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Following the impressive display by their batting team-mates, Maharashtra’s bowlers came to the party and routed a woeful Rajasthan for 86 and 191 en route to an innings and 250-run win at Ratnagiri. Rajasthan, reduced to 42 for 4 at the close of the second day, crumbled against Anupam Sanclecha and Aditya Dole, the opening bowlers, and Sairaj Bahutule, the former India legspinner. Sanclecha removed Mohammad Aslam with his third ball of the day and added two more victims to finish with 5 for 54, while Dole and Bahutule shared the other five. Still 439 in arrears, Maharashtra could only muster 191 in their second innings, as Bahutule, opening the bowling, and Dheeraj Jadhav, known for his stylish batting more than his part-time offbreaks, seized seven wickets to complete a crushing victory, and help their side gain five points.
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After being dismissed for 145 in their second innings, Andhra’s bowlers took five Saurashtra wickets to keep their chances of a win alive going into the final day at Rajkot. Set 274 to win, Saurashtra slipped to 127 for 5 as Venugopal Rao, the host captain, lead the way with two key scalps and changed his bowlers around to good effect. Only Shitanshu Kotak, unbeaten on 57, offered resistance and held the key for Saurashtra. Sandeep Jobanputra, the left-arm fast bowler, and Rakesh Dhurv, the left-arm spinner, took 3 for 78 and 3 for 7 in Saurashtra’s impressive bowling effort.
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Chasing 122 to beat Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka slipped to 54 for 5 before stumps were drawn on day three at Kanpur. Karnataka’s bowlers combined to bowl UP out for 194 in their second innings, with Sunil Joshi (3 for 41), Chandrashekar Raghu (2 for 35), R Vinay Kumar (2 for 26) and KP Appanna (2 for 22) sharing the spoils. Shivakant Shukla top-scored with 47 in an inconsistent UP innings. Shalabh Srivastava and Praveen Kumar, UP’s opening bowlers, picked up two wickets each to keep their side in the hunt.
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Mayank Tehlan turned his overnight century into a maiden double, and Rajat Bhatia added three figures of his own as Delhi posted 493 against Baroda at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Overnight on 108, Tehlan began the day with a series of boundaries and though he lost Virat Kohli early, was offered solid support from Bhatia in a 149-run stand for the fifth wicket. Four deliveries after he stole three off Yusuf Pathan to get to 200, Tehlan fell to the same bowler, but Bhatia (106) ensured the effort was not lost and shouldered a feeble lower order before he was last man out. Pathan (4 for 103) and Rajesh Pawar (4 for 149) were the only bowlers to have any effect on Delhi.
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Gaurav Vashisht, Haryana’s young offspinner, took a career-best 6 for 24 to spin out Tamil Nadu for just 149 at Chennai. In a 25-over spell, which included 15 maidens, Vashisht ran riot over TN’s middle and lower order, after Joginder Sharma set the tone with three wickets at the top. In reply, Sumit Sharma and Ankit Rawat, Haryana’s openers, added an unbeaten 31 to extend the lead to 149 by stumps.
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Powered by Niraj Patel’s career-best 173, Gujarat took a 205-run lead over Hyderabad and removed two of the home side’s batsmen to finish the third day in Uppal firmly in the driving seat. Overnight on 109, Patel forged the lead with Bhavik Thaker (56) and despite a middle-order wobble, Gujarat posted a commanding 406. Pragyan Ojha and Inder Shekar Reddy, Hyderabad’s left-arm spin duo, accounted for eight wickets between themselves. In response to Gujarat’s total, Tirumal Suman and Anirudh Singh, Hyderabad’s captain, were dismissed.
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A 133-run sixth-wicket stand between Amol Muzumdar, Mumbai’s veteran batsman, and Wilkin Mota, the rookie allrounder, took Mumbai to within 81 runs of Punjab’s first-innings total on the third day at Mohali. Punjab began the day well, removing Vinayak Mane, Bhavin Thakkar and Sahil Kukreja (43) in the first session, and adding two more in the second, but Muzumdar joined forces with Mota, all of four matches old, to steady the ship. Muzumdar finished unbeaten on 86, while Mota fell to Ishan Malhatra on the last ball of the day. Amanpreet Singh, the right-arm medium-fast bowler, was the most successful home bowler with 3 for 54.

