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Australia allrounder Shane Watson is set to join the Test squad in the West Indies on Wednesday, following the birth of his second child in Sydney

ESPNcricinfo staff27-May-2015Australia allrounder Shane Watson is set to join the Test squad in the West Indies on Wednesday, following the birth of his second child in Sydney. Watson, however, will not participate in the three-day tour game against WICB President’s XI in North Sound, the only warm-up match before the two-Test series gets underway on June 3.The allrounder had delayed his departure for the Caribbean due to the impending birth of his second child – who was born on May 24 – and was uncertain for the first Test.Apart from Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Steven Smith and David Warner will also miss the warm-up match, after the team management opted to rest players returning from the IPL season.Australia XI: Chris Rogers, Shaun Marsh, Michael Clarke, Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Brad Haddin (wk), Peter Nevill, Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Fawad Ahmed

On the day it was revealed that he wants to leave the French champions in January, Mbappe found himself the centre of attention at Parc des Princes

On an evening where Kylian Mbappe and PSG had made headlines before even stepping onto the pitch, a big performance was needed to hush the latest soap opera surrounding Paris Saint-Germain.

Mbappe did step up to fire a penalty home in the first half against Benfica, and celebrated with intent following reports that he has asked to leave PSG in January.

The goal made Mbappe the club's all-time top scorer in the Champions League, but his goal & the lead it gave PSG did not translate into a positive second-half performance. Benfica defended shrewdly and grew into the contest, forcing PSG into errors as they took their foot off the gas and stopped piling on the pressure.

Marco Verratti's waning influence resulted in him clipping Rafa Silva and gifting the visitors a chance to equalise from the spot after 62 minutes, which Joao Mario did with ease.

Victory for either side on the night would've been enough for them to secure their place in the Champions League knockout stages after Juventus surprisingly lost to Maccabi Haifa earlier in the evening, but both teams lacked the quality to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.

It was a tiring watch on a day that had surely already been exhausting enough for PSG fans – what happens next is anyone's guess.

Getty ImagesThe Winners

Kylian Mbappe:

Was his goal from the penalty spot? Sure. But did he score? Absolutely. When all is said and done, nobody will look back and remember the dribbles that didn't quite come off or the crosses that were wayward; what they will see is Mbappe's name on the scoresheet in the game that all-but secured PSG's place in the knockout stages. It would've been very easy to crumble under the pressure considering the headlines on Tuesday, but the Frenchman didn't. He stepped up and delivered.

Lionel Messi:

The resurgence of Messi only continues to be highlighted in his absence. After a difficult first year in Paris, the Argentine has been an absolute hit in his second season, and in a performance that lacked desire, magic and overall cutting edge quality, PSG most definitely missed him. Who'd have thought?

Hugo Ekitike:

Ekitike didn't have to do a lot to be a winner on the night. In fact, much like Messi, he'd have gotten away with not playing at all and still made the cut. If ever there was a reason to justify keeping the squad on its toes by chopping and changing even its most 'irreplaceable' players, tonight's performance was it. Neymar and Mbappe were far from perfect, but Galtier gave them the benefit of the doubt. That has to change. Ekitike is a fabulous talent and deserved the chance to come on and change the game much earlier than he did. Perhaps Galtier will realise that having slumped to a third successive draw in the space of a week.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesThe Losers

Achraf Hakimi:

Considering just how high a regard Hakimi is held in, fans have a right to be disappointed with his performance on Tuesday. Lacking just about everything that typically makes his game so special, the Moroccan fell flat. He didn't push up high enough or attempt to get beyond the line of defence enough, which stifled PSG creatively. Add a lack of quality in possession to that fact, and suddenly he had put in a rather average performance.

Marco Verratti:

Another performance which seemed to lack intensity, Verratti faded as the game went on, and it was clear for all to see when he clumsily brought down Rafa Silva inside the box after an hour. His challenge was lazy and resulted in a booking after it was picked up by VAR, which rules him out of PSG's next Champions League game. When the likes of Verratti stop firing in midfield, the whole team struggles.

Pablo Sarabia:

Nobody was expecting Sarabia to slot into the front three and fill the boots of Lionel Messi, who scored a wonder goal in the reverse fixture and was missing through injury. That is an almost impossible task. But when given the chance to start in a big game, you have to stake your claim. Sarabia didn't. Instead, the Spain international looked flustered and didn't make the most of the ball when it did come his way. Poor touches, lacking urgency and forgettable. That's not how you force your way into the starting XI.

