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Kevin Hurdle’s early blows played a big part in Bermuda’s victory © Getty Images

In what will definitely rank as a big upset, and one which Andy Pick, the Canada coach termed an “embarrassment”, Bermuda traipsed to a memorable six-wicket win in the opening one-dayer at Toronto. Having bowled out Canada for 145, Bermuda, thanks to a solid 39 from Saleem Mukkudem, knocked off the target in just 40 overs.”Since we arrived this morning, everything has been substandard,” said Pick in his assessment, “our warm-ups, our practice and our performance.” Not for the first time this season, Canada failed to put enough runs on the board, a trend hard to explain considering their good win in the four-day game, against the same opposition, earlier in the week.Mukkudem, who took Bermuda to victory with a six over long-off, couldn’t hide his excitement after the triumph. “It was a huge effort for us to put that defeat [in the four-day game] behind us,” he said. “We got off to a fantastic start. It was good to get [out] the guys who had got runs [in the four-day game] out cheaply.”Canada lost John Davison, their captain, and Desmond Chumney early. Both fell to the pace bowling of Kevin Hurdle. Ian Billcliff followed soon and Canada were in a deep hole at 21 for 3. Ashish Bagai began comfortably but he too didn’t last long, caught at backward square leg after making just 10 (46 for 4). Abdool Samad and Umar Bhatti added 29 for the sixth wicket before Bhatti was caught and bowled by Dwayne Leverock, diving to his left. Samad was out for what proved to be the top-score (28), driving Leverock into the hands of Irvine Romaine at cover.The Canadian innings was completed so quickly that Bermuda began their innings before lunch. The Bermudan opening batsmen, Borden and Outerbridge, scored 23 by the interval. Their partnership was broken with the score on 41 but there continued to be little success for the home bowlers. Canada sniffed a faint chance when Bermuda were 86 for 3 but Mukkudem and Janeiro Tucker played sensibly. They added 48 for the fourth wicket and Mukkudem stayed unbeaten till the end.There continues to be very little effort from the Canadian Cricket Association to promote the sport in this country, particularly these international matches. There was talk of selling off an existing inventory of merchandise at this summer’s home games but no evidence has been seen of that initiative to date. It seems hard to believe the World Cup is just seven months away.The two four-day matches in the Intercontintental Cup have been exciting and went down to the wire in the last hour of available playing time. The home ODIs have been disappointing but with plenty of latent cricket interest in the Toronto area it seems pathetic that a mere 30 people, including scorers and some officials, were dotted around the ground some ten minutes after play began. It cannot be much fun for the batsmen to hear louder roars for dismissals from the fielding side than the applause from home fans.Canada and Bermuda play again on Monday at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club. The ground is on Wilson Avenue, near the intersection with Avenue Road. Play is scheduled to begin at 10 am. This match is an ODI but also forms part of an ICC Americas Regional Tournament that takes place next week. All other matches in that event take place at Maple Leaf CC at King City. USA, Cayman Islands and Argentina are the three other sides in this tournament.

Although it was USA’s turn to have a day off on Friday, heavy rain which washed out the games involving their nearest rivals ensured that they won the tournament before their last match, leaving Cayman Islands, Canada and Bermuda scrapping for second place.USA beat Cayman Islands by six wickets
USA completed an impressive clean sweep, confirming beyond any doubt that they were the best team. That they beat Cayman Islands, the side drafted into the Intercontinental Cup at the senior team’s expense, will give them added pleasure.Cayman Islands were inserted on a wicket that had a little moisture from the overnight rain. Openers Ricardo Roach and William Quin got off to a reasonable start but then disaster struck as both fell with the score on 26 . Wickets fell rapidly thereafter as the spinners tied down the batting and Cayman Islands were skittled for 86. Hemant Punoo, USA’s captain, was the pick of the bowlers with 8.3-3-12-4. The solid USA batting side struggled somewhat, but again it was Punoo to the rescue with a brilliant 42 not-out as the USA won the match by six wickets. Unsurprisngly, Punoo was named Man of the Match.Canada beat Bermuda by 99 runs
Originally planned as the championship decider, this contest took a new meaning with USA already securing the Championship Trophy all the winner could hope for was the silver medal.Canada won the toss and surprised the crowd by electing to bat on a damp wicket , and that decision looked dubious as they slumped to 65 for 5. Then Trevin Bastiampillai was joined at the wicket by Waqas Junaid and the pair put on the best batting display of the tournament with a 142-run sixth-wicket partnership. Junaid fell for 43 but Bastiampillai carried his bat through the innings for 110 not out, the first century of the tournament. The Canadians finished on 239 for 8.From the moment Bermuda lost their Captain O.Bascome to the first ball of their innings, they were never really a threat. Rodney Trott (30) and Dickinson (42 not out) were the only two batsmen to offer some fight. Gunraj Patel 7.5-2-18-3 and Krunal Patel 6-2-21-3 made certain that Canada gained the silver medal.For his fine innings Trevin Bastiampillai was the obvious Man of the Match. There was further gloom for Bermuda who lost out on a medal as they tied with Cayman Islands in the points table, but the Cayman Islands had a better run rate.

