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Mumbai bowlers shock Rajasthan

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

Ashish Nehra’s three wickets had Rajasthan on the hop after being asked to bat first in Mumbai (file photo) © Getty Images
 

Mumbai’s medium-pacers bowled a clever mix of bouncers, slower balls and cutters to restrict Rajasthan to a 103, the lowest first-innings total of the IPL, on a two-paced pitch at the DY Patil Stadium before some sensible batting sealed a hat-trick of triumphs for the home team. In what was their second successive upset victory, after taming Delhi on Sunday, Mumbai prevailed over the table leaders yet again.The pitch wasn’t conducive to stroke-play: balls stopped, kept low and batsmen didn’t find their timing easily. The experienced trio of Shaun Pollock, Ashish Nehra and Dwayne Bravo were canny with their variations but it was impressive to see the unheralded duo of Dhaval Kulkarni and Rohan Raje break the back of Rajasthan’s line-up.Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t fit for today’s game but he had the satisfaction of seeing a wicket fall almost every time the commentators cut to have a word with him. He was particularly thrilled with the performance of Kulkarni and Raje, young turks who utilised the conditions perfectly. Nehra finished as the most effective bowler, adding two tailenders to Yusuf Pathan’s wicket early on to finish with 3 for 13; Bravo showed the power of the slower ball; and Pollock yet again proved the value of experience.The fact that the Mumbai wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale pouched three skiers, when top-edges ballooned off the bat, showed the slow nature of the surface. Even Mumbai’s batsmen weren’t fluent with their strokeplay but a few lucky breaks ensured a comfortable victory. Shane Watson struck twice – taking the wicket of Sanath Jayasuriya who pulled one to deep square leg – and Shane Warne struck with his very first ball, removing Takawale with a slider. However, Robin Uthappa’s 34 was enough to take Mumbai past the finish line.The match, though, was decided by the end of Rajasthan’s innings. Pollock, whose decision to field first appeared to be a bold one, nipped out Graeme Smith early though even he would have been surprised at the manner of the dismissal. Smith backed away, took a stride out of his crease, missed an in-cutter from Pollock and kept walking. Had he looked back, he would have seen Takawale fumble the ball but the fact the he kept going allowed an easy stumping.It was only the 53-run stand between Swapnil Asnodkar and Watson that made some sort of recovery for Rajasthan. Both batsmen put away loose balls and Watson even showed the value of hitting straight against the spin of Sanath Jayasuriya. It took an injudicious swipe from Watson to end the stand – Bravo working him out from around the wicket – and what followed was a forgettable collapse.Raje forced Mohammad Kaif and Asnodkar to go for big shots and had them caught in the deep, while Kulkarni removed Ravindra Jadeja and Shane Warne with short balls. Jadeja top edged while going for the pull and was athletically caught by Takawale, while Warne’s attempted slap through the off side ended in an easier skier for the wicketkeeper.The tail didn’t have much of a chance against the slower balls – indicated aptly by a tantalising one from Bravo that ended the innings. It was Rajasthan’s first defeat in six games and they slipped to second place, behind the Kings XI Punjab, in the points table.

Blues win by one run in last-ball thriller

Scorecard

Brad Haddin set up the win with 115 from 102 balls © Getty Images

New South Wales scraped home by one run in a thrilling Ford Ranger Cup match against Western Australia at the SCG. A blistering century from Brad Haddin set up the Blues’ win before Brett Dorey holed out from the final delivery of the Warriors’ 50 overs with two runs still needed for victory.Chasing 268 to win, Western Australia looked out of the game with 24 balls remaining, needing 35 with two wickets in hand. But Dorey smashed 25 from 12 deliveries and with nine required off the last over the New South Wales captain Simon Katich threw the ball to Dominic Thornely, who had not bowled all night. Thornely took 1 for 1 from his first four balls before Dorey slogged a six over midwicket to make the equation two runs from the last ball. When he skied it to deep square leg, Daniel Christian held his nerve and took the catch to win the game for the Blues.Five days after Adam Gilchrist scored the second-fastest hundred in Australian domestic one-day history, Haddin reminded the nation that should Gilchrist, 35, decide to retire any time soon Australia will not need to look far for a replacement. Haddin’s 115 – his fifth century in domestic limited-overs games – came from 102 balls and included nine fours and three sixes.His 146-run partnership with Thornely, who made 60, gave the Blues hope of reaching of 300 but the Warriors staged a late fightback, taking 7 for 18 in 30 balls as New South Wales were all out for 267 in the 50th over. Steve Magoffin took 3 for 43 and together with Sean Ervine (4 for 51) bowled Western Australia back into the game, helped by two run-outs from Chris Rogers.Adam Voges made 68 for Western Australia but they lost wickets at regular intervals as the offspinners Jason Krejza (3 for 41) and Nathan Hauritz (3 for 42) extracted plenty of turn from the SCG pitch. Voges and Brad Hogg worked Western Australia into a winnable position before Hogg was adjudged stumped for 38, despite the fact that Haddin appeared to break the stumps without the ball in his gloves. Krejza, who bamboozled the Warriors’ middle order, had only come into the New South Wales squad after the allrounder Moises Henriques was ruled out with a leg injury.

