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Sessay 228 for 3 (Wilkie 78, Till 56) beat Shipton-under-Wychwood 227 for 5 (Hemming 59) by seven wicketsJohn Flintoff and Nick Harrison celebrate Sessay ‘s winning runs•Martin Williamson

Sessay from Yorkshire cruised to a seven-wicket victory over previous champions Shipton-under-Wychwood from Oxfordshire to win the npower Village Cup in front of an enthusiastic crowd at a sun-drenched Lord’s. No side had successfully chased a target as big as 228 in the previous 38 finals, but Sessay did so at a canter with 17 balls to spare.After a few weeks where cricket has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, this contest allowed traditionalists to argue the game still has its moments. The pre-match build-up had centred on 55-year-old John Flintoff who had been playing for Sessay for four decades. Back in 1976 he had to miss Sessay’s only previous appearance in a Village Cup final because of injury, but 34 years later he finally got another chance. It was fitting that he was in the middle when the winning runs were hit.Shipton, who came into the game as favourites, won here in 2002 and 2003 and seven of that side from the second victory played again today. While that experience held them in good stead, in the field they at times looked to be carrying a few passengers, and while that was not the difference between the sides, it made it very hard for them to sustain pressure on the Sessay batsmen at key points.But with the exception of Chris Panter, Shipton’s front-line bowlers never settled, and Paul Hemming found himself having to replace Craig Lambert and Charlie Brain after two overs each as both sprayed the new ball around. Thereafter, Hemming relied almost entirely on his spinners but while better, they too lacked consistency.After a circumspect start, Sessay’s openers Mark Wilkie and Matthew Till capitalised on the wayward bowling, aided by a liberal sprinkling of wides and misfields. Wilkie, who had spent a spell as an MCC Young Cricketer at Lord’s, accumulated steadily with some neat strokeplay off his pads. Had Paul Jennings stumped him early on off a routine chance the game could have taken a very different path. Till, meanwhile, used his reach well and hit anything short or wide with increasing power through the off side.Shipton-under-Wychwood’s Andy Hemming is spectacularly caught by Nick Harrison off Richard Till for 59•Martin Williamson

The opening stand of 127 ended when Till fell to a juggling catch by Tim Senior on the deep square-leg boundary for a 54-ball 56, but Man of the Match Wilkie continued to press on, and by the time he top-edged a sweep for 78 the game was all but won.Nick Thorne quashed any lingering Yorkshire hopes with 42 from 38 deliveries, and his departure, stumped down the leg side, brought in Flintoff. Hemming crowded the bat to try to put added pressure on the veteran, but he responded with two cracking off-side boundaries to take his side to the brink of victory. It fell to Nick Harrison to hit the winning runs, but Flintoff understandably led the celebrations like a man half his age.Earlier on, Shipton, who had been stuck in on a green pitch, made a solid start but Andy Hemming and Charlie Brain took their time to build any momentum ahead against some tight bowling and enthusiastic fielding. It took them ten overs to pass 30 and another eight to reach 60, but thereafter the scoring rate steadily increased.The breakthrough which ended the 88-run first-wicket stand was unfortunate, Hemming’s defensive shot trickling back into his stumps and barely dislodging a bail, and then Brain was well caught by a sprawling Harrison, one of the wicketkeeper’s three dismissals.Steve Bates upped the tempo with Tim Senior, but it was the arrival of Jason Hunt that really silenced the outnumbered Sessay support. On the extreme end of burly, he slammed five sixes off the first eight balls he faced, four over the short leg-side boundary on the Tavern side and a slashed cover drive into the Mound Stand. Had he stayed he could have put the game out of reach in a matter of overs; as it was, he scored 38 off 13 balls before unwisely trying to use his feet and being stumped.Bates kept attacking as the last ten overs produced 99 runs and enabled Shipton to post the fourth-highest score in a final. It appeared to be more than enough, but Flintoff had not waited all those years to be denied.

