A wrap of the fourth day of the third round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group A

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2012
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Gujarat entered the final day at Eden Gardens staring at a certain defeat, but thanks to a century from Rujul Bhatt and a battling 83 from Rakesh Dhurv, they held off Bengal to avoid defeat. Gujarat began the day at 18 for 4, and lost the experienced Venugopal Rao on the first ball of the day. The scores of the top five read: 0, 4, 0, 12, 2. Gujarat’s resistance began with a 48-run stand between Rush Kalaria and Manprit Juneja, before Bhatt and Dhurv took over. The pair put on 149 for the eighth wicket to frustrate Bengal’s bowlers. It was Bhatt’s second century on the trot, but while the previous one against Saurashtra came on the flattest of tracks, this was a more testing surface and the match situation was also tougher. Bengal are now on six points, joint second place with Mumbai and Saurashtra, but those two teams have played a game less.
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Saurashtra declared on their overnight score, giving themselves the whole of the final day to try and bowl out Hyderabad, but couldn’t pull off an outright win. Saurashtra’s decision to set Hyderabad a target of 345 in 90 overs was adventurous by Ranji standards and Hyderabad’s openers began positively, scoring 49 off 12 overs. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who took six wickets in the first innings, however removed both of them after which Hyderabad gave up trying to chase down the target. No. 7 Ashish Reddy struck a brisk 56 to raise the home side’s hopes briefly but after he was bowled by Jaydev Unadkat, Hyderabad’s primary task was doggedly playing out the remaining overs.
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In a game with little to play for on the final day, Amit Paunikar went on to make his career-best score of 166 to push Railways to 353 in their second innings against Punjab. The other Railways batsman to make a substantial contribution was their captain Sanjay Bangar, who was unbeaten on 62. By the time Railways declared, with little more than a session for Punjab to bat out, the match was meandering along. Karan Goel was retired hurt, and Mayank Sidhana and Mandeep Singh fell early, but Punjab’s in-form batsmen Jiwanjot Singh and Uday Kaul played out the final 15 overs before the play was called off. Punjab continue to top the table with 17 points, opening up a 11-point lead over the second-placed teams.
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At the KL Saini ground in Jaipur, in another of the group’s matches that was heading for a draw even before the start of the final day, there were no surprises. Madhya Pradesh helped themselves to some batting practice after having given up a hefty first-innings lead. Beginning the day 77 ahead, MP couldn’t declare too early to avoid the risk of an outright defeat; that meant they closed their innings only at tea, setting Rajasthan a target of 344 in one session. After having gained only two points from their two matches, defending champions Rajasthan picked up three from this match.

David Warner can take a lesson from Michael Slater as he aims to find the balance between aggression and care at the top of the order