Pakistan’s Under-19 team completed a 5-0 drubbing of their Australian counterparts with a nine-wicket win – with 160 balls to spare – in the last game of the series in Mirpur. As has been the trend throughout the series, the Pakistanis outplayed Australia in every aspect, bundling them out for 128 in just 30.4 overs, and the knocking off the runs in less than 24 overs for the loss of just one wicket.The only thing that went right for the Australians was the toss, but their innings soon faltered as Pakistan struck repeatedly with the new ball. The first five wickets went down with only 51 on the board, and only Dom O’Brien, the wicketkeeper, offered any resistance, scoring 41. Adil Raza, a right-arm fast bowler, finished with 4 for 36 while Jibran Khan’s left-arm spin fetched him 3 for 10.Pakistan lost an early wicket in reply, when Imad Wasim was trapped in front for 1, but Ahmed Shehzad, the in-form opener, blasted an unbeaten 99 from 97 balls as they swept home with plenty to spare.The fourth game, at the same venue, hadn’t been as one-sided, though ultimately Pakistan prevailed by five wickets. After winning the toss, Australia managed 214, thanks largely to a 58 by opener Jeremy Smith and O’Brien’s 44.Pakistan stumbled in reply, sinking to 79 for 4 and 127 for 5, but were bailed out by an undefeated 89-run stand for the sixth wicket between Usman Salahuddin (55 not out) and Jibran Khan (44 not out). They finally ensured that victory was achieved with 13 balls remaining.

Brian Lara has demanded his batsmen rediscover their killer instincts in the remaining five one-day internationals against Zimbabwe. West Indies enjoyed back-to-back wins by five wickets and 98 runs against the tourists at the Antigua Recreation Ground on Saturday and Sunday but Lara, in his third spell as captain, wants to see bigger contributions from his batting line-up.”We lost too many wickets on Saturday chasing 152, and on Sunday, we were almost bowled out,” said Lara. “We have to start thinking about 300 runs-plus for the remainder of the series and then I’ll definitely be happy about it.”I think we have been a little slow off the mark because it’s our first couple of games back after the trip to New Zealand and you can tell by the way that some of the guys have been playing. They are still feeling their way, but I am sure that by the time the series resumes next weekend in Guyana, we are going to have all the guys pumped up and really going.”Lara’s decision to drop down the order to six has been the topic of some debate, but he indicated it was part of his side’s tactics to expose some of the players in preparation for the upcoming series against India next month. “The top four or five batsmen should dominate the batting in these 50-over games,” said Lara, who celebrates his 37th birthday on Tuesday. “If this takes place, the lower order batsmen will not get a knock, so I am trying to get some of the guys lower down the order to get a knock.”Terrence Duffin, the Zimbabwe captain, acknowledged his side were on a learning curve and expects to see them improve by the time the series is over. “After getting a few early wickets, I think we did well to keep them down to 242. We lost too many wickets too early. We’ve got a few days before the next two matches, and it gives us some time to go and polish up.”The series continues on May 6 and 7 at Georgetown’s Bourda Oval when the two teams contest back-to-back matches. They will also play the first limited-overs international under lights in West Indies at Gros Islet’s Beausejour Stadium on May 10 before the series ends with a double-header on May 13 and 14 at Port of Spain’s Queen’s Park Oval.