Getty ImagesPSG Ratings: Defence

Gianluigi Donnarumma (5/10):

Switched off in the first half and almost gave a goal away in doing so, when receiving the ball to feet. Not at fault for losing his clean sheet to a penalty.

Sergio Ramos (6/10):

Confident in and out of possession. Led proceedings at the back for his side. What a huge presence he is for PSG; they've got to keep him fit this season.

Marquinhos (6/10):

A more composed figure within the back three; necessary when sitting next to Ramos in particular. Wasn't challenged all too much by Benfica's front line, though.

Danilo Pereira (5/10):

Took plenty of risks on the ball – some which almost caught him out – but recovered well and generally swept up without issue. Maybe needs to find the balance between risk and reward.

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Getty ImagesMidfield

Achraf Hakimi (4/10):

Bailed out by the offside flag after what was a very poor excuse of a header early on, which resulted in a handball. Also lacked his usual quality when trying to attack down the right flank.

Vitinha (5/10):

Too safe in possession. Would've been better trying to burst beyond the lines and create overloads.

Marco Verratti (5/10):

Swept up well in front of a backline that was drilled into taking risks with the ball to begin with, but faded as the game drew on. Far too casual after the break and gave away a penalty as a result. Frustrating.

Juan Bernat (6/10):

Better than his colleague on the other flank and linked up well with attackers. His run in the first half forced the penalty which put PSG ahead.

NWSL expansion side Bay FC smashed the world-record transfer fee to sign Madrid CFF superstar Racheal Kundananji on Tuesday.

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Bay FC sign Kundananji for world-record feeMadrid CFF superstar joins NWSL expansion sideLook ahead at 2024 campaignWHAT HAPPENED?

The Zambian superstar has signed from Madrid CFF in the biggest transfer in women's soccer history, for a staggering fee worth €735,000 ($788,000/£625,000). The 23-year-old striker will travel to the United States to now be one of the highest-paid players in the league, with a deal that will pay over $2m across her contract through 2026, according to

AdvertisementWHAT BAY FC

“We are delighted to add Racheal to our group,” said Bay FC General Manager Lucy Rushton. “She is a tremendous talent with dynamic attacking qualities and an incredible physical profile who has produced for both club and country. Racheal has a composure in-front of goal and a natural ability to score with different types of finishes and from various locations. We believe she will continue to grow and develop at our club, showcasing her skillset and adding to the array of exciting attacking talent we have here.”

GettyWHAT KUNDANANJI SAID

“Every place that I’ve been to, I always take something from there; I learn something from there,” Kundananji told . “Good or bad, to me it’s a good experience because you have to experience something to know something. I’m looking [forward] to having a great time in the U.S., have a great time with the team. Now, Bay FC is my new family.”

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THE BIGGER PICTURE

Kundananji, who has eight goals and two assists this campaign in Liga F, is one of the top prospects in all of women's soccer. After signing in Spain in 2022, she ended her debut season with 25 goals across all competitions for Madrid CFF. Now, she's taking her talents to the West Coast to be the first-ever superstar signing for Bay FC ahead of their inaugural season.

Tim Southee has heaped praise on New Zealand’s fast bowlers, particularly Neil Wagner, whose contribution, according to Southee, has often gone unnoticed