The damaging contractual dispute between Cricket Kenya and the national squad appears to have been resolved, and it was announced on Monday that an agreement had been reached over new contracts. Following a series of meetings between CK officials and the players and their representatives, the players signed new one-year contracts which run until May 31 2011.The divisive disagreement had rumbled on for more than two months, reaching its nadir when the players boycotted training in June, leading to the last-minute cancellation of a warm-up tour to England ahead of the World Cricket League Division One tournament in Netherlands that left CK an estimated $50,000 out of pocket.The contracts for the 16-man national squad had expired at the end of May and had been expected to be renewed without difficulty, CK offering a 10% pay rise despite continuing poor on-field performances from the team.However, at the beginning of June a four-man deputation claiming to represent the squad met with CK officials and set out new terms which were deemed unacceptable. They included reverting to a number of old terms and conditions which had been set aside a few years ago after the ICC, African Cricket Association and CK decided they stifled new players. With neither side willing to budge, Kenya’s preparations for the WCL tournament were chaotic at best and unsurprisingly a demoralised team failed to win a single game during the event.”Obviously this has been a difficult issue that resulted in a completely unacceptable situation where we were unable to fulfil an important part of our preparation for a major ICC event,” said Tom Sears, CK’s chief executive.”It is fair to say some good has come out of the initial dispute in the fact that after a series of meetings and presentations the players now have a better understanding of Cricket Kenya’s plan for the future, the constraints we as an organisation face and their responsibilities as members of the national squad. All the players have now agreed new contracts with our original budget for the year which was crucial.””As a squad we are very pleased to have resolved all the outstanding issues relating to our contracts,” said captain Maurice Ouma, who had aligned himself with the deputation claiming to represent the player’s interests during the dispute. “The process has been very positive and constructive and we are now looking forward to focusing on our cricket and achieving the standards we set ourselves as a squad, something which we have failed to do recently.”We are confident that we have started a new page and everyone at Cricket Kenya is united and looking forward to a positive future together.”Kenya’s next international engagement is an Intercontinental Cup game against Afghanistan at the Nairobi Gymkhana club, starting on October 2. Kenya are currently fourth on the competition’s points table and have no hope of making the final. That match will be followed by three one-day internationals against the visitors which may well be Kenya’s last chance to prepare for next year’s World Cup – now only six months away – and so the resolution of the contractual crisis could not have come sooner.

Anil Kumble has encouraged South Africa’s young spinners to work hard and stay positive if they hoped to make it big. Kumble was speaking at a Cricket South Africa (CSA) High Performance Spinning Clinic in Johannesburg.”My message to the youngsters is simple, stay positive and remain focused on your goals. As a spinner, it is always important to keep a positive mindset when bowling, it is a challenging art but once you master it, it becomes very rewarding.”The former India legspinner, who was joined by South Africa spinners Paul Harris and Johan Botha, received plenty of praise from the spinners he helped at the clinic on Thursday. The session, which was also attended by CSA’s High Performance spinning coaches, Shafiek Abrahams, Harry Shapiro and Paul Adams, was conducted alongside the second CSA annual conference in Sandton.”It is always an opportunity of a lifetime to receive advice from a brilliant cricketer like Anil Kumble,” Tabraiz Shamsi, the leading wicket-taker in CSA’s domestic competition last season, said. “He has given me some tips to implement on my technique and hopefully the wickets will keep coming next season. “Shamsi’s comments were echoed by South Africa women’s legspinner Dane van Niekerk. “There are not many spinners in women’s cricket, especially legspinners so today has been a privilege. Kumble is an all-time great and has great expertise about spin bowling, I have learnt a lot today,” she said.Even Botha said he picked up a few tricks from Kumble. “Today was a great experience and even as an international player it was a privilege to learn some new tricks of the trade from Kumble. You can never have enough information and I hope the players here today will benefit from Kumble’s wisdom and go on for bigger achievements in the next season.”