The ECB has received nominations from two candidates to succeed David Morgan as ECB chairman when he becomes ICC president next year. Giles Clarke, the Somerset chairman, and Mike Soper, the ECB deputy chairman, will now contest a ballot of all first-class county chairmen and chairman of the MCC.The favourite is Soper, the former chairman of Surrey, who has been proposed and seconded by Sussex and Derbyshire. Clarke, Somerset’s often outspoken chairman, was the driving force behind the board’s decision to sell TV rights to BSkyB.On the face of it, Soper’s candidacy is surprising given his ongoing health problems. Diagnosed with bone cancer, Soper was given six months to live in 2001 but has battled through and now believes he has at least four years left. He optimistically says he’s been assured “that within that time a vaccine will come out”.”I’m trying out different drugs,” he told The Guardian. “Some work, some fail – they’ve put me on a steroid which means I have to go to the gym every day. But I will die of bone cancer, so you can see why I’ve become passionate. This is my final ambition but this would be only the start because there are so many things I want to do within the game.”Soper unsuccessfully challenged for the post in 1997 when he lost out to Lord MacLaurin, and there is no doubting his passion for the game and his initiatives while at Surrey were bold and, in the main, successful.”I still love the four- and five-day games but I believe you’ve got to get the youngsters to watch. I started watching when I was eight or nine with my dad. I wasn’t prepared to sit there for three days and kids today won’t either. I want to get young people in – even free of charge if necessary – because everyone remembers his first game. Then they come back.”There was talk that Bill Morris, the former union leader, had been asked to throw his hat into the ring but yesterday he ended speculation by announcing he was not standing.A decision on who will replace Morgan will be announced on August 28.

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Rohan Gavaskar was the only East Zone batsmen who withstood Jai Prakash Yadav’s outstanding spell of 5 for 94 that helped dismiss East for 245 on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy match at Indore. In reply, Central Zone were 40 for 3 at stumps.East started badly after Sourav Ganguly won the toss and batted. They were reduced to 16 for 3 and kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Ganguly himself making just 16. Gavaskar’s 106 formed the backbone of the innings and only Debasish Mohanty provided him with any sort of support during his 46.East’s seamers inflicted damage on Central Zone by dismissing their openers for just 35 and Ashok Dinda, playing only his fourth first-class match, took Naman Ojha’s wicket at the stroke of stumps.
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Half-centuries from Robin Uthappa and Venugopal Rao along with several other nuggety contributions from South Zone’s batsmen helped them reach 281 for 9 on the first day against West Zone at Gwalior.VVS Laxman didn’t cash in on winning the toss – he was out for 15 – but Uthappa and Rao bolstered the innings. S Badrinath also chipped in with 42 as South Zone strung together a succession of useful partnerships. Zaheer Khan was West’s stand-out bowler with three wickets while Ramesh Powar and Sairaj Bahutule took two each.

Queensland recovered from a middle-order collapse to begin the ING Cup season with a tense two-wicket victory over New South Wales at the Gabba.Chasing 225, Queensland were cruising at 5 for 201 in the 43rd over but lost 3 for 9 and had to rely on James Hopes (30 off 32 balls) to guide them home with 13 balls to spare.Andrew Symonds, the Bulls allrounder, was named Man of the Match for his 71 from 66 balls before he fell to the legspin of Stuart MacGill, who took 4 for 37 and passed Jo Angel’s domestic one-day bowling record of 94 wickets.The New South Wales skipper Brad Haddin, who won the toss, belted a run-a-ball 88 to lift his side out of trouble at 4 for 36.

Australia would never follow Pakistan’s lead and refuse to play out a Test match, according to the coach John Buchanan. “We have never done it in the past and I can’t see any reason why we would want to do it in the future,” he told .”We play the game pretty aggressively, but I think we always play it within the rules and the spirit of the game. So I don’t think that would be part of what we’d be wanting to do.”Inzamam-ul-Haq will appear at an ICC hearing to answer charges of bringing the game into disrepute and changing the condition of the ball during the fourth Test against England at The Oval on Sunday. Buchanan hoped the situation was sorted out swiftly as a drawn-out investigation would further damage the game. “I don’t think it would do cricket any good and it obviously needs to be resolved and a way forward be found, that’s certainly in their hands,” he said.Ricky Ponting said Inzamam might not be the man to blame. He believes the coach Bob Woolmer and the Pakistani team manager may have sparked the protest once the players returned to the pavilion after being docked the five-run penalty. “Who knows how I’d handle it and how the Australian cricket team would handle it in that situation,” he said, “but you’d like to think that we’d be able to do the right thing by the game and by everybody concerned.”Justin Langer said Sunday was a particularly sad day in Test cricket’s history. “As Donald Bradman said, we’re all custodians of the game and we want to leave it in better shape,” he said. “Games like that getting forfeited, we’re probably not leaving it in better shape than we first got into it.”

