted a score of 117-9 with Stuart Priscott returning impressive bowlingfigures of 7-1-11-3. In reply, after being 67-6 at one stage, Bath wassteered home by an innings of 27 not out from Gregg Brown, winning by threewickets with 3.5 overs remaining.Bramhall Cricket Club, meanwhile, won its semi-final match by four wicketsover Scotland’s Ayr Cricket Club. Ayr’s captain, Albert Simpson, won thetoss, elected to bat, and scored an unbeaten 75 from his team’s total of216-6 in the alloted 45 overs.Bramhall’s victory, achieved with 2.2 overs to spare, owed much to youngopening batsman Paddy McKeown, who has had trials with Lancashire and Essexand who scored 105. Andy Hall also made a valuable contibution with 42runs.The 45 overs-a-side National Club Championship Final will start at 11.00am.

Routes to the final:

Bath CC

1st Round Bath 164 all out, Cardiff 159 all out
2nd Round Bath 195 for 6 Cheltenham, 110 all out
3rd Round Swansea 152 for 8, Bath 156 for 8
4th Round Bath 256 for 8, Lansdown 232 all out
5th Round Bath 174 all out, Bovey Tracey 162 all out
6th Round Bath 221 for 5, Havant 129 all out
Quarter-Finals Bath 194 for 7 Saffron Walden 176 all out
Semi-Finals High Wycombe 117 for 9 Bath 118 for 7

Bramhall CC

1st Round Bramhall 148 all out, Longridge 147 for 9
2nd Round Fulwood & Broughton 115 all out Bramhall 117 for 7
3rd Round Winnington Park 141 for 9, Bramhall 142 for 2
4th Round Wallasey 170 for 8, Bramhall 171 for 5
5th Round Bramhall 251 for 9, Kearsley 107 all out
6th Round Bramhall 161 for 9, Harrogate 134 all out
Quarter-Finals Bramhall 230 for 6, Wolverhampton 230 all out
Semi-Finals Ayr 216 for 6, Bramhall 217 for 5