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Scorecard
The Super League Ranji Trophy match between Baroda and Uttar Pradesh sprang to life after two turgid days, and the scales are titled towards Baroda. At the end of the third day’s play, Baroda need 155 runs with nine wickets in hand for a win that should seal their place in the semi-finals.The turnaround to the meandering match, though, was provided by UP bowler Praveen Kumar, who bowled with aggression and accuracy to help UP bowl Baroda, who started the day at 259 for 5 in reply to UP’s 269, out for 308. That opened the game up, as UP – two of their frontline batsmen (Shivakant Shukla and Suresh Raina) injured – came with the intentions of going for broke, and got bowled out for 210 in 59.1 overs.Before the start of the play, Mohammad Kaif would have accepted it as a gift had somebody offered them to bowl Baroda out before lunch. Neither the pitch had helped them yesterday nor had Baroda shown any intention of going for quick runs. Every wicket had to be earned and then suddenly things turned on the third morning. A first-innings deficit, a foregone conclusion, became doubtful as Kumar removed Irfan Pathan junior and Ajit Bhoite in the fourth over of the innings. Pathan hadn’t added to his overnight score by then, Baroda had added one. Eventually, the overnight batsman Pinal Shah took Baroda over the line. Kumar finished his five-for with a short ball that was too good for tailender Rajesh Pawar, who had to play at it and lob a catch to slip. After getting his sixth wicket and Baroda’s last, Kumar rushed towards the dressing room: he must have had quick runs on his mind.But Kaif knew he would be tired after sending down 38 overs, eight of them this morning, and chose to open with Tanmay Srivastava and Rohit Prakash Srivastava. Shukla, the other opener, had not fielded in Baroda’s innings, and like Raina, would not be able to bat before No. 7. If any of the three – Kumar, Shukla, or Raina – were eager to bat, their message was heard by other UP batsmen. Kumar was in when the fourth wicket fell in the 28th over, Raina in 33rd, and Shukla in the 34th. The makeshift top order showed lack of application and that was all a fast and accurate Rakesh Patel needed.In Patel’s first over, Tanmay was not so much as beaten as he was slow to bring his bat down and found the off stump out of the ground. In his second over, Patel made Kaif play at one that was best left alone and got the edge. His accuracy prior to that had a lot to do with Kaif committing to the ball that had pitched sufficiently outside the off stump and had moved away a bit. Kaif’s wicket, as it usually happens with UP, spelt panic among UP batsmen. As hard as it seemed Ali Moratza was trying to get out, he could not succeed until he had made 45. He was dropped by Himanshu Jadhav at gully for 14, an edge off Irfan Pathan senior fell short of wicket-keeper when he was 24, and Shah missed a sharp catch off left-arm spinner Pawar when he was 29. A direct-hit from Pathan senior at mid-off found Mortaza short when going for a single, thus ending an 80-run third wicket stand between Rohit and Mortaza.Rohit himself played the best innings among the UP batsmen but got out to a horrible pull shot which went straight back to bowler Patel, in somewhat similar fashion as Wasim Jaffer’s shot in the Durban Test. Rohit made 58. Patel went on to get a five-for as UP could get only 210 on a wicket that was still good for batting. Patel himself testified to that, saying the only heartening sign for him was the bounce he was able to extract.Pathan junior had a better day with the ball; he even showed glimpses of the swing that had made him famous at international level, but only for a three-over spell before lunch. After the interval, a changed man emerged, who was trying far too many things, bowling both from over and round the stumps, unable to find the swing again, unable to stem the runflow, and bowling five no-balls, two wides, and giving away two boundaries as byes. He ended up with one wicket from his 13 overs for 59 runs. In the context of the match, he was perhaps over-bowled, his namesake getting only five overs in which he troubled the batsmen.What came as a blessing for UP has ended as a bane. But with previous second-innings scores of 194, 178, and 100 for 7 in this year’s Ranji Trophy, we should have known better. Yet it would be folly if Baroda think they are through, given the tenacity and persistence and tenacity Kumar and Shalabh Srivastava showed in the first innings. As a UP player commented during Kumar’s onslaught in the morning, he can get half the dressing room out with the aggression he shows on the field. UP will need all that and more.