When Ian Bell last played an ODI for England, both he and the team were very different beasts. On the tour of India in November 2008, Bell limped to a total of 84 runs in four straight defeats, and was dropped ahead of the fifth (and as it turned out, final) match in Cuttack, a decision which had no impact whatsoever on the result.Twenty months down the line, and Bell is back in harness, part of an England one-day squad that has won three series on the bounce, including the notable scalps of South Africa and Australia, and is now well on the way to a fourth in a row, if a sweat-free six-wicket win over Bangladesh is anything to go by. And while an easy 84 not out from 101 balls proves little in isolation, the unflappability of the performance was in keeping with the current team ethos.”I think from the Tests through to Twenty20s, there’s a real confidence about the side, and a lot of it overlaps so you feed off it,” said Bell. “Coming into this squad and being around for the Australia series was fantastic. It was very easy to slot in because of the confidence that everyone has. It felt as normal as it did to go into the Test matches, and I think it’s spreading over all forms of the game.”Bell knows his place in the side is not for keeps, not yet at any rate. Kevin Pietersen is being rested for this series, and with Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan also assured of their places in the first-choice middle-order, he is likely to make way when the stiffer challenge of Pakistan arrives in September. But he slotted into the side as if he had never been away, which is no mean feat for a player once derided for his timidity.”I felt confident in my ability to go out and play and I’ve been working as hard as I can with Warwickshire on playing spin bowlers and hitting boundaries in the middle overs,” Bell said. “Hopefully that’s what I’ve put in [to effect] here – the hard work over the last 12 months. Andy Flower spoke to me about a few things when he left me out of the side last year, mainly about playing spinners in the middle overs, and it’s started to pay off.”Bell confirmed he’s in a fine vein of form with a hard-hitting 158 for England Lions against India A earlier in the week, but he wasn’t required to showcase many of his new-found strokes on this occasion, as England sauntered to victory with 29 balls to spare. “I know where I am in this squad and I have to keep knocking on the door and working hard,” he said. “It was just a matter of playing the situation and that’s what we needed to do, but it was nice to have the opportunity to go out and score some runs.”Andrew Strauss, whose own freedom of expression was showcased in a 37-ball fifty, was delighted with the performance of his team-mate. “The great thing with Belly is he can pretty much bat anywhere in the order, he’s a pretty versatile cricketer,” said Strauss. “When you see him play innings like today, the top of the order seems like the more logical place for him to play, but he plays the spinners well, to so to come in lower down is not an issue.”That’s part of the reason why he has forced his way back into the squad. he is adaptable and he’s playing in a more aggressive manner that puts opposition players under pressure.”

Yuvraj Singh has set his sights on achieving peak fitness for the packed season coming up, after a series of injury concerns in the recent past. He endured a torrid time at the IPL and the World Twenty20, leading to serious questions being raised about his form and fitness.”These days I am at the National Cricket Academy [in Bangalore], training a bit harder here,” Yuvraj told the . “We understand that it is a big season with virtually no breaks before the 50-over World Cup. I had issues with my knee and shoulder in the past, so I have to ensure they are able to sustain the load for the long season.”Currently in his tenth year of international cricket, Yuvraj has sealed his reputation as a top player in the limited-overs formats but there remain doubts over his Test credentials. Yuvraj admitted he had not been at his best in the longest version of the game, but also pointed out the competition he had to deal with for a spot in the XI.”My record in Tests may not have been great. For the better part of the career, I have had to compete with my former captain Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. I could get a permanent slot in the Tests after Sourav retired.”During my peak years I hadn’t played many Tests. But there were times when I got a chance but I failed to consolidate my position. I would have a good knock in a Test, fail in one innings, and then be out of the team. Then again I would play two Test matches and find myself benched. I wasn’t consistent, and people too didn’t have confidence in me, but it was my mistake.”One area where Yuvraj’s calibre has clearly dipped is the fielding. Once a regular at cover-point for the Indian team, he is now a slow mover, often banished to the outfield. “I am not 21 anymore. Definitely I would like to get back to fielding at point. I had hurt my knee and fingers in the past fielding there. Remember fielding at point and fielding elsewhere are two different things. The day I feel 100%, I’ll certainly go back to point.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the itinerary of the ‘home’ series in the UAE against South Africa in October and November this year. The series will be shared between the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and the Dubai International Cricket Stadium; the two grounds will join Sharjah, which has hosted Pakistan in the past, as Test venues in the UAE. The series will feature two Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 international.Cricket South Africa had agreed to the PCB’s proposal of playing a series on neutral ground, back in April. The PCB even explored the possibility of playing matches in Sharjah, but have decided to restrict it to two venues. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have hosted one-dayers and Twenty20s but never staged a Test.” I am very grateful to Dr. Mtutuzeli Nyoka (CSA president) and Gerald Majola for their understanding of our position and supporting us to make this even possible,” PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said. “I would like to especially thank the Emirates Cricket Board for their unwavering support to Pakistan Cricket.”Pakistan has not hosted an international series since the Lahore attacks in March last year, and was stripped of its rights to host the 2011 World Cup as a result of the volatile security situation in the country. The UAE, with strong links to Pakistan cricket, emerged as an alternate ‘host’ and Pakistan have played ODI series against Australia and New Zealand in Dubai and Abu Dhabi since last year. Pakistan also played a ‘home’ Test series against New Zealand late last year, and will also ‘host’ England and Australia in England later this summer.Schedule:Oct 27: Only Twenty20, Abu Dhabi
Oct 29: 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi
Oct 31: 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
Nov 2: 3rd ODI, Dubai
Nov 5: 4th ODI, Dubai
Nov 8: 5th ODI, Dubai
Nov 12-16: 1st Test, Dubai
Nov 20-24: 2nd Test, Abu Dhabi

