Points Table
Scorecard
Hyderabad were on the brink of sealing a spot in the semi-finals as Assam followed on in the final league game at the Gymkhana Ground at Secundrabad. Having made 340 in the first innings, largely due to a sparkling 135 by VVS Laxman, Hyderabad shot out Assam for 158 in their first innings. Inder Shekhar Reddy, the left-arm spinner, was the most successful bowler with 4 for 37 while Sankinani Vishnuvardhan accounted for three more. G Sharma, playing his third first-class game, top scored with 44 but that only delayed Hyderabad’s charge towards a big win.
Scorecard
Tamil Nadu’s semi-final aspirations went up in smoke after Maharashtra thwarted their chances of the getting a bonus point at Chennai. After struggling to 277 in their first innings, Tamil Nadu got a near-perfect start as they reduced Maharashtra to 6 for 3. But a fighting 74 from Dheeraj Jadhav, the opener who was recently included in the Indian squad, ensured that Maharashtra crossed the follow-on mark. Rajamani Jesuraj, TN’s opening bowler, and the left-arm spinner Ramakrishnan Ramkumar snapped up four wickets apiece but it wasn’t enough to prevent the door being shut on their chances.
Scorecard
Bengal were staring at the prospect of being relegated to the Plate Group after being reduced to 70 for 4, still 322 behind, in the final league game against Madhya Pradesh at Kolkata. Responding to MP’s 392, Bengal lost both their openers within the first five overs, both to Sanjay Pandey, the medium pacer. Yogesh Golwalkar, the legsponner, then prised out two more wickets, including Rohan Gavaskar, before close and MP were favourites to remain in the Elite Group. Sourav Ganguly was unbeaten on 4 when stumps were drawn. Earlier, Abbas Ali had anchored MP’s batting effort in the first two days with a composed 145. Naman Ojha (96) also shone while the lower order chipped in with vital contributions to lift the total to 392.
Scorecard
Yusuf Pathan, Irfan’s brother, weaved a web around the Uttar Pradesh batsmen as Baroda inched towards a semi-final spot in their final league game in Vadodara. Yusuf, the allrounder who bowls legpin, helped in bundling out UP for a meager 124 as Baroda seized the initiative in the low-scoring tussle. Zaheer Khan chipped in with three wickets and Baroda took a crucial 62-run lead on the second day before extending it to 116 before the close of play. Baroda have no chance of getting a bonus point from this game but a win here will place them level with Punjab on 16 points. The team with the higher runs-per-wicket quotient will sneak through.
Scorecard
Ajay Jadeja held the innings together with a gritty 94 and thanks to some lower-order resistance, Delhi reached 394 in their first innings at the Wankhede Stadium. Jadeja smacked 12 fours and two sixes in his knock and shared a vital 84-run stand with Sarendeep Singh to bail them out of a minor crisis. Though Jadeja fell at 333, seven short of his 20th first-class hundred, Sarandeep carried on the battle along with Ashish Nehra, who managed to notch up his highest score in first-class cricket. Nehra struck six fours and a six in his 41 and remained unbeaten as Delhi ended on 394. He then sent down an economical spell with the ball, five overs for only eight runs, but the Mumbai openers remained unbeaten at close. With half of yesterday lost due to a damp outfield, both teams may struggle to pull off an outright win but Delhi will aim to get two points, for a first-innings lead, and boost their chances of a semi-final berth.
Scorecard
Gujarat enhanced their chances of entering the last four by posting 420 in their first innings and claiming three Andhra wickets before the end of the second day. Nilesh Modi, the wicketkeeper, defied the Andhra bowlers with a fine 72 and was well supported by the tailenders. Modi added 73 with Lalit Patel, the No. 10, and gave them a good chance to gain a first-innings lead. Andhra were in deep trouble at 26 for 3 before the Rao brothers, Venugopal and Gnaneswara, rescued them with a 120-run partnership and both reached their fifties before play ended.
Scorecard
Raja Ali starred with an even hundred and Railways took a comfortable 62-run lead at the IAF Grounds in Bangalore. Karnataka folded for 194 early this morning, after adding only three to their overnight total. Railways, though, didn’t find batting as tough a proposition and Ali received good support from Jai Prakash Yadav, who creamed 54 off 84 balls, in a 100-run stand. For Railways, though, even a victory here might not be enough to take them through.

