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At least half a dozen of England’s travelling fans were caught up in a scare en route from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth, when their train was derailed near the town of Westley in the Free State. Seven coaches were involved in the accident, which occurred at 5pm on Tuesday evening, and though police confirmed that there had been no fatalities, up to 15 people were taken to hospital with injuries.The fans, members of the Barmy Army’s hardcore following, had been at Potchefstroom to cheer England through their defeat against South Africa A. They had been due to meet up with several hundred fellow fans that evening, but were instead ferried down to Port Elizabeth by bus from the town of Vereeniging, along with 400 other commuters.Spoornet, the South African rail authorities, said that the cause of the accident hadn’t been confirmed, although it would be the subject of a detailed investigation. "The scene looked severe," said a spokesman, "but no-one has died in the incident. An internal investigation is being launched to determine the cause."It is not the first stroke of ill fortune to befall England’s supporters this winter, and the tour has yet to get underway in earnest. Last week, the holiday plans of several hundred fans bound for Port Elizabeth were thrown into disarray, following the collapse of the budget airline, CivAir, which had been due to ferry them direct from Stansted Airport in London.

Victoria 215 for 3 in 47 overs (Elliott 89, Hodge 50*) beat Queensland 212 for 7 in 50 overs (Payne 52) by 7 wickets
Scorecard
Matthew Elliott, the former Australian Test opener, top-scored with 89 to steer Victoria to a seven-wicket victory over Queensland in the ING Cup one-dayer at the MCG today. Victoria reached 215 for 3 in 47 overs chasing Queensland’s 212 for 7.Elliott blew a chance for his third century in four matches against the Bulls this season when he was stumped, going down the track to a wide from part-time spinner Stuart Law and being stranded well out of his ground.Victoria were guided home by Brad Hodge, unbeaten on 50, and David Hussey, who collected the winning boundary. Victoria moved to joint-second on the ING Cup table after three games, level with New South Wales on eight points and one point behind Western Australia.Victoria set up this win with a disciplined fielding effort, strangling the run-rate after the Queensland Bullls had started with a flourish. Queensland were scoring at five an over until the 12th over, but from there the batsmen lost their way. They did not score a boundary for 86 balls, between the 34th and 47th ovesr. Daniel Payne top-scored from the top of the order with 52, while Clint Perren made an unbeaten 35 (with no boundaries) and Martin Love 34.Law, the other opener, hit three successive fours in his 24 off 26 balls, and Damien MacKenzie made an unbeaten 23 from 19 balls, including two fours and a six. Mick Lewis took 2 for 33 from 10 overs, while Jon Moss (1 for 33) and Cameron White (0 for 32) also sent down miserly 10-over spells.Moss then made 47 from 70 balls in an opening stand of 102 with Elliott as Victoria looked set to earn the bonus point for reaching the target inside 40 overs. But the rate stalled by the time MacKenzie bowled Moss in the 24th over, although Victoria never looked like blowing the win. The offspinner Chris Simpson was the pick of the Queensland attack, with 0 for 31 from his 10 overs.

Karachi Whites secured a narrow 16-run first innings lead against Gujranwala as the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match at the National Stadium headed for an exciting finish.Karachi Whites, resuming at the overnight score of 241 for seven, were dismissed for 263 in the first 45 minutes of play Monday. The home team then fought its way back in the match by dismissing the visitors for 247 after they had reached 171 for four.When stumps were drawn for the day, Karachi Whites had stretched their lead to 59 when they finished the day at 43 for one. Ariz Kamal, who scored a debut century last week, was the batsman out after scoring one following his six in the first innings.Arif Mahmood, the left-arm spinner, was the man behind bringing Karachi back in contention when he captured four wickets for 28 runs to break Gujranwala’s back.Owais Athar, playing his first game, picked up three wickets but went for 84 runs from his 14 overs. He was erratic, wayward and bowled too many loose deliveries. Tanvir Ahmed snapped up two for 69 to take his tally of wickets to 22.For Gujranwala, former Pakistan junior batsman Majid Saeed top scored with a 77-ball 63 that included 11 hits to the fence.Earlier in the day, Mohammad Masroor missed a well deserved century when he could add only five runs to his overnight score. He fell for 94 to Naveed Arif who finished as the most successful Gujranwala bowler with four for 67. Mubashir Nazir snapped up three for 79.