Shahid Afridi has called for a more cohesive selection policy in future after Pakistan’s World Twenty20 title defence moved closer to an early end. Pakistan lost their second Super Eight match on Saturday when New Zealand stole a one-run victory in Barbados, leaving them needing a miracle to qualify for the semi-finals out of Group E.Afridi is leading a squad that is missing some senior players after a clear-out that followed their tumultuous tour of Australia. The former captains Younis Khan, who was in charge when Pakistan won this event last year, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik were banned along with Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.”We are coming out from a very difficult time after the New Zealand and Australia tours,” Afridi said. “The selection committee picks the team for us and first they announce the team before naming the captain and coach. Maybe in the future we can all sit together and pick a good bunch of guys.”The missing strike-power has been a concern and Pakistan had scores of 157 and 147 in their losses to Australia and England. Batting was again a problem as they fell a run short of New Zealand’s 133, despite Salman Butt’s unbeaten 67 off 54 balls.Afridi’s lack of runs has added to the worries and his 11 against New Zealand took his series tally to 53 in four matches. “My performance is always very key as captain but this time I haven’t performed so maybe that’s why we haven’t had a good result,” Afridi said. Pakistan’s final Super Eight game is against South Africa in St Lucia on Monday.

Charlotte Edwards, the England women’s captain, has said the return of Sarah Taylor and Claire Taylor to the squad is a huge boost in her team’s attempt to defend the World Twenty20 title. Both batsmen were among the top ten run-getters in the competition in 2009. England were beaten by West Indies in a Twenty20 series in November last year, and Edwards acknowledged that home advantage meant the hosts were strong contenders in this year’s tournament.”We have obviously really missed her [Claire Taylor’s] experience more than anything and we also missed Sarah Taylor as well,” Edwards said in an interview with the ICC. “They are two of our top four batters. If any side loses two of their top batters they would struggle. It would leave a hole and we are really looking forward to getting them back on board.”Edwards said the defeat to West Indies last year, in the context of the World Twenty20, had helped them prepare better than other teams for the competition. “We are really excited having been there in November as we saw what the conditions are going to be like and I think we actually want to be a step ahead of most of the teams,” she said. “I think I misread the conditions of the West Indies when we were there in November. They had quite slow wickets and actually at Warner Park the outfield is not that quick, so I guess it is going to be different strategy that we need to put in place now.”West Indies, Edwards said, have improved considerably and she tipped them to be the surprise team of the tournament. “I think it’s just going to be Australia, New Zealand and India but having seen the West Indies and how they played in St Kitts in November I think they are going to be real threat to all the teams,” she said. “They are on home soil as well and they have shown they can play some fantastic cricket. They are always improving year on year – they could be a surprise team for the tournament.”When asked to name the players she thought were the ones to watch out for, Edwards said: “Deandra Dottin is going to be a key player for the West Indies. I think she is an awesome talent. What I’ve seen of her with both bat and ball has been really exceptional and l have been really impressed by her. Having been in India recently, I think their young spinner Gouhar Sultana is likely to be a real threat. All the teams are playing really good cricket and the Australians have the likes of Shelley Nitschke in the form of her life.”The women’s World Twenty20 gets underway on May 5.