The South African Cricketers’ Association has clarified that it “fully supports” the national board’s transformation policy after its new president, Boeta Dippenaar, said “a lot of patriotism has been lost” due to the same.”Boeta was recently interviewed in England in his personal capacity as a player who has just been signed by Leicestershire and some of the comments attributed to him could easily be interpreted as being critical in a general sense of transformation in South African cricket,” Tony Irish, the SACA’s chief executive, said. “The players’ association is however fully supportive of transformation in particular where it promotes opportunities for players of colour to compete for selection.”SACA is therefore fully supportive of policies such as the one which provides that 40% of all professional cricket contracts should be reserved for players of colour.”But the SACA maintained that its stand remained the same with regard to selection to the national team. “Last year the top 25 players in the country mandated SACA to take up the issue of quotas / targets in national team selection and of the involvement of non-selectors in the selection process.”Since then we have taken a consistent position on these two issues and have dealt with them under the appropriate process before Cricket South Africa’s transformation review committee. It is important to understand that these two issues relate specifically to national team selection and that we are otherwise fully behind the other aspects of the existing transformation policy.”Meanwhile, Dippenaar, who has retired from international cricket, also clarified his stand. “I was being interviewed on my personal views relating to a wide range of cricket issues,” Dippenaar said. “It was certainly not my intention to generally criticise transformation but I wanted to emphasise that all of us as players at the top level want to be selected on cricketing merit and not for any political reason.”

India’s cricketers enjoyed a “rest” day today, warming down after theirsecond tour game at Chelmsford, but one or two minds might have just beenworking overtime. Rahul Dravid and Co. would have wished for the twopractice games to provide a few answers; instead there seem to be morequestions on hand with three days to go until the first Test at Lord’s.Wasim Jaffer or Gautam Gambhir? VVS Laxman or Yuvraj Singh? Mahendra Singh Dhoni aswicketkeeper? The first two aren’t new instances – Jaffer is prone to a string of failures while Laxman’s spot is never certain. But what of Dhoni? In Bangladesh he kept his Test spot thanks toa Man-of-the-Series performance in the preceding one-dayers, but he’s donelittle of note to be sure of a place here. One can point to his 76 atChelmsford, or even his buccaneering 139 not out against Africa XI atChennai, but the conditions were nowhere near as demanding as they will be atLord’s.What’s more worrying is Dhoni’s decline behind the stumps. He was never a naturalwicketkeeper, starting off as a football goalie, and it was mainly thanksto his persistence that he improved in that department. There was a periodearly in his career when he gave up batting for one whole year just to getbetter with the gloves. He showed considerable improvement last season butthe fumbles have reappeared recently. He has struggled so far in the tour games, often parrying the ball rather than waiting for it, and his grassedchances off Andy Hodd and Robin Martin-Jenkins at Hove and Stuart Broad atChelmsford, all straightforward ones at international level, woulddefinitely get the team management thinking.Making his job harder is Dinesh Karthik’s presence in the team as aspecialist batsman. Karthik is the more agile wicketkeeper and is betterstanding up to Anil Kumble’s bouncy offerings. There will surely be a temptation to ask him to keep as well as bat. It would no doubt add to his burden – squatting all daybefore opening the batting can’t be easy – but it would also allow theteam a chance to play the extra batsman in Yuvraj.India’s batting is awesome on paper but, as was shown at Chelmsford, it justtakes a persistent bowling attack to open up the cracks. The top order is weak,the middle is inconsistent and the tail is mostly redundant. Lord’s isusually good to the batsmen and India’s batting galacticos, as theGuardian newspaper called them, will need to stand up. If they needsome expert advice about batting on the ground they just need to lookaround the dressing room and spot a man who managed three hundreds on thetrot here.For Dilip Vengsarkar, the current chairman of selectors, Lord’s, where he cracked centuries in 1979, 1982 and 1986, was his backyard. He downplayed the achievement, when Cricinfo asked him about it, butexplained why the ground was special.”Every player has his favourite grounds. I’ve got four hundreds at the Feroz Shah Kotla but nobody remembers that. And they were against better teams – three againstWest Indies and one against Asif Iqbal’s Pakistan. Everybody only talksabout the three hundred at Lord’s. Of course it was a great feeling. It’sspecial playing at Lord’s. Walking through the long room you have a heavyfeeling in the heart. You see the honours board, the pictures on the wall,the packed atmosphere. It’s electrifying. But once you hit the grass, it’sjust another ground.”Did he have to make any special adjustment to counter the famous Lord’sslope? “Too much is made of the slope at Lord’s,” he said nonchalantly. “Every ground has some slope – go to Leeds you have a slope,at Chelmsford there’s also a slope. You need to adjust to different conditions and the slope is just one part of it. It’s not as tough to adjust as it’s made out to be.”But which of the three hundreds will he most cherish? “I think the centuryin 1986 was my best. We won at Lord’s for the first time and went on towin the series. The bowlers won the game for us – Chetan Sharma bowledsuperbly, Kapil Dev was equally good, Maninder Singh too. To finish on thewinning side after making your third successive hundred was verysatisfying.”India had never won a Lord’s Test before 1986, they’ve yet to win onesince. As much as he’s proud of being part of that side, Vengsarkar willhope that India double that victory tally in the coming days.