	TEAM	P	W	L	NR	PTS	NRR
1	USA	4	4	0	0	16	2.565
2	CANADA	4	2	1	1	10	0.6
3	CAYMAN ISLANDS	4	1	2	1	6	0.836
4	BERMUDA	4	1	2	1	6	-0.852
5	ARGENTINA	4	0	3	1	2	-3.565

England have moved up to third place in the ICC’s Test Championship table after their 3-0 win in the Carribean while India’s 2-1 series win in Pakistan has lifted them to fourth place, the highest they have ever been in the ratings.The result meant England jumped ahead of India by a single point, while West Indies stayed stagnant in eighth position. With Pakistan losing the third Test, and hence the series, against India, England will be assured of their third spot at least until the end of their home series against New Zealand this summer.India’s rating has risen from 100 to 102 as a result of the series victory in Pakistan. The result put India ahead of Pakistan for the first time since August 2003 with Pakistan dropping from 102 to 99.Earlier this year, India’s rating improved from 95 to 100 due to a strong showing in the drawn series against Australia. India has never had a rating above 100 since the new system of calculation was introduced in July 2003 and has never been as high as fourth since the introduction of the system in May 2001.Prior to the current Test series, India also overtook Pakistan in the ICC one-day championship by virtue of a 3-2 win in the ODI series.

ICC Championship table
Position	Team	Points
1	Australia	127
2	South Africa	112
3	England	103
4	India	102
5	New Zealand	101
6	Pakistan	99
7	Sri Lanka	94
8	West Indies	82
9	Zimbabwe	55
10	Bangladesh	1

Sachin Tendulkar ended the World Cup at the top of the PwC one-day ratings for batsmen, and India finished the tournament with four bowlers in the world top 15 for one-day cricket.But as the Final demonstrated, Australia remains the dominant team in one-day cricket. Matthew Hayden had a quiet tournament (he was number one coming into the World Cup and had dropped to 6th place by the end) but the Australians won every match in the World Cup thanks to their incredible strength in depth.Ricky Ponting ends the tournment as the top Australian batsman (4th), followed by Adam Gilchrist who is at his personal best one-day rating (5th), as is Damien Martyn (13th). Andrew Symonds, up 44 places to 29th, was one of the most improved players of the World Cup. Andy Bichel, who climbed in both the batting and bowling , established himself as an all-rounder.Already, another wave of Aussies is proving itself to be world-beating. The absence of Gillespie, Warne and two Waughs seems to have made not a hap’orth of difference.