ScorecardJimmy Maher, the captain, controlled Queensland’s push for a big lead with a blazing 170 on day three against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval. Maher, who was 29 at lunch, dominated in moving to 115 at tea and finished on 170 in a stunning lone hand.Maher’s performance was so outstanding that sundries was the second top-scorer with 22 while Brendan Nash, the opener, chipped in with 20. Adam Griffith, who took 5 for 128 in the first innings, and Brett Geeves both captured four wickets to give their side a chance of chasing 340 in 106 overs on the final day.Tasmania added 39 to their overnight total as Andy Bichel picked up his fourth victim and Queensland earned two first-innings points. However, the Tigers suffered another blow when Damien Wright limped off the field with a lower leg injury.

No. 2 – Australasia Cup Final, Sharjah, 1985-86
Scorecard
Almost two decades later, Javed Miandad, the scrapper who knew not how to throw in the towel, would confess to having almost done just that. When Imran Khan departed with 37 runs still needed, Pakistan needed eight an over. “I thought then that we had no serious chance of victory,” wrote Miandad in his autobiography. “I just wanted to salvage some pride for Pakistan. I had no plan, other than to bat out the full fifty overs in the hope that we would at least lose with some dignity.”He managed far more. With 31 needed from the final three overs, Miandad whittled the target down to 18 with the aid of a superb six over long-on off Chetan Sharma. But despite the presence of the big-hitting Wasim Akram in the middle, Pakistan could manage just seven from Kapil Dev’s final over, leaving Sharma, a 20-year-old who had already earned 28 ODI caps, with the task of denying Miandad, who had cut his way to an imperious hundred in his previous over.But though Akram was run out going for a second run off the first ball, Miandad smashed the next to the mid-on fence to ease the pressure. The next delivery was fetched nonchalantly from outside off stump, but a splendid diving stop from Roger Binny kept the batsmen to just one. Zulqarnain’s swat at the ensuing ball saw the stumps rearranged, leaving Tauseef Ahmed, a man with no great batting pedigree, to conjure up five from the last two balls. With Miandad urging him to scamper a single at any cost, Tauseef tipped the ball to short-cover and set off. Mohammad Azharuddin, India’s premier fielder, pounced and picked up in one fluid motion but, crucially, his shy at the stumps missed with Tauseef still yards short.With four needed, it was merely a question of who would blink first. Miandad, with more than a decade of experience behind him, anticipated the yorker, and sure enough, Sharma attempted just that. But when the ball slipped out of the hand, the potentially lethal stump-wrecker metamorphosed into a woeful leg-side full toss. For those watching, time stood still as Miandad’s bat arced swiftly to send the ball soaring over the midwicket boundary. It was a heist that would have done Ronald Biggs and friends proud, and Miandad himself admitted: “Up until the final delivery, India’s dominance remained supreme.”That dominance had been built on a stolid 92 from Sunil Gavaskar, buttressed by half-centuries from Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Dilip Vengsarkar. And with Pakistan’s top order not doing enough to supplement Miandad’s courageous effort, it appeared that the Indian total of 245 would be more than enough, in an age when turbo-charged starts and pinch-hitting were almost unheard of.In retrospect, that one resounding stroke was to signify far more than a final won. For years afterwards, India were no match for Pakistan in the one-day arena, shell-shock victims unable to regain a sense of perspective. There may have been tears in the Pakistani dressing room that evening, but it was India that were to weep over the unimaginably deep Miandad-inflicted cuts for the best part of a decade.