The much-touted Major League Cricket Interstate Cricket Tournament which was due to be held next week in Florida has been postponed because of the destruction caused by Hurricane Wilma. The event will now start on November 30.The decision came after talks between MLC officials and Broward County officials. The local authorities explained that all their resource was committed to the local clean-up and that staging the festival was not really an option against that backdrop.Parag Harolikar, the MLC operations manager, said that while the news was disappointing, it would allow “all the teams to better prepare for the tournament and for better chemistry among team members.”

David Willey, England’s outstanding bowler in World Twenty20, could miss England’s one-day series against Sri Lanka next month with an abdominal strain.Willey himself has not abandoned hope of recovering fitness, but he has been advised by Yorkshire’s medical staff not to bowl for six weeks, and the Royal London Series begins at Trent Bridge on June 21 – exactly that time frame.England’s medical staff is bound to want to monitor Willey’s progress closely. His recovery would have to be advanced by a week, so enabling him to have a fitness run out in at least one of two Yorkshire Royal London One-Day Cup matches against Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire at Headingley.Willey, 26, has begun to forge an international career since making his debut a year ago. He has been a regular limited-overs performer under England’s coach Trevor Bayliss, featuring in 24 of the 33 internationals.Willey suffered his injury on the opening day of Yorkshire’s Specsavers Championship match against Surrey at Headingley. He bowled 20 overs as Yorkshire bowled out Surrey for 330 on the opening day – a demanding but far from excessive workload. A scan revealed a Grade Two tear.”It’s obviously disappointing for me to pick up a niggle in my second match,” he said. “I felt the injury towards the end of the first day – a bit of fatigue and not used to bowling that many overs in a day but that is part and parcel of professional sport.”They seem to think six weeks at the moment but ever the optimist I hope to be back sooner. The priority is the get back to 100 per cent. I’ve had numerous injuries before but this is a new one for me.”Willey’s injury is also a considerable blow for Yorkshire. He was signed as an eventual replacement for Ryan Sidebottom in the Championship – and has been working closely with him in recent days – but also to supercharge Yorkshire’s T20 cricket.Yorkshire were convinced they had signed a player to sort out their bowling issues at the top and tail of the innings after Willey led England’s wickets tally as they reached the final of World Twenty20 in India last month.He could potentially miss Yorkshire’s first four matches, unless he was utilised as a specialist batsman, an unlikely occurrence because of the potential for causing further damage.”There would have to be a bit of recovery for that to happen,” he said, “especially with slogging – which is my style, isn’t it – there would have to be some pressure on the abs. We will reassess at the end of next week to see where I am at. If there was a position for me to play as a batter I would be happy to do that.”As debates rage over the future landscape of Twenty20 cricket – it is conceivable, if no more so at this stage, that Yorkshire will have to finish in the top four of the North Group to be assured of a place in a new Premier Division.Their prospects are further clouded by an injury to Matthew Fisher, the exciting pace prospect, who will also miss the start of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign after failing to recover from hamstring problems.Fisher, who has suffered two injuries to his left hamstring, was Yorkshire’s leading wicket-taker in a dismal Blast campaign last season with 16 wickets from 13 games.Fisher initially suffered a tweak in Dubai in late March, restricting his participation in the pre-season tour of the Middle East. He suffered a more serious recurrence during a second-team game at Bristol in early April.With Tim Bresnan also laid low at the start of the season with a calf tear, it is a nervous time for Yorkshire who are desperate to revive their T20 cricket.

Boyd Rankin, the Warwickshire and Ireland fast bowler, is likely to miss the entire 2008 season after being diagnosed with a serious shoulder injury.He is suffering from a SLAP (Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior) lesion in his right shoulder, a common injury among sportsmen who throw or in cricket bowl, and will undergo surgery. The expected recovery time is between three and six months.It is the latest blow for Rankin, who impressed during the 2007 World Cup for Ireland, after he spent the winter overcoming a back problem following his move from Derbyshire to Warwickshire.”I just dived for a ball in the warm-up [before the first day of the championship game against Worcestershire] and landed awkwardly,” Rankin told . “Then I went on as a substitute fielder and had to dive for another ball. When I tried to throw it in it felt as if I’d been stabbed.”It’s very frustrating. I’d worked so hard. But it’s better to have the operation now than let it get worse and hopefully I can get a few months cricket in later in the summer.”