* Huge losses expected after India pulls outIndia’s refusal to play Pakistan in the Asian Test Championship is amajor blow to cricket in the region, according to Asian CricketCouncil secretary Zakir Hussain Syed. He told AFP in Karachi onWednesday that the financial losses alone would damage the sport inAsia, where India was the main drawcard for international sponsors andtelevision coverage."India’s refusal to play Pakistan in the Asian championship is agreat setback for Asian cricket and the ACC will face a huge financialloss," Syed warned. "The ACC made all the plans and schedules withthe Board of Control for Cricket in India’s consent and they hadassured us of their participation, but this latest decision is verydisappointing."The decision is strange in the sense that India plays all othersports with Pakistan, is sending their squad for the South AsianFederation Games in Pakistan, but they have objections over cricket,"said Syed."The earnings from this championship were supposed to be invested indevelopment with a share for all the participating teams," Syed said."Since India is a huge market, and with the Indian team out, therewill be less earnings from title sponsorship and TV rights. The figureis confidential but the loss will be huge."* KSCA to launch cricket academyIn its quest to unearth cricketing talent at the junior level, theKarnataka State Cricket Association will launch a cricket academy inOctober, becoming the first state cricket body in the country to doso. KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel told reporters in Bangalore onTuesday that the academy would be based in KSCA which, he said, wouldlaunch a junior cricket development programme – “Catch Them Young andMake Them Great” in October.Initially, Patel said, the programme would be launched in 13 districtsand a few more would be added to the list next year. He said eachcentre would have 20 players, totalling 260 players, and coachingcamps would be held in district centres from October 15 to January 15.The Karnataka State Cricket Academy would invite 80 players toBangalore and each group consisting of 20 players would undergoadvance training for two weeks from November 15 to January 15, hesaid.Makarand Waigankar, who has successfully launched and implemented suchprojects in Mumbai for the last two decades, had prepared the projectwhich was approved by KSCA. Patel said former England fast bowler andrenowned coach Frank Tyson would conduct a two-week coaching coursefor 60 coaches from September 24 to October 6.

The great thing about football is that it’s entirely continuous. Do you remember that period of time – about five minutes ago – when your life seemed torn apart and ultimately without meaning or distraction by the ending of the football season? Poor Chelsea – they got to celebrate for all of an evening before dragging their hungover corpses back to the grind.

Well, OK, they probably got a nice few weeks on a beach too.

But what’s wonderful for fans and horrible for the players is sometimes wonderful for the players too. This time, especially Liverpool players.

After defeat at the Britannia Stadium in May, a defeat that ranks up there with the Brazilians in Belo Horizonte in 2014 or the Italian Army in Caporetto in 1917 it’s no wonder Liverpool beat a retreat like Napoleon out of Moscow.

But what you want after a humiliating, emasculating defeat is – to borrow a phrase – to go again. And Liverpool have that unique chance – the chance to fully exorcise the demons of last season before getting stuck into the new season, with a raft of new players and a spring in their step.

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That’s the hope anyway. There’s just a word of caution.

Although Liverpool have strengthened, Stoke have strengthened too. There’s enough optimism around the Staffordshire club for ex-players to start talking about a top-four finish. Clearly there’s nothing like the heady optimism of opening weekend to put you on a high – or, you know, smoking something.

But Liverpool will still need to be careful, because this isn’t just the Stoke side that beat Liverpool 6-1 on the final day of last season, this is a Stoke side who have added some very good players in the meantime. Stoke 2.0.

But that’s not even the main reason for Liverpool to be careful on this trip. You’d still expect Liverpool to have enough firepower to beat Stoke. Even after the last time, and even with the added new faces to Mark Hughes’s side, you’d still make Liverpool favourites. But even at this early stage it’s already a big game for Liverpool.

Much has been made of the fact that Brendan Rodgers and his side will be running the gauntlet for their opening away fixtures. Thankfully the home games are very winnable – Bournemouth, West Ham, Norwich – so if Liverpool do lose a few of the tougher away games they should still claw back some points there.

But what’s important is momentum and form. For the last two seasons we’ve seen Liverpool live and die by form, when they’re good they’re very very good, but when they’re bad….

A few away defeats could dampen morale and make the home games even tougher, and Rodgers will need to make sure his team start as they mean to go on. So when you look at the tough away fixtures and you see that the most winnable away game for a while is Stoke, then you know the Stoke game is a bigger game than it might usually be.

That is, usually a draw at the Britannia is a good result, even a defeat you can chalk up to a tough away fixture. But given that the next six away fixtures are even tougher, a defeat could precipitate a bad run of form.

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Now I’m not suggesting that Rodgers should be under pressure to win against Stoke, but this game is a very big game, psychologically speaking.

So we’ll see this weekend if Liverpool have exorcised the demons of May and the end of last season, if they do they can build momentum for the rest of the season – and, importantly, some good form going into some ridiculously early crunch games. If they lose, the same questions will be asked and Brendan Rodgers will be left wondering if the summer recruitment that brought in seven new signings actually helped his side to progress.

It’ll be too early to say for certain, but as far as opening day fixtures go, this is about as important as they get for Liverpool.