Derbyshire have agreed a deal to sign South African batsman Loots Bosman for the 2010 Twenty20 cup. Like many of the overseas players lined up for the summer, Bosman’s participation is subject to the player receiving a Work Permit and Visa.Bosman has played 13 ODIs and six Twenty20 matches, and has developed a reputation as a belligerent striker of the ball at the top of the order. England were at the receiving end of one of his most memorable knocks last November, when he blazed 94 off just 45 balls in the second Twenty20 match of the series. Overall, he has an impressive International Twenty20 record, averaging 51.40 with a strike-rate of 170.19.Having finished bottom of their group in last season’s campaign, coach John Morris is hoping Bosman can help bring some dynamism to the batting this year.”The opportunity to sign a player of Loots’ quality and specialist expertise for Twenty20 cricket was too good for us to miss and I am delighted that the deal has been agreed.”The big bonus for us is that he is expected to be available for the vast majority of matches during the competition; something that won’t necessarily be the case with all overseas players who have been recruited.”Anybody who saw Loots’ sensational innings against England in the International Twenty20 back in November will be able to vouch for his quality and the kind of exhilarating entertainment he can provide,” Morris said.

The Delhi Daredevils fast bowler Ashish Nehra will continue to miss the initial few weeks of the IPL due to a rib injury he picked up during training in Mohali last week. Eric Simons, Delhi’s assistant coach, confirmed Nehra would be out of action for as long as two weeks but added he had faith in the support cast.”He has a rib problem and he will be out for probably two weeks,” said Simons at a press conference in Delhi. “We certainly miss him because he adds balance to the side, but there is a lot of young exciting talent around. You can’t buy experience, and losing someone like Ashish is a big blow.”Nehra was a key figure in Delhi’s IPL campaign in South Africa last year, taking 19 wickets to finish the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament. That achievement factored hugely in his return to the Indian side last summer.In his absence, Delhi’s attack will be led by the left-arm quick Dirk Nannes, who was outstanding in the team’s first two matches. Simons picked out legspinners Amit Mishra and Sarabjit Ladda, who made his IPL debut against Rajasthan Royals on Monday, as key players for Delhi.”Amit Mishra is a quality cricketer for one and he has done extremely well for a number of years,” he said. “One of the exciting things for Indian cricket is the discovery of youngsters, and I arrived here a couple of weeks ago and saw Ladda bowling and all of us were quite excited to see what he can do and what he can’t. It is important at least to keep the opposition guessing and we wouldn’t throw a youngster if we didn’t believe in him. We believe he has a role to play but will he play all games? I am not sure.”Through the longer format you learn about technique, about action and in the shorter you are put under extreme pressure and that’s when your problem in technique might come through. I would advise the younger bowlers to concentrate on the longer format and then play the shorter version.”In two games, where they’ve chased on both occasions, Delhi lost one of their high-profile openers and needed the other to bat on. In the first game against Kings XI Punjab it was captain Gautam Gambhir who batted until the final over with a superbly-paced 72, while last night Virender Sehwag went ballistic and smashed 75 from 34 balls to down Rajasthan Royals. The other two overseas batsmen, AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan, have not done much. In fact, Dilshan has faced three balls so far and is yet to score.”I was concerned against Kings XI but not last night,” said Simons. “One of the strengths of Delhi Daredevils is the balance of not only overseas professionals and Indian cricketers but also the experience in the side. We have good experience in the side, we have players who have done it many times before and they will come through when time is needed.”