A superb century from Matt Hayden, and another productive afternoon for spinner Ashley Giles, were the highlights of a see-sawing day’s County Championship cricket between Northamptonshire and Warwickshire at Edgbaston today.Australian import Hayden was at his rugged and authoritative best in an innings of 122 that contained as many as fourteen boundaries and four thumping sixes. In Hampshire colours three years ago, the powerfully built Queenslander plundered a double century and century against Warwickshire and he used the presence of a short boundary on the Pershore Road side of the ground to afford the same opposition another painful look at his talents today. In a hand that hinted strongly at both the range of his strokeplay and his vast reserves of concentration, he was the steadying influence around whom his team built to a total of 296/7 by stumps.For Warwickshire, the prospect that a sound performance here could pave theway for it to assume leadership in the Division Two standings seemed tofaze its front-line attack initially. With the omitted Ed Giddins lookingon in forlorn fashion from the pavilion, new ball bowlers Allan Donald(1/38) and Alan Richardson (0/35) were both badly off target early and itwas not until Giles (4/116) entered proceedings shortly before lunch thatthe attack began to genuinely assert itself. Without any great support,the left arm orthodox spinner worked his way steadily through the defencesof Adrian Rollins (19), Mal Loye (2), David Sales (19) and Jeffrey Cook(27) before a completely unnecessary run out and, later, a surprisinglymisdirected Hayden off drive further tilted matters in the home side’sdirection. All four of Giles’ victims were taken at slip.At that stage, a score of 240/6 raised visions of a relatively swift end tothe innings. Moreover, it did not seem to reflect as much credit on thevisitors’ ardour for runs that it might otherwise have done; accordingly,Warwickshire appeared poised to place itself in precisely the sort ofstrong early position that their leadership ambitions demanded.Thankfully for the sake of the match’s future, and as fitting reward for the earlier application of his teammates, the resourceful Graeme Swann (58) thenavailed himself of the opportunity to turn the tide once more and signalthat Northants is not generally in the business of granting such favourswithout a fight.

Time is against Aaron Ramsey as he looks to make an impact at Rangers, journalist Chris Jack has warned.

The lowdown

The Wales midfielder is on loan from Serie A giants Juventus until the end of the season, having sealed a move on transfer deadline day in January.

Rangers’ former high-performance director Adam Owen heralded the signing as the club’s biggest since Paul Gascoigne in 1995, but just over a month into his stay at Ibrox, Ramsey has only played 94 minutes of football.

His only start has come against League Two side Annan Athletic in the Scottish Cup, and he has missed out on the last three matchday squads with what has been described as a knock.

The latest

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jack – a senior Rangers writer for The Herald and The Glasgow Times – expressed concern that Ramsey would not live up to expectations at Ibrox.

The journalist stated: “It’s safe to say he’s not impressed enough so far, and you look at how the season is shaping up, time is not on his side. There aren’t that many games left to get up to speed.”

The verdict

Is there still enough time for Ramsey to make an impact with the Light Blues? There are still 10 league games remaining, with Rangers and Celtic battling for the Premiership title.

In addition, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side have reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup and will bid to make it to the same stage of the Europa League by downing Red Star Belgrade over two legs later this month.

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The Gers are still fighting on three fronts, and if Ramsey can overcome his current knock, he can still play a part towards any possible success this season. However, based on his injury history, the concern is that he breaks down again within weeks of returning, but that was the chance the club took when they made their move for the £4.5m-rated Welshman.

In other news, Jordan Campbell criticised this recent decision from Van Bronckhorst 

Hasan Mohsin starred with bat and ball as Pakistan Under-19s defended 212 to beat Sri Lanka Under-19s by 23 runs and finish top of Group B. Pakistan will take on West Indies in the quarter-finals while Sri Lanka will meet England.Sent in to bat, Pakistan made slow progress at first, and their run rate was still below four an over when Wanidu Hasaranga dismissed Salman Fayyaz (33) in the 41st over to end his 61-run stand with Mohsin. Wickets fell steadily at the other end, with none of bottom five getting into double figures, but Mohsin ensured he dragged Pakistan to a competitive total, and was ninth out for a run-a-ball 86 with eight fours and a six. Pakistan were bowled out for 212 in the 49th over.Opening the bowling with his gentle seam-up, Mohsin then gave Pakistan two early breakthroughs, dismissing both Sri Lankan openers. Sri Lanka slipped to 63 for 4 when the in-form pair of Charith Asalanka and Shammu Ashan got out to soft dismissals against the spinners, but Kamindu Mendis and Vishad Randika got the chase back on track with an 84-run stand for the fifth wicket. Just when Sri Lanka seemed to be cruising home, though, Mendis holed out to long-on for 68 (104b, 5×4), and Hasaranga and Randika (46 off 71) followed him soon after. Damitha Silva kept Sri Lanka in the hunt for a while with an unbeaten 21, but the lower order fell away around him, with legspinner Shadab Khan picking up the last two wickets to finish with figures of 3 for 31.