Daniel Brettig in Hobart13-Dec-2012In October 1996, Mark Taylor and Michael Slater walked to the middle of the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi for the second innings of a one-off Test match against India. They faced a deficit of 179. Within minutes, Slater was making his way back to the ground’s then rickety pavilion, having swung at a ball he could barely reach from the modest medium fast of David Johnson and been acrobatically held at slip by Mohammad Azharuddin.That heedless stroke hastened the tourists’ heavy defeat, cost Slater his Test place – he would not return until 1998 – and remains one of the great cautionary tales for imprudent opening batsmen. At the time, Slater was averaging 48 in Tests, and was only three matches removed from his highest score, 219 against Sri Lanka in Perth. Whether the “lesson” of his dumping was ever truly learned remains a matter for debate, and there was to be collateral damage. Without his regular opening partner, Taylor would slide into the slump that very nearly cost him the captaincy.Australia’s captain Michael Clarke had Slater’s poster on his wall back then, and his admiration for the former opening batsman’s derring-do shone through again in his defence of David Warner. In Perth against South Africa, Warner was out to a stroke almost as inappropriate to the match scenario as Slater, an angled bat swish at Dale Steyn’s first ball of the second morning the catalyst for Australia’s tumble from a strong first-day position to a fourth-day defeat. While Slater paid dearly for his error, Clarke has avoided criticising Warner for his indiscretion, reasoning that hesitance is an even greater enemy of the left-hander than impulsiveness.”The one thing we need to understand with Davey is the same ball he got out on in Perth, we’re all standing and clapping in Adelaide when it went over cover or went over slips for four,” Clarke said. “That’s the way he plays. The only thing I continue to say to Davey is make sure you’ve got that good intent, and by that good intent I mean more in his mind than the actual shot. Because when Davey’s intent’s right, his defence is better, his attacking shots are better. He plays his best when he’s looking to score runs, there’s no doubt about it.”Yes we all have to work on shot selection at certain times in your innings, but I think Davey for the start of his Test career, three hundreds he’s scored now, he’s doing pretty well. Like all of us, we’d love to be more consistent and score runs every time we walk out to bat. Sometimes he doesn’t look great when he gets out, but the other side is he’s got that x-factor. He can take a game away from any team in the first session of a Test match really. Not too many players in the world have that talent. At the moment I’m really happy with how he’s going, he was disappointed with the way he got out. But more than ‘don’t play the shot’, it’s about working in the nets to execute that shot better.”Warner’s development has become all the more critical now that Ricky Ponting has exited Australia’s dressing room. He is an aggressor on the field and a livewire off it, striving to be liked by team-mates even as his motor-mouth and customary brio have preceded him. In the middle, Warner is known to be a far more nervous character than he lets on, muttering incessantly about his technique and the opposition in between deliveries. He seems at his surest when in the act of hitting the ball, something he does with startling power, if imperfect judgement.When Clarke was presented with the view that no batsman can be at liberty to play the same strokes on the pacy WACA ground as he had been on the more docile Adelaide surface, he cited a meritorious century against New Zealand at Bellerive a year ago to outline the balance of aggression and thoughtfulness he expected from Warner’s batting.”That’s what you learn as a young player don’t you,” Clarke said. “The conditions in Perth are different to Adelaide, and what we’re going to see here. I think one of Davey’s greatest innings was the hundred we saw here in really tough batting conditions, but he still had that great intent. On a wicket that was doing a lot he was looking to score runs, but his shot selection was spot on and perfect that innings. In a perfect world you’d love to bottle that and say play like that every time, but there’s got to be a bit of give and take with Davey.”So long as Clarke is captain and selector, there is likely to be more give than take for Warner, as his destructive potential and natural spark are highly valued. But he would not want to charge too hard, too early at the likes of Nuwan Kulasekara in this series, lest he find himself emulating Slater’s harsh lesson.

Neither of the teams could take any points from the drawn match between Quetta and Multan in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2013
ScorecardNeither of the teams could take any points from the drawn match between Quetta and Multan after the last day of the match was also lost to bad weather at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Since Multan were 77 for 3 at the end of the third day, trailing Quetta by 133 runs, one of the teams would have preferred to take first innings lead and take three points but the weather did not permit a single ball of play.Earlier, Multan had won the toss and put Quetta in to bat who scored 210 out of which the main contributions came from the tail.

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford admits he was surprised by the lack of fight his team showed in Melbourne and that it felt worse than any game he has ever been involved in