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

Glenn McGrath pulled Australia out of their self-induced bowling misery with a mesmerising six-wicket spell, but they were still experiencing extreme pressure from New Zealand. Australia’s Top End has been battered by Cyclone Ingrid, a system which generated winds up to 240kph over the past couple of days, but while the storm’s status has been downgraded it is still a serious threat. The country’s cricketers understand the situation.New Zealand have blown through their opponents over two days, although the breeze eased when McGrath reversed his bowling attack’s fortunes with late-innings swing to wrap up New Zealand for 433 when 500 was realistic. The damage caused by Hamish Marshall’s 146, Nathan Astle’s 74 and three wickets meant a deficit of 292 runs, but the world champions were thankful because it could have been worse.Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden, who became Iain O’Brien’s first dismissal after escaping a superb one-handed Craig Cumming grab ruled not out by the video umpire, both fell as New Zealand stayed in control, and they roared to stumps when Daniel Vettori won an lbw from David Shepherd against Damien Martyn in the second-last over. Ricky Ponting stepped safely to stumps unbeaten on 41 with his team puffing at 141 for 3.Shaking Australia out of their slumber either side of lunch, McGrath dredged six wickets for 40 after boasting the unflattering figures of 0 for 75 in 32 overs. Cleverly manipulating the old ball at will, he dug deep into his repertoire for a host of variations and his next ten overs sparkled. It was a major turnaround after New Zealand had scored a run-a-minute for the first hour and Australia’s sluggishness from day one remained.Marshall, who hurried in adding 43 to his debut Test century, was again impressive alongside Astle until his 24-boundary display ended with a magical ball from Shane Warne. From that point the batting became more vulnerable.McGrath woke with a stomach problem, but ran in deciding against muscling his opponents and out-thinking them instead. An outswinger curved into Craig McMillan’s edge and Astle and Brendon McCullum, who he twice hit on the forearm with short balls, were lined up after lunch. McCullum’s discomfort was visible and he fell to a mistimed drive after Astle departed and New Zealand were 403 for 7.Curbing his aggression to play a valuable innings, Astle started in a support role and grew into a senior one. The switch towards application guided his side towards relative safety before he misjudged a full McGrath delivery that seared into his shin on the full. The darting movement was too much for the tail and Franklin, O’Brien and Martin were added to conclude the fightback.New Zealand dominated the first session and scored freely until Warne produced a ball to place on his top shelf when he bowled Marshall through his legs with a fierce-spinning, drifting delivery. The wicket was crucial to raising Australia’s shoulders and bringing in a spreading field.Warne aimed an in-drifting legspinner into the rough and the late movement deceived Marshall, who spread his legs to maintain balance, and the huge turn pushed the ball past his left knee to knock back middle stump. Marshall’s delicious innings lasted 256 balls and he now owns the equal-highest score for a New Zealander on debut against Australia with Mark Greatbatch. The reaction from Warne was considered, but he was re-energised. It had the same effect on McGrath.A distraction in the first session was the unofficial investigation of Sky’s elbow ruler to highlight the ICC’s bowling change to 15-degrees of flexibility. The loose camera research concluded Michael Kasprowicz had a one-degree bend and McGrath’s arm flexed seven degrees through delivery. The six blows from today’s bowling were official and outstanding, but New Zealand are running with the wind.How they were out
New Zealand
Marshall b Warne 146 (330 for 4)
Pushing to midwicket, he missed a big-spinning, big-drifting legspinner and the ball hit middle after threading his legs.McMillan c Gilchrist b McGrath 13 (355 for 5)
Toying with reverse swing, McGrath chose an outswinger and caught the edge with McMillan playing away from his body.Astle lbw b McGrath 74 (388 for 6)
Hit on the shin in line with off after missing a late, full inswinger.McCullum c Langer b McGrath 29 (403 for 7)
Curled a drive to cover where Langer took a comfortable catch.Franklin lbw McGrath 0 (403 for 8)
Played for a straight ball and got a late inswinger.O’Brien c Gilchrist b McGrath 5 (415 for 9)
Hooking awkwardly, ball appeared to tip glove and clipped helmet on the way through.Martin c Gilchrist b McGrath 1 (433)
Drove loosely and thick-edged to Gilchrist.Australia
Langer b Franklin 23 (48 for 1)
Waved outside off with no feet movement and under-edged on to his stumps.Hayden c Astle b O’Brien 35 (75 for 2)
Astle snapped up a fine diving catch to his right from a hard driving edge at second slip.Martyn lbw Vettori 32 (140 for 3)
Pushed back by Vettori, he inside-edged a quicker, straighter ball and was given out by Shepherd.

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

Centuries by Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid set India up for aconvincing 87-run win against Pakistan in the first one-dayinternational, at Kochi. Recovering from the loss of two earlywickets, and despite slowing down in the slog overs, India made 281for 8. Pakistan lost four early wickets, and Sachin Tendulkar tookfive wickets in the middle overs as Pakistan crumbled to 194 in 45.2overs. It was a game played in scorching temperatures of more than 40degrees celsius and high humidity, conditions that made cricket difficult.India coped the better of the two teams.They won the toss and batted first on a pitch that was a belter, butlost two wickets in the second over. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan dismissedSachin Tendulkar for 4 and Sourav Ganguly for 0, and India’s twobatting heroes of the Test series, Sehwag and Dravid, found themselvesat the crease with the score on 4 for 2. Then they added 201 runs.Sehwag had a shaky start – he was dropped twice early in his innings,and played a few streaky strokes. But once he settled down, helaunched into a flurry of boundaries. When Sehwag is set, aggressionis not necessarily risky, and what appears exotic to others is breadand butter for him. Full ball outside off? Midwicket boundary. And soon.Dravid’s innings was more controlled. His strokeplay was precise, heran hard between the wickets, and India’s run-rate lifted to close tosix an over. India were 205 for 2 at the end of the 35th over, butboth batsmen were utterly exhausted by the heat. Sehwag, who hadcompleted his century, was looking only to slog, and was duly bowledby Abdul Razzaq while trying to smash a ball out of the ground.Dravid, meanwhile, was panting as he completed his runs, and lay downfor a rest when a break in play happened. It was clearly time for theyounger men to take over the onus of making big runs, but none of themmanaged to do so. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif got their eye in andmishit slog-sweeps off Arshad Khan to be caught in the deep, and allthe other wickets fell off slogging attempts, except Dravid’s. Dravidwas run out for 104, barely able to stretch himself.

Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal opened Pakistan’s innings, and Butt hitsome early boundaries as the bowlers gave him too much width. The pairadded 45 runs in 39 balls before Akmal smashed Lakshmipathy Balajistraight to Sehwag at point. Four runs later, Ashish Nehrafinally got his captain’s instructions right, bowling a short ball onButt’s hips, and Ganguly caught the resultant flick at squareleg, taking a good high catch.Shoaib Malik then smashed Balaji to Yuvraj at point. Four overslater, Zaheer Khan took a diving one-handed return catch to his rightto get rid of Yousuf Youhana.Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez added 48 useful runs in the highestpartnership of the innings. Hafeez began slowly, but hit a couple ofpowerful sixes and used his feet well against the spinners. OnceInzamam was out, though, wickets fell steadily, and by the time Hafeezwas the ninth man out, having top-scored with 42, victory wasimpossible.Inzamam played a composed innings, driving and pulling powerfully whenhe got the chance, but doing nothing untoward otherwise. But therequired run-rate climbed past seven an over, and he was deceived, andbowled, by a quicker ball from Tendulkar that he tried to glide ontothe off side.Apres him le deluge de Tendulkar wickets. One by one, batsmen tried toslog him and got out, as he finished with the second five-wicket haulof his one-day international career, in which he has now taken 137wickets. He had failed with the bat, but had made up for it with theball, and looked rather pleased at the end of it all. And why not?How they were outIndia Tried to pull, ball rose more than expected, looped up to mid-on. Stepped across his stumps as the ball swung towards leg and sneaked past him to hit the leg stump. Bowled while attempting a wild slog. Top-edge off a slog sweep, caught in the deep. Ditto. Slog to deep midwicket. Run out going for a quick single. Bowled going for a slog over square leg.Pakistan Slashed uppishly to point. Flicked a short ball on his hips, good overhead catch at square leg. Slashed uppishly to point. Powerful drive towards mid-on, superb diving catch with one hand. Tried to steera faster one on the off side, missed
Full tossoutside leg, desperate attempt at a sweep popped up to short fine leg Slog to square leg Beaten by flight,easy return catch Pulled to deep midwicket Tried to slog, missed

With the innings floundering like a paper boat in a storm, Rahul Dravid had looked a class apart, caressing some magnificent drives and showing a composure beyond his team-mates. As long as he remained, so did a chimera of victory. But Mohammad Sami, who had earlier knocked over Sachin Tendulkar to take his 100th ODI wicket, had different ideas. On a pitch that remained an absolute belter, Sami produced a snorter of the highest quality, a delivery that reared up at Dravid’s bat handle from just short of a length. Younis Khan made good ground to hold on to the lobbed chance, and Pakistan could smile, secure in the knowledge that the match had been signed, sealed and delivered.Dhoni’s brief crackerBy the time Mahendra Singh Dhoni walked out to bat, the effervescence had already started to depart the stands, with Virender Sehwag trudging back to the pavilion early. By the time he got his eye in, the lull was even more pronounced – Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly swelling their series tally to just 25. But the chants of “Dhoni, Dhoni” must have had some effect on cricket’s answer to glam-rock, and some meaty drives, biffs and edges quickly had the run-rate humming along at close to what was required. Against the skiddy accuracy of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan though, such belligerence was fraught with risk, and when Dhoni tried to pull a delivery that hastened on to him, the top-edge carried only as far as Kamran Akmal behind the stumps. Suddenly, the supposed medium-pace trundler who had replaced the self-proclaimed king of fast bowlers, had three wickets, leaving India well and truly rolled over in this steel city.