Nayan Mongia feels that Dhoni has made rapid strides as a wicketkeeper since his early struggles in England © AFP

It’s often said that the wicketkeeper sets the standards of fielding for ateam. If that is true, then this Indian team should do well in the comingyears for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s glovework has been outstanding in recenttimes. It’s premature to suggest that the elevation to captaincy may haveplayed a part in this, but from someone who was seen as a batsman whocould keep wickets adequately, Dhoni has grown into a force behind thestumps.In Baroda, a city that has produced two of the best Indian wicketkeepersof the recent past, there was rich conversation about glovework,especially in the light of Dhoni winning the Man-of-the-Match award in thefourth one-dayer in Chandigarh. “Looking at his percentage of takingcatches it’s better than any of the other keepers we have had recently,”Kiran More, one of the former Indian wicketkeepers from Baroda, told. “He doesn’t miss when the chances come his way. He’sreally good at assessing situations and his temperament is fantastic. Hedoesn’t look good in the conventional sense in that he’s not a stylishwicketkeeper but his temperament under pressure sets him apart.”But it was not long ago that Dhoni was struggling in England, especiallyin the early part of the tour having to contend with the considerable movement after the ball crossed the batsman. This is something all keepers have to adjust to whenplaying in England. The other Baroda wicketkeeper, Nayan Mongia, pointsout that it was a flaw in technique that caused Dhoni problems in England.”He struggled in England because his technique was not right. He washalf-squatting and so could not always gather the ball,” said Mongia, “Butafter that he has done really well. He is improving with every match. Heis watching the ball, staying low and moving with the ball. Hence, hismistakes have come down considerably.”More too concedes that Dhoni struggled in England, but says that was onlyto be expected. “In England people criticised him but you shouldunderstand that wicketkeepers always struggle there,” said More. “To hiscredit Dhoni’s concentration level is very high. He has improved a lot.Look at one-and-a-half years ago and now. Look at his hand position. Hepicks things up quickly.”Mongia, who was an expert at keeping wickets on rank turners and evenunderprepared pitches where Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh made the ballexplode out of the rough, says Dhoni will be tested fully in suchconditions. “It is always difficult to keep in India because the ballkeeps low. But Dhoni is high on confidence and that is helping him dowell,” said Mongia. “When keeping to the pacers, he dives around tocollect the ball. If there’s one area in which he should improve, it is inhis sideways movement. He needs to be on his toes much more. That willgive him a chance to cover much more ground on both sides without needingto dive.”On the issue of leading the side, playing a role with thebat and keeping wickets – and the heavy burden this places on Dhoni -Mongia and More have slightly different takes. “I am worried that hemight have a lot on his hands in the coming days,” Mongia said. “As it is a keeper has toconcentrate more than others and as a captain, he will certainly have alot more to think about.”More struck a more optimistic note. “This guy is a little different. He can take the pressure of doing everything. He can prove lot of pundits wrong,” said More. “Keepingwickets and captaining is always difficult. But he loves thechallenge. That’s what I like most about him. That makes the best ofwicketkeepers. Standing back and waiting for things to happen is nevergood. Dhoni is the kind of guy who will create something and win matches.That’s the difference between Dhoni and other keepers.”

Day 3 The third day’s play of the ICC Intercontinental Cup between Kenya and Bermuda at Nairobi was washed out. Bermuda, after conceding a 72-run first innings lead were 19 for 2 at the end of the second day’s play. The loss of play has loosened Kenya’s grip a bit, but they should still be backing themselves to bowl Bermuda out and chase, if they have to, successfully, in case they get a full day’s play on Wednesday.