Scorecard

Victoria remained the Twenty20 kings with a third consecutive title as Western Australia were hit by a Blizzard and a Cyclone at the WACA. Aiden Blizzard’s blitz of 47 from 20 balls helped the Bushrangers reach 203 and despite an exciting 86 from Shaun Marsh, the Warriors fell 32 short in their chase.The major problem for Western Australia, apart from the hefty target, was the fast, accurate bowling from Dirk Nannes. The nickname on his back read “Cyclone” and he lived up to the moniker, sweeping up four wickets and pushing into the high 140kph region as the Warriors spiralled to defeat.He struck two early blows to derail the chase and returned at the end for two more, including Marsh, who had combined with Theo Doropoulos to give the Warriors a sniff after they had crashed to 5 for 59. Marsh belted four sixes in his 55-ball innings but was running out of time when he cracked a Nannes full toss to Cameron White at midwicket.He had already lost his key partner, Doropoulos, who was on 43 when he chipped back to the bowler David Hussey. Victoria’s spinners Hussey and Bryce McGain troubled the middle order but it was Nannes’ early strikes that set the scene.In what Perth fans will hope is not an omen for the WACA Test, which starts on Wednesday, the home side’s reply began with a contentious catch first ball. Luke Ronchi tried to evade a shortish Nannes delivery that flicked his gloves and might have fallen just short of the wicketkeeper Adam Crosthwaite, who claimed the take.It was a disappointing start to a challenging chase after Victoria worked their way to 8 for 203. They started brilliantly, reaching 0 for 65 from five overs, an effort that was largely thanks to Blizzard, who took 28 off one Danny McLauchlan over. Four sixes featured in those six balls, and one was flat-batted wide of midwicket so lethally that it ended up in the practice nets adjacent to the ground.Twice in their innings Victoria lost 3 for 5 but around those mini-collapses they were able to build a healthy score. Hussey added 38 and finished the tournament as the second leading run scorer behind only Marsh. One of the few Victorians who did not contribute was Rob Quiney, who fell to one of the most remarkable catches in recent memory.Quiney pulled Ben Edmondson to deep midwicket and David Bandy, hard up on the rope and with the sun in his eyes, jumped, stretched his right-hand above his head and pulled in the grab with both feet off the ground, baseball-style. He then had the challenge of landing back in the field of play and managed the feat with the grace of an Olympic gymnast, finishing with a pivot and swivel to acknowledge the crowd’s cheers.But his team-mates could not match his perfect ten and the title slipped away from Western Australia. Victoria, who have lost only one match in the three seasons of the domestic Twenty20 tournament, will head to the Champions Twenty20 league in October as arguably the world’s most in-form side in the shortest format.