Andrew Fernando29-Dec-2012Graham Ford was coach of South Africa when his team subjected Sri Lanka to their worst Test defeat ever, in Cape Town, vanquishing the visitors by an innings and 229 runs. He now finds himself with the team he helped demolish at Newlands on the other end of a one-sided result. The disappointment feels worse than any game he has ever been involved in, he said.Sri Lanka avoided beating their own worst loss at the MCG, but did not manage much better in their biggest Test of the year, losing inside eight sessions, by an innings and 201 runs. It was a loss characterised by their lack of resolve, particularly with the bat, as they fell for 156 in the first innings, before losing three for three, then 13 for four in the second innings, as they attempted to save the Test, having conceded a 304-run first innings deficit.There were few redeeming aspects of Sri Lanka’s performance, save a silken
58 from Kumar Sangakkara in the first innings which took him over the
10,000 run threshold in the same number of innings in which Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar also achieved the milestone. Sangakkara will take no part in the remainder of Sri Lanka’s tour in Australia however, having fractured his hand when he was hit by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer in the second innings.”It’s not a good feeling at the moment,” Ford, the Sri Lanka coach, said after the match. “Right now it feels like it’s the worst Test match I’ve been involved in. I don’t think I’ve been involved in a defeat inside of three days. It’s been quite difficult to find that many positives out of this one apart from Kumar’s wonderful milestone.”I was surprised at the lack of fight. I have often spoken about the fight that Sri Lankan cricketers have. What I’ve become accustomed to is a lot of fight. Admittedly a lot of that fight has been more in the one-day format than in the Test match format, but we have shown some good fight in Tests. Australia got some really good momentum going and we didn’t get the start that we wanted.”Sri Lanka’s bowlers also performed creditably in patches, creating an avenue back into the match when they removed the Australia openers and Phillip Hughes in quick succession on the first evening, but poor catching thwarted their efforts. Shane Watson and Michael Clarke’s 194-run partnership put Australia in command of the match, and set up their
mammoth first-innings lead.”Maybe if we held those catches – I know they were spoken about a lot on that first afternoon – that might have halted some of their momentum. But they got to the point where the momentum just became too much for us. Unfortunately with a few things going against us with injuries, we weren’t up to it.”The injury to Sangakkara means reserve batsman Dinesh Chandimal is almost
certain to play in the third Test in Sydney. Chandimal may also take the
gloves at the SCG, with Prasanna Jayawardene also under an injury cloud,
having sustained a fractured thumb as a result of another Johnson bouncer. Either fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep or offspinner Suraj Randiv is also likely to start, with Nuwan Kulasekara’s cracked rib likely to rule him out of contention. Chanaka Welegedara has also been ruled out for the Test, after tearing his hamstring on day two in Melbourne.”Chandimal is very, very keen to get on to the Test match stage. He’s worked extremely hard throughout the tour. So for him if he does get on and play, it will be a great opportunity for him.”The injuries are a challenge. At the moment, we are still discussing and
assessing the damage. That’s something we’re going to have to talk about.
We have got back-up in the squad and I know that the back-up has been
working extremely hard. And sometimes out of injury, careers are made.
People get opportunities and they can grab them. One of our young guys will
get to play in a New Year’s Test in Sydney and if they can play well, they
can establish themselves as Test players and gain great confidence from
it.”Ford also said he would like to have the services of Lasith Malinga for the
final Test, but believed it to be impossible for the fast bowler to make a Test
comeback in time for Sydney. Malinga is in Australia playing in the Big
Bash League at present.”We certainly need him, but that’s a contractual issue that I’m not
involved in at the moment. He’s contracted to the Big Bash at the moment,
and not available to us.”

Shane Watson could scarcely have made a better start to life as a non-bowling batsman with a century to set the platform for a total that proved beyond West Indies

The Report by Daniel Brettig06-Feb-2013
Live scorecard and ball by ball detailsShane Watson and Phillip Hughes prospered, though in contrasting styles•Getty Images

A Shane Watson century, an Australian victory. In the minds of the coach Mickey Arthur and the captain Michael Clarke, such a scenario should occur far more often, and Watson could scarcely have made a better start to life as a non-bowling batsman with a fluent innings to set the platform for a total that proved beyond West Indies in the third ODI at a resplendent Manuka Oval.The 39-run victory sealed the series for the hosts, but they were as satisfied by the fact that minus the distraction of allround duties Watson was able to sail to three figures on an amiable pitch. His free-scoring was followed up by a contrasting innings from Phillip Hughes, scratchy early but sublime later, while George Bailey clattered 44 from a mere 22 balls before leaving the field with a tight hamstring in the evening.Kieron Pollard had leapt outrageously to catch Glenn Maxwell, and the visiting batsmen were set a similarly high mark to win. Their pursuit threatened to amount to something when Darren and Dwayne Bravo joined forces in an attractive stand, but Mitchell Starc broke their union just when Clarke’s brow was beginning to furrow, having brought himself on to bowl after leaving out the specialist spin of Xavier Doherty.Chris Gayle batted down the order due to a side strain suffered in the field, and was to be the first of four victims for James Faulkner, who reprised his strong showing against the tourists on this ground for the Prime Minister’s XI to round up the remainder of the innings.