Abhishek Purohit in Wellington12-Feb-2014Tim Southee is happy about the accolades that came fellow fast bowler Neil Wagner’s way after his match-winning performance in the Auckland Test against India.Wagner has often been the workhorse wheeling away in the background while strike bowlers Southee and Trent Boult share the limelight, but at Eden Park, Wagner dismissed several key batsmen on his way to a match haul of eight wickets. Southee was glad that the role played by a key component of an increasingly productive attack was being acknowledged.”It is pleasing to see Wags finally get some credit for the hard work he’s done over the past few years,” Southee said. “I think a lot of it goes unnoticed, not unnoticed by the team, but unnoticed by people watching and probably outside. He does a hell of a job for us and it was pleasing to see him do so well and reap some rewards.”He complements myself and Trent very well. He loves bowling with the old ball and somehow he manages to pick up wickets just before the second new ball and that makes it easier for myself and Trent to come in where there’s two new batsmen around with the second new ball.”The trio of Southee, Boult and Wagner have been bowling New Zealand to Test wins throughout this home summer. There were successive ones against West Indies in Wellington and Hamilton before the Auckland thriller against India. Southee was proud of this grouping and the way they were progressing.”It is nice to have an attack where you can take 20 wickets. We have over the last few Test matches. We have shown a lot of promise over the last year, year and a half and we keep continuing to improve. It is good,” Southee said. “We all complement each other very well. We are forming a good partnership and hopefully we can keep that going in the direction it is.”The Indian batsmen had not been allowed to get away as the New Zealand quicks executed their plans to perfection. This was the reason for the hosts’ success, Southee said.”I think the way we bowled as a group, I think we kept the pressure on and bowled in partnerships and as you saw the wickets were shared around between the three of us. That shows you that we never really gave them a let-off. There was always someone who was coming hard at different times.”They are quality players and you just have to up your game. It becomes a game of patience and sort of who falls first. Little bit of movement off the deck helps as well. The new ball always helps and taking regular wickets and getting batsmen out there and not giving them a chance to settle goes a massive way to creating that pressure.”We have put a lot of thought, and research goes into plans before the series. It is pleasing to see them come off. Shane (Bond) and the computer analysts and Mike Hesson, they put these plans in and it is a reward for them to see the bowlers sticking to them and the success we are having. It is the consistency we are bowling with and the familiar conditions we are used to.”While the Indians no longer had the big batting names of recent years, they came back from a disappointing first innings in Auckland to make 366 in the chase, falling short by 40 runs. Southee said India had a promising line-up, and that New Zealand were expecting a stiff contest in Wellington.”They don’t have the names like the Tendulkars, the Dravids and the Laxmans but they have got the potential to be great players. It is the first time to New Zealand for a few of those players and foreign conditions for them. We have bowled well as a unit and it has put pressure on their batters.”They have obviously had a disappointing tour and are too good a side to roll over. They’ll come hard and they will want to have a win on the tour. They are a far better side than they have shown on this tour so far. They have a lot to prove in this last Test and have a got a lot of quality players and I am sure we are going to have to up our game. They’ll come out and hopefully look to finish their tour on a high. Hopefully we can keep them winless on their trip to New Zealand.”

While Super Kings are all but through to the playoffs, the demands are much harder on Royal Challengers, who cannot afford any slip-ups in their four remaining matches

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran17-May-2014Match factsSunday, May 18, 2014
Start time 1600 local (1030 GMT)3:28

Hattangadi: RCB better off chasing against CSK

Big PictureChennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore are playing each other for the first time, more than 30 days into the tournament. While Super Kings are all but through to the playoffs – for them to miss out on a spot in the last four, they would have to lose four games in four, and even then they could go through on net run rate – the demands are much harder on Royal Challengers, who cannot afford any slip-ups in their four remaining matches, given their delicate mid-table standing. Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals are primed to take three of the playoff spots, but the remaining spot is expected to be a scramble between Royal Challengers, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad.Royal Challengers avoided the embarrassment of being trampled upon for three consecutive games at home thanks to Yuvraj Singh, whose blazing fifty gave their campaign fuel. They would have to hit peak form going forward and while the batting looks in better health, the bowling hasn’t been up to the mark. In their last four games, Royal Challengers have conceded 170, 191, 198 and 187. They don’t have a bowler in the same mould as Sunil Narine, who can consistently bowl four tight overs even if he fails to pick up wickets – perhaps young legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal comes closest. Royal Challengers wouldn’t want to be forced into making changes to their bowling every game, certainly not at this stage, so they’ll be hoping to finally hit upon the right combination on Sunday.Super Kings haven’t had to make too many changes and a relatively settled unit is partly responsible for their success. David Hussey has been included in the squad but he is likely to come in only once Brendon McCullum flies home for the birth of his baby. Super Kings made heavier weather of their chase against Royals in their last game than they would have liked, but MS Dhoni – with some help from Ravindra Jadeja – calmly saw them through, again.Royal Challengers Bangalore need more out of their bowlers•BCCIForm guideRoyal Challengers Bangalore WLLLW (completed games, most recent first)
Chennai Super Kings WWLWWWhere they standChennai Super Kings – Second place, with eight wins in ten games
Royal Challengers Bangalore – Sixth place, with four wins in ten gamesPlayers to watchYuvraj Singh has made up for lost time with two consecutive fifties, but big runs continue to desert Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli. Both are yet to score fifties, though Gayle has played four fewer games. Given Royal Challengers’ bowling weaknesses, it will come down to their batsmen to win them games and a strong top order platform is essential or else the responsibility falls on Yuvraj and AB de Villiers, again.Super Kings have not got the best out of Mithun Manhas, who has a highest of 13 in five innings. A middle-order batsman, he has been batting at No. 7 and often comes in only towards the end of the innings. For now, it doesn’t make much of a difference to the team since it is doing well. But a promotion to give him more of a chance to get runs, and keep his confidence high, might be good, looking at the long-term – he will be needed should their strong top and middle order falter at any stage.Stats and trivia Super Kings have not been bowled out even once in this tournament. Their specialist bowlers Mohit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey have not been required to bat at all Royal Challengers’ Yuzvendra Chahal has picked up 12 wickets in ten games at an impressive economy rate of 6.48 – the best by an uncapped player so far in the tournament (minimum 5 overs)Quotes”I have sort of spoken to [Stephen] Fleming and he said that I will be a middle-order player, and with Brendon McCullum due to go home for the birth of his baby, I’ll definitely get an opportunity to play.”
“I’m definitely staying out of that sort of thing. It’s not in my nature to get involved in that sort of stuff. It was a heat-of-the-moment thing.”