The retiring Brad Hogg believes Dan Cullen and Nathan Hauritz will vie to be Australia’s No. 1 limited-overs spinner in his absence, but he has no idea who should take the spot in Tests. Hogg, who is the incumbent after appearing in the series against India, would like a younger man to be given the chance in the five-day format.”It’s hard to say,” he said when asked about his replacement. “There’s young talent around. If a young fella gets a go and he knows he’s going to get a real decent crack at it, anything can happen. Sometimes you perform better at international level than your state level. Just rising to occasions, some people love that bigger occasion.”The only slow bowler regularly troubling batsmen in the Pura Cup is Victoria’s Bryce McGain, who turns 36 next month, while Stuart MacGill will be in contention when he fully recovers from his wrist problem. Cullen is in and out of South Australia’s four-day squad, the Cricket Australia-contracted Cullen Bailey can’t get a game for the Redbacks, and Beau Casson is preferred over Hauritz in the New South Wales Pura Cup team.”At the end of the day, I leave, Warney left, you just have to make do with the stocks that you’ve got,” Hogg said at the MCG. “Someone might come out like a Shane Warne and blitz international cricket. You never know what’s around the corner.”While Hogg’s position in the Test side was never permanent, he was the first choice in one-day internationals since his elevation in 2003 when Warne was suspended for drug use. He thinks it will be an offspinner who takes that role in the immediate future and hopes the selectors do not chop and change too much.”Dan Cullen’s bowling pretty well, and I think Nathan Hauritz from New South Wales has had a particularly good couple of years in one-day cricket,” he said. “He was around at the time when Warney was having his injuries and so forth and it was between me and him at the time.”It would be nice for him to get a run because he missed out back then. The selectors are going to have to bite the bullet and give someone a real good crack at it.”

Somerset needed to score at 5 runs per over to win this game but throughsome disciplined and aggressive bowling from the Leicestershire attack theywere always behind the asking rate.Jimmy Ormond once again was the pick of the bowlers and picked up his firstwicket in only the second over of the innings. Bowler edged a ball to secondslip to give Darren Maddy an easy catch. The ball previous saw Maddy drop achance given by Lathwell also at second slip.It wasn’t too long before Lathwell became Ormonds second victim when hefollowed a wide delivery which found the edge through to the wicket keeper.At this point Somerset were only scoring at 2 runs per over and the pressurewas beginning to show. Burns unable to pierce the in field then set off for a risky single which resulted in a run out.You felt that as long as Jamie Cox was at the crease there was always achance for Somerset but when Scott Boswell picked up his prize wicket inonly his second over, Somerset’s chances of victory were diminishing. He wasbrilliantly caught by the diving wicket keeper Neil Burns.Parsons tried to continue the fight and looked in good form. He struck themedium pace of Billy Stelling for a huge six over mid off giving impetous tothe innings. However, Stelling fought back by clean bowling Parsons in the29th over. By this time Somerset’s chances were almost gone and continued tolose their wickets consistantly.Leicestershire thoroughly deserved this win and they now can look forward toplaying once again in the top division.

Ryan Watson is set to be named as Scotland’s new captain after Craig Wright resigned following the team’s disappointing performance in the World Cup.”I can’t see anyone other than Ryan Watson becoming captain,” Roddy Smith, the chief executive, old The Scotsman. “I think Ryan will be at the forefront of the selectors’ thoughts.”Watson stood in when Wright flew home after a family bereavement, leading the team against South Africa. Although Wright returned for the final match yesterday, he immediately stood down. “I felt it was the right time to give someone else an opportunity to make their mark,” he explained.