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ScorecardFile photo: Udara Jayasundera made a painstaking 63 off 153 balls for the Sri Lankans•WICB Media

The Sri Lankans’ bowlers let the NZC President’s XI’s eighth-wicket partnership plunder 124 runs, but batted marginally better than in the first innings to secure a draw in the three-day warm up game in Queenstown. The hosts took a 206-run lead before declaring and the Sri Lankans then moved to 226 for 6 by stumps.A 153-ball 63 from opener Udara Jayasundera led the Sri Lankans’ innings, and heightened his chances of a debut in the first Test against New Zealand next Thursday. He struck up a 108-run partnership with Kithuruwan Vithanage, who hit 61 off 109 himself. Angelo Mathews made an unbeaten 54, while Dinesh Chandimal collected 29. Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis were dismissed for low scores for the second time in the match.The President’s XI bowlers shared the six wickets between them, Neil Wagner taking 1 for 31. Seamer James Baker picked up the innings’ best figures of 2 for 21.Earlier in the day, the Presidents’ XI’s resumed on 288 for 7, before hitting 111 runs in the next 15.3 overs. No. 9 batsman Tim Johnston hit 62 from 74 balls while Shawn Hicks finished with 79 not out from 85 deliveries. Sri Lanka lent their opposition a hand with 44 extras, including 21 no-balls. Dushmantha Chameera claimed his fourth wicket of the innings to end that eighth-wicket partnership and invite the declaration.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

James Anderson produced a superb piece of bowling to remove Rahul Dravid © Getty Images

Unexpected turn of events cropped up everywhere on the second day atLord’s. When the ground resembled a lake shortly after midday any playappeared a remote possibility but, after the drainage system workedits magic, the Test took a dramatic twist as India sparked a collapseof 6 for 26. However, England’s green attack more than held theirown, with James Anderson removing Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkarwhile Chris Tremlett impressed on debut.For those spectators who hung around during the morning monsoon theaction was worth the wait. Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth did the bulk ofthe damage as England’s innings, which resumed on a healthy 268 for 4,subsided in less than 11 overs. Although it was a rapid slide, therewas still time for some controversy involving Kevin Pietersen, whowalked for an edge to MS Dhoni before turning around halfway back tothe pavilion after Steve Bucknor asked Simon Taufel whether theball carried. TV replays reprieved Pietersen but two balls later another edge brought his downfall and India burst through.The bowlers continued to hold sway when India replied with RyanSidebottom striking back for England, trapping Dinesh Karthiklbw after troubling him with swing. He should have removed WasimJaffer in his second over but Matt Prior went one-handed to anoutside edge and shelled the chance in front of first slip. Jaffer wason one at the time and he carefully held India together with a watchfullyconstructive half-century.It was a distinctly old-fashioned innings and, after passing fifty from100 balls, he made eight from his next 56. The pressure created byTremlett and some clever field settings resulted in his downfall – aleading edge back to the bowler who moved well for someone so injury prone and held the catch low in his follow-through.Dravid, on the ground where he made his debut in 1996, was removed bya perfect outswinger from the impressive Anderson as England liftedtheir spirits before tea. Anderson is in his first Test since Januaryat Sydney and produced his most consistent display in England colours fora long time. He probed with his late swing, maintained decent paceand deserved the scalp of Tendulkar, who was trapped by the inswingerwhich Anderson has spent a lot of time perfecting with Lancashire.