Michael Klinger made his first century for his newest state, Western Australia, as they ground out 4 for 231 on a slow-scoring opening day against Tasmania in Hobart

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2014
ScorecardMichael Klinger made his first hundred for his new state (file photo)•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaMichael Klinger made his first century for his newest state, Western Australia, as they ground out 4 for 231 on a slow-scoring opening day against Tasmania in Hobart. Klinger edged James Faulkner to slip late in the day and was out for exactly 100, leaving Shaun Marsh at the crease on 16 when stumps was called.Having moved from South Australia during the off-season, Klinger began the Sheffield Shield season with a pair of half-centuries in the first two games and followed it with a patient hundred. His 279-ball innings was his 20th first-class century and frustrated the Tasmanians after their captain Alex Doolan won the toss and sent the Warriors in.Andrew Fekete picked up the early wicket of opener Marcus Harris for 6 before Klinger and Cameron Bancroft combined for a 116-run partnership that ended in unfortunate fashion. Bancroft was on 61 when a deflection off the hand of the bowler, Fekete, caught him short at the non-striker’ end. Fekete later added the wicket of Western Australia captain Adam Voges, who was bowled for 41.

A law against sports fraud that offers real consequences of “jail time” could well be the deterrent for athletes in the fight against corruption in sports, former India captain Rahul Dravid has said

Sharda Ugra12-Nov-2013A law against sports fraud that offers real consequences of “jail time” could well be the deterrent for athletes in the fight against corruption in sports, former India captain Rahul Dravid has said. Speaking at a conference conducted by India’s premier investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, Dravid said the four issues needing legal intervention were doping, deliberate underperformance, involvement in the betting industry and age fraud.”Criminal offences must be defined to include all forms of sports cheating, and jail time must be a genuine potential outcome where an offence is proved,” Dravid, who formed part of a panel discussion on ‘integrity in sport’, said. Modern sport was at “a crossroads”, he said, as it was “at serious risk of losing its moral compass”. “The question is no longer whether the law must intervene but it is how, to what extent and on what issues.”Being banned from a sport, he said, did not end up having the desired effect, but being punished for a crime would. “Unless people see the consequences of your action… People have to see jail at the end of the day.”Former India fast bowler Atul Wassan, who was part of the audience, asked Dravid whether cricket needed to adhere to the anti-doping clauses pertaining to players’ revealing their whereabouts to testing authorities, accept polygraph tests, and the possibility of entrapment by law-enforcement authorities. Dravid said, “I’m all for it – you need more regulation – it is what will protect the honest athlete even if it means a certain amount of loss of [personal] freedom.”One of the other speakers on the panel, Chris Eaton, director of the International Centre for Sports Security, said sports fraud needed to be tackled at a global, multi-dimensional level, involving sporting bodies, the police, governments and international co-operation. “Otherwise you are only papering over the problem, the entire gambling [world] needs to be called in to account.” A former FIFA head of security, Eaton said just banning players involved was no solution. “Stop punishing only the players – they are the victims in this, you need to tackle the people making their money through this. You punish one lot of players, the people behind the fix move on to the next lot of players. These people have to be brought to account in some way.”The fact that betting was illegal in India did not, he said, mean that the betting industry could not be regulated and called to question. Unlike Eaton, however, Ravi Sawani, the head of the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, said he did not believe that legalising gambling would solve the problem, stating that his view was that the laws in the western world were framed more with an eye on protecting the lucrative gambling industry rather than the sport.The enactment of a special law pertaining to sports fraud would work best if combined with “a central agency” to investigate the problem, Sawani said. He suggested the creation of a special sports integrity intelligence unit under the CBI, which would bring several layers of the illegal betting industry under scrutiny. “Young players always ask us, we have to follow a code and if we break it, we get punished. But what happens to the bookies?”Sawani had been part of the CBI investigation into match-fixing in 2000. At the time, the CBI, he said, had been advised by a former Supreme Court judge, Manoj Mukherjee, that laws 415 (cheating), 417 (punishment for cheating) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) under the Indian Penal Code did fall short in the case of fixing in cricket.The IPL 2013 corruption scandal happened to be different from what happened in 2000 in one important aspect, he said: in 2013, the cricketers were under a legal obligation to their franchises by contract. Sawani said the BCCI had always “welcomed” investigation by the police agencies, and had currently passed on information to sections of the police. “It [how the information is used] depends on what the police priorities are on looking this up.”The government representative on the panel, sports secretary Ajit Sharan, said that the draft framework of a new bill pertaining to sports fraud had been prepared and was in the process of being put out on the sports ministry website to invite “stakeholder” feedback.