The effect that Andrew Flintoff has on a cricket ground was witnessed again at Lord’s today, as he made his much anticipated comeback from injury. His 17 may not have set the world alight but it was a significant milestone in his recovery from the left ankle bone-spur that forced him home from the tour of South Africa and resulted in surgery.There was a reasonable crowd to see Flintoff back to competitive action and after watching him buzz around the field for 45 overs Lancashire quickly got into the spirit of the occasion, losing three early wickets. As Flintoff strode to the crease at No 5 the crowd shuffled to the edges of their seats, put down their newspapers and balanced their coffees so their hands were free for the applause.After a quick pat of the pitch and a flex of the arms he faced his first ball from Nantie Hayward, the red-haired South African quick bowler. He calmly went onto the back-foot, and played the ball right under his eyes. Flintoff’s last competitive match was the Centurion Test in January and although he played a practice game at Old Trafford earlier this month he could be forgiven for being a little rusty.It took him 10 balls to get off the mark. He played and missed at two in succession from Scott Styris and then inside-edged onto his pads. Then, however, things began to click. A short-arm pull through mid-wicket was followed by a perfectly executed on-drive towards the Lord’s pavilion. In the next over he forced an extra-cover drive towards the Tavern boundary. He was even feeling confident enough to run the quick singles and there was only a momentary flex of the offending ankle.He was looking comfortable and it came as a surprise, and disappointment, when he was trapped lbw by Styris after 23 balls and 33 minutes. As Flintoff departed so did sections of the crowd and the press box became a hive of activity – he was, of course, what everyone had come to watch. The main event was over, and although it had only been an appetiser, rather than a main course, most people seemed satisfied with what they had seen.

The triangular tournament involving India, Sri Lanka and West Indies, starting on July 30, will not be played under the new rules for one-day internationals. The Sri Lankan cricket board have informed the BCCI of its decision not to introduce the changes, which officially take effect on July 31.Gautam Dasgupta, joint secretary of the BCCI, said: “We have received a letter from the Sri Lankan cricket board in this regard. It is the prerogative of the hosts to decide on this matter.” He added that the BCCI had no problem with the decision of the Sri Lankanboard to stick to the old rules.The new rules, which will come into effect from July 30, allow every team to make one substitution during the game and has 20 overs of fielding restrictions instead of 15, of which two blocks of five are used at the fielding captain’s discretion.England and Australia will become the first teams to trail the new rules during the NatWest Challenge, which starts on July 7, after both sides agreed to adopt the changes.

After the crushing loss to Australia at Nagpur, much of the attention has turned to the pitch in Mumbai. The strip at the Wankhede Stadium has evoked mixed reaction from the various people who have examined it closely.MS Rao, the curator in charge of the ground, said: “I will describe it as a good batting wicket,” to The Indian Express newspaper. “We have meticulously watered and rolled it. It will also have bounce and turn as the match progresses.” He is also supposed to have called it a “typical” Indian pitch.Conversely, Paras Mhambrey, the former India medium-pacer and Mumbai captain, told Mid Day that this was anything but a typical Mumbai pitch. “It is not a typical Wankhede wicket. If this wicket would have been given in Nagpur, which I feel they should have as one has the right to capitalise on home advantage, the series could have been 1-1 and then this match the decider.”Mhambrey recalled a time when he had played an Irani Trophy match on a similar pitch, and said the ball gave the spinners plenty of assistance in that case. “Normally there is something in it [the pitch] for the seamers as well, but this looks a completely different track and the spinners will come into play early.”Mhambrey drew attention to the reddish appearance of the pitch. “You can make out the difference between the main pitch and the practice wickets,” he said.Either way, with an unassailable 2-0 lead with one match to play, the Australians have the edge.

Bob Merriman, the Australian board’s chairman, has said that Kenyan cricket should look at what happened in Zimbabwe and use it as impetus for sorting out its own internal problems.Merriman arrived in Nairobi on Monday from the ICC’s board meeting in Lahore to join a nine-man committee charged with examining the Kenyan board’s constitution.The KCA has been dogged by in-fighting and accusations for several years, and last month that spilt over into a dispute with players over back-pay and contracts, which resulted in more than a dozen of them going on strike.”It is important that we have an idea of where we are going by January, when the report is presented to the ICC for the purpose of development,” Merriman told reporters.But the committee has already come under fire from the KCA’s opponents. They argue that the majority of those chosen have ties to the board, and that those on it should have been picked through consultation with all parties to the dispute.However, Sharad Ghai, the beleaguered KCA chairman, gave the committee his full support. “This is an effort to truly review the constitution, especially on matters to do with the electoral college, and the KCA is fully behind it,” he said. “All the stakeholders have been informed well in advance to bring in their views and I sincerely hope they will participate.”