Sreesanth was impressive with his swing as England collapsed © Getty Images

Tendulkar registered his best Test score at Lord’s but was still along way short of putting his name on the honours board. He begancautiously as Tremlett produced an encouraging first spell in Testcricket but was beginning to increase his tempo when he was caught onthe crease by Anderson. The third of India’s big three, SouravGanguly, survived until the end although he came close to findinggully with a cut shot that Ian Bell couldn’t leap high enough to catch.Whereas England chipped away the Indian bowling display was asdramatic as the thunderstorm that crashed over Lord’s earlier in theday. Another amazing mopping-up operation by the Lord’s ground staffagain showed the value of the drainage system as on most other groundsthere would have been no chance of play.There was a noticeable bounce in India’s step as RP Singh cleaned upSidebottom, the nightwatchman, in the first over with the new ballbefore the extraordinary passage of play involving Pietersen. AfterIndia’s disappointment turned to ecstasy in the space of a few momentsthere was no stopping them as Zaheer and Sreesanth were a combinationtransformed from the poor opening-day effort.With Prior at No.8 because of the nightwatchman, England’s batting wasdeep but India continued their resurgence through a double-wicketmaiden from Sreesanth. He trapped Prior playing across the line and,three balls later, had Tremlett stone dead for a duck. Monty Panesarfell in similar circumstances, caught on the crease as the ball swungback late into the pads. Sreesanth produced the late swing that hadmade him a threat in South Africa last year and all the Indian bowlershad learnt from their failings on the first day.During the collapse Bell watched from the other end, unable to do muchfor England’s cause. Everything had appeared much rosier when hecaressed his first delivery straight down the ground but he completedthe rapid demise by chopping Zaheer into his stumps. Englandbrushed themselves down, though, and an inexperienced attack performed aboveexpectations to set up a fascinating weekend.

Out of the rough, onto the bail – Monty Panesar bowls Younis Khan in the second innings of the Headingley Test. © Getty Images

Monty Panesar, England’s very popular left-arm spinner, has rated the ball that bowled Younis Khan in the second innings of the Headingley Test as his “best ball in Test cricket”.With Pakistan chasing 323 on the final day, Panesar grabbed three key wickets, but none was more special than Younis’s, who was looking good for his 41. The ball that bowled him, turned out of the rough, pitching on middle and leg. Younis came forward and missed as the ball turned to hit the top of off stump, just nicking the bail.”I was just trying to do the basics and get the ball in the right area and bowl some tight lines, but that ball just held its line and gripped a bit and hit the bail,” Panesar told the website Sportinglife.”When I was younger I just thought if you can’t get the batsman out you just try to bowl magic balls. But I learned at the Academy from Rod Marsh that that’s not the answer, and you’ve got to bowl tight and apply pressure. It’s not as simple as bowling every ball outside leg and hitting off stump.”Panesar, 24, felt that his bowling had improved as a result of bowling a lot more and being given extra responsibility: “As I’ve matured as a spinner I’ve realised you’ve got to be able to apply pressure.” And with Andrew Flintoff out for the entire series, Panesar shouldered the burden of taking opposition wickets along with the three fast bowlers. “Having a four-man attack puts more responsibility on the spinner,” he admitted. “Being in that frame of mind means I bowl with more patience and more control.”Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, was pleased with Panesar’s performance and felt that he had staked a stronger claim to be part of the team which will play in Brisbane on November 23.England won the third Test by 167 runs and clinched the series 2-0 with the final Test to be played on August 17 at The Oval.

England will not play any Twenty20 matches in India © Getty Images

The Indian cricket board has refused England’s request to play Twenty20 international matches on its tour of India early next year. The ECB was keen for England to play Twenty20 matches in India, but India’s board has rejected the proposal, because this form of cricket has not yet been played in India.”ECB is anticipating that the England team will play three Tests and seven one-day internationals on next year’s tour of India,” said John Carr, ECB director of cricket operations, told the news agency . “ECB’s understanding is that BCCI is not in favour of the Indian team playing Twenty20 international matches.” He also added, according to a report in the , that all seven one-day internationals would played against India only – and not form part of a triangular series. “We hope to play seven straight ODIs against India,” said Carr “We are expecting a draft itinerary from BCCI within a couple of weeks and both boards will be keen to promptly confirm the itinerary.”This is not the first time that the two boards have disagreed over proposed matches. In 2001, the ECB refused to play seven one-day internationals because its agreement with the BCCI, led by AC Muthiah at the time, had cited only five matches. After Jagmohan Dalmiya became BCCI president, he wanted England to play seven games on their tour. Eventually a compromise of six matches was reached and the series was drawn 3-3.David Morgan, the ECB chairman, told that he was discussing the 2006 tour’s itinerary with Dalmiya despite him not being a BCCI office-bearer. “We anticipate the international matches being played from early to middle of March through to middle to late April,” said Carr. He also said that a venue inspection team would visit India ahead of the series to inspect the arrangements. He said “It is ECB’s standard practice to visit some or all the venues to be used for a tour. The timing of any such visit is to be confirmed.”