Tim May’s removal from the ICC’s cricket committee following allegations of pressure by the BCCI should be the subject of an ethics committee enquiry, according to FICA

Daniel Brettig07-May-2013Tim May’s removal from the ICC cricket committee following allegations of pressure exerted by the BCCI to install their preferred candidate Laxman Sivaramakrishnan should be the subject of an ICC ethics committee enquiry, according to the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA) of which May is the chief executive.Ian Smith, FICA’s legal advisor, has also said that the players’ body is aware the ICC warned member nations not to interfere with the voting process but then did nothing when those warnings were ignored, accusing Boards of applying “direct pressure on their captains to amend their votes.” He said there had been been a “very clear distinction” between routine “lobbying” before an election and “threatening an employee to change their vote.””In light of media reports that five ICC full member boards applied direct pressure on their captains to amend their votes in the recent elections, FICA’s official stance is that these allegations must warrant careful and independent scrutiny,” Smith said. “Especially because we understand ICC specifically instructed the Boards not to interfere in the voting process.”The actions, allegedly instigated by BCCI, are a timely and stark reminder of the very serious shortcomings in governance at ICC highlighted more than a year ago by the Woolf Report and about which ICC has done nothing in the intervening period.May wants ICC governance to be the focus

Tim May, who was ousted from the ICC Cricket Committee and replaced by former Indian spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, has said the perception that he is anti-BCCI was wrong.
“There are some aspects of BCCI that I am a strong supporter of and there are other aspects that concern me and others,” May told PTI. “Unfortunately, only the negative stuff gets publicised.”
When asked whether he felt a particular board was influencing others, May said: “This is an issue that has been identified and raised by a number of parties for a significant number of years, including Woolf Committee’s report on ICC’s governance. Indeed I am more focused on the ICC policing its own stated standards in terms of governance – this is the real issue, not whether I got voted onto this committee.”

“It is further apparent from statements made by unnamed ICC Board sources overnight that they are trying to position the involved Boards’ actions as ‘lobbying’, but there should be a very clear distinction made between a candidate lobbying for a vote and an employer threatening an employee to change their vote.”May, a staunch advocate of players’ rights for more than a decade, lost his place as one of two current players’ representatives on the cricket committee following a captains’ vote to Sivaramakrishnan, who is employed by the BCCI as a television commentator.Jimmy Adams, the former West Indies captain and FICA president, said the process by which May was ousted has raised major questions of the ICC’s ethics. He also questioned how the game’s governing body had the right to stand in judgement over the actions of the players when its own moral compass is so often found to be lacking.”How can the players of the world look to ICC for leadership in these circumstances and how does the spirit of cricket apply to the organisation itself?” Adams said. “Board members didn’t like how their captains intended to vote, so they apparently ordered them to change that vote. This type of behaviour from the game’s ruling body makes a mockery of their motives behind the procurement of the Woolf report.”FICA want ICC to use its own processes to deal with this. It has a Code of Ethics with which Directors and Members need to comply – the reported actions of some of the Member Boards and ICC directors, at the very least warrant investigation under this Code. We call on ICC to hold itself up to the high standards of moral conduct it constantly tells the players and officials it expects from them.”Ultimately, these actions are symptoms of poor governance at the top level and a blatant disregard for what most would regard as the necessary ethical standards required to run a prominent international sport – cricket deserves a lot better.”Comment has been sought from the ICC and the BCCI.