It is being reported from the Caribbean that Zimbabwe have been forced out of theCLICO Under 15 International Championship after their team were denied British visas to travel to the region via London.”Attempts at making alternative arrangements also proved futile and in light of the refusal by the British to grant the visas, Zimbabwe was forced to cancel its participation in the tournament,” the tournament organisers said. Zimbabwean umpire Tinaye Matare is also a doubt after being also refused a visa to enter London.However, a Foreign Office source denied that visas had been denied. “The umpire was refused because of incomplete documentation,” he told Cricinfo. “As for the team, an official from ZC did call the Embassy last week to flag up the possibility of the U-15 team travelling to the Caribbean and to seek advice about visas. He was told that applications from anyone who had not traveled to the UK, US or EU in the past two years would expect to be handled by the visa office in Pretoria. At no point were they discouraged from applying. He accepted the timing would be tight. The FCO have checked and there’s no record of any applications having been submitted. It’s therefore not true to say they were refused visas.”Malaysia, who failed to make the original eight teams, will now replace Zimbabwe in competition which runs from April 19 to May 4. They will meet hosts West Indies in the opening match.

Sri Lanka A 377 ( Silva 122, Charumbira 4-84) drew with Zimbabwe Provinces 247 for 7 (Matsikenyeri 45, Zhuwawo 44, Mutizwa 42)
Scorecard</aSri Lanka A started their tour of Zimbabwe with a draw in a two-day game against Zimbabwe Provinces at the Harare Sports Club. Kaushal Silva starred for the visitors with a hundred while Patiant Charumbira led the hosts' attack with a four-wicket haul.Silva, the wicketkeeper, hit an unbeaten 194-ball 122 while Mahela Udawatte and Dammika Prasad scored fifties as Sri Lanka scored at 4.24 runs per over to compile 377 in their first innings. Charumbira, the right-arm fast-medium bowler, grabbed his first four-wicket haul of his career as Sri Lanka were bowled out by the end of the first day.In their reply, Zimbabwe lost wickets regularly and were stuttering at 131 for 6 before Forster Mutizwa, with a patient 105-ball 42, and Cephas Zhuwawo, with a 61-ball 44, lifted their side to 247 for 7 by the end of the second and the final day.The first four-day game between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka A will start on October 14 in Harare while the second will be played at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo from October 20.

Daren Ganga, the West Indies captain, was pleased with his side’s on-field performance after the first day’s play in Manchester as West Indies showed signs of revival after their record loss in the second Test at Headingley.”I think it was a good day for us. We showed our competitiveness throughout the entire day,” said Ganga. “The first hour wasn’t too pleasant in terms of run scoring but we were able to hold things together and commit to what we set out to do and it was a whole team effort.”Ganga also welcomed the inclusion of the fast but wayward Fidel Edwards by saying that the “attack lacked a bit of penetration and more variety was something that you were going to see in this Test match. Fidel is that type of bowler, if he can come and knock the tail over it will be a good innings work for him.” The point was proven in the fiery spell to Paul Collingwood that probably caused a few bruises on his body.Ganga did not forget the effort put in by the other two fast bowlers, Corey Collymore and Jerome Taylor. “Collymore is our most senior bowler and those are the things expected from Corey. He did exactly what was required. All the guys supported him with Taylor picking up two wickets. These are the sorts of things we need to inculcate more in our team with everyone contributing and being switched on and putting a performance forward for the common good of the team.”When reminded of Steve Harmison’s record at Old Trafford and that the fragile West Indies batting line-up will be facing upto him soon, Ganga played it down by saying, “the guys are aware of his threat as a bowler but it’s very important to send the right message to the opposition, it’s a Test match. We are playing for our pride and playing to level the series so all the guys are geed up and it is very important for our competitiveness.”