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Newcastle United fell to another demoralising defeat on Saturday, as they were beaten 2-0 by Watford in the FA Cup fourth round.

The Magpies are 17th in the Premier League and now have no chance of lifting silverware this season, while they have also yet to invest in the January transfer market.

On the chalkboard

Benitez picked a rotated XI against the Hornets, naming Joselu as his lone striker.

The 28-year-old has scored three goals this season, the last of which came in the FA Cup third round victory over Blackburn Rovers. His other two came in August, in defeats against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Perhaps he was picked on the back of his display against Rovers, but there is little about Joselu that marks him out as a first-choice centre-forward.

Check out the video below for Emma Conybeare’s rundown of which clubs need what in the January transfer window…

Salomon Rondon is first-choice at St James’ Park, and he has netted six times already this season. Indeed, he did not play in the FA Cup and now will not get the chance.

Benitez could well be politicking, choosing to play games as he attempts to convince Mike Ashley, the club’s tight-fisted owner, to finally dip into the transfer market this month.

The Magpies have roundly failed to add to their squad and The Telegraph has reported that the former Liverpool boss will leave if Ashley does not sign two players before the deadline.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

If Benitez really did play politics with the FA Cup, supporters are sure to be furious.

Joselu is not, and has never been, a first-choice striker in English football.

During his spell with Stoke City, he scored just four goals in 27 appearances in all competitions, per Transfermarkt.

Never has a stronger message been sent to a boardroom; playing the player so ill-suited to a role that Benitez may well have sent ten men out to face Watford.

And, yet again, Newcastle will not be winning any silverware this season.

It is not Joselu’s fault, of course; he has been told to do a job and continues to try to do his best, but he finds himself at the centre of an apparent power play.

It remains to be seen if that will pay off and whether we will see any new faces arrive at St James’ Park in the next few days.

Jim Allenby and Stewart Walters cracked half-centuries as Glamorgan frustrated Essex on the opening day at Cardiff. Glamorgan made 231, a relatively impressive score considering Essex had had them 114 for 6.

15-May-2013
ScorecardJim Allenby and Stewart Walters cracked half-centuries as Glamorgan frustrated Essex on the opening day at Cardiff. Glamorgan made 231, a relatively impressive score considering Essex had had them 114 for 6.In reply Essex, who had seven overs to survive before the close, were reduced to 10 for 2. They lost Tom Westley to the fourth ball of the innings, bowled padding up to Michael Hogan who then trapped nightwatchman David Masters leg before.Walters and Allenby may have been the top scorers but Dean Cosker played his part, batting more than two hours for his 18. For Essex, Masters finished with figures of 5 for 44.Essex captain James Foster won the toss and initially his decision was backed up by Masters. He struck early to have opener Ben Wright caught at short leg by Ben Foakes leaving Glamorgan 6 for 1 in the fifth over. That became 30 for 2 when Graham Napier struck with his first ball of the match to have Will Bragg caught behind.But Walters, who had only scored 62 in his previous five innings, launched a recovery along with fellow Australian Marcus North, driving and cutting his way to a 51-ball half-century with six fours. Two overs after reaching the landmark Walters lost North, who was caught in the gully by Tim Phillips off Masters having made eight in 64 minutes.After lunch Glamorgan stuttered from 104 for 3 to 114 for 6 in the space of only 3.1 overs. The collapse began when Reece Topley bowled Murray Goodwin, and in his next over he had Walters caught on the extra cover boundary for 67. Glamorgan lost their sixth wicket when captain Mark Wallace was bowled by Masters via a pad.Graham Wagg departed when he was caught behind off Ravi Bopara attempting to cut shortly before a heavy shower forced the players off the field for an early tea with Glamorgan 142 for 7.But Allenby went to a 77-ball half-century with a cut for four off Bopara – his sixth boundary – and the eighth-wicket pair of Allenby and Cosker frustrated Essex for more than an hour, in the process taking Glamorgan to a batting point.Glamorgan had reached 213 for 7 when Bopara struck to trap Allenby leg before. Michael Hogan and Cosker were the last to help Masters to his five-wicket haul.