Gordon defends support for Asian World Cup bid

“We live in the real world and we must understand that when people want to achieve an objective, they try to get support for that objective” – Ken Gordin gets pragmatic © ICC

Ken Gordon, the president of the West Indies board, says the region acted in its best interests in throwing its support behind the Asian bloc’s bid to secure the International Cricket Council’s 2011 World Cup.Furthermore, the 76-year-old administrator said the West Indies did not sell their vote at the April meeting in Dubai and defended allegations of a deal with India that helped a joint bid with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh gain approval.”We live in the real world and we must understand that when people want to achieve an objective, they try to get support for that objective. Clearly, the India Board of Control wanted to have support for their objective and we did speak. We made it clear that our position was that we were interested in building a relationship with India,” Gordon told CMC’s Cricket Plus Friday.”We didn’t have a vote for sale. We were interested in building a relationship and they indicated that they would like to do the same and our position as far as the vote was concerned was, ‘look if your bid is a fully competitive bid and if it is on par with all things being equal, we will support your bid because friends support each other’.”Other people in other parts of the world support each other as well but [we said] ‘if your bid is not in our view, comparable, we cannot support you because we don’t think that would be acting in the interest of cricket’.”Reports following the ICC meeting in Dubai in April indicated the West Indies had thrown their support behind the Asian bloc’s vote, in return for a lucrative financial arrangement.The WICB’s vote helped the Asian bloc beat out a joint bid by Australia and New Zealand to host cricket’s major showpiece. Gordon said their decision to support the Asian bloc, once the bid was in the best interest of cricket, was communicated to Australia before the voting process.”That was the position we took. We made that clear to India before the vote was taken [and] they understood our position and they said they respected it,” Gordon continued.”We also made that position clear to the Australian side before the vote was taken. We said, ‘we feel we want to develop a relationship with India and there are lots of reasons for that, including our impecunious state and if we can work together, it would be a good thing’.”‘If the bids are competitive and we see everything being equal, we will vote for India. If they are not, we will vote for you’.”He added: “That’s our position, so all this talk about deal and so on, if you call that a deal, that’s fine, but as far as I am concerned we acted in the way that anyone who is concerned about their self-interest, would want to act.”The WICB recently announced they had signed a bilateral deal with India which would see the staging of a three to five-match One Day Internationals series in United States and Canada later this year.With the West Indies experiencing dire financial problems, India is expected to fund the series with the understanding that this would be repaid out of the WICB’s share of the profits. While not revealing financial details of the arrangement, Gordon said it was a move that would help the West Indies financially.”I am very cautious about a financial boost for the moment. I know positively there will be a financial boost but until we have completed our negotiations on the terms of the arrangement, I would rather not go there,” Gordon said.”What I would say is that it is going to be a positive factor in terms of taking us forward. Our Indian friends have indicated that they have a strong desire to assist wherever they can and we will try to ensure that happens. “The bottom line is that I am optimistic.”

King asks bowlers to buckle down

Ian Bradshaw will have a chance to get some match practice © AFP

After a satisfactory performance in West Indies’ opening warm-up game against Kenya, Bennett King, the coach, has identified the bowling as the team’s main weakness. Kenya made a fist of the target of 269, eventually going down by 21 runs and King expects a more disciplined effort from his bowlers against India at Trelawny tomorrow.”We were disappointed with some aspects of the Kenyan game,” King told . “We are bowling far too many wides – three to four overs worth. That is an area in which we need to improve. We are also giving up boundaries off the last ball of the overs. We need to start working on finishing our overs properly.”King said that Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, was keen to spend some time in the middle, having not batted against Kenya. Lara has not played a competitive match since the tour of India which preceded the World Cup.”Within the space of one or two days Brian is usually back to his best because of how much work he has done before,” said King. “He is very keen to play, he is like a spring chicken at the moment. He is jumping out of his seat to play.”When asked about further changes to the line-up, King added that Ian Bradshaw, the left-arm seamer, will get an opportunity in the side’s final warm-up match before the World Cup curtain-raiser against Pakistan at Sabina Park on Tuesday.”Bradshaw has not been playing a lot of cricket for Barbados so he is someone that needs work. He really needs some bowling under his belt so Friday will be another opportunity for him.”Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, said that his side would adopt a similar strategy and allow all the players in the squad to fine-tune themselves. India coasted to a 182-run win against Netherlands on Tuesday and Dravid hoped that his side would maintain the momentum against West Indies.Looking at the bigger picture, Dravid felt that India’s World Cup campaign will hinge on the contributions of their seniormost players, including himself. He added that their experience will be crucial in tackling the middle overs.”We’ve got a lot of experience, we’ve played a lot of cricket so we feel that during those middle overs we can do a job for the team and also, I think even when chasing, and finishing games,” he said. “I see myself along with people like Yuvraj [Singh] and [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni as people who can stay to the end and try to finish games and play according to the situation.”Five issues that India will be looking at in Friday’s match

Irfan Pathan: largely insipid against Holland and needs a good effort on Friday © AFP

Will Sehwag fire? Nobody in India can stop wondering when Virender Sehwag is going to convert starts into fifties and fifties into hundreds. It’s been 57 matches since he got to three figures in one-dayers. The situation is exactly the same as it’s been for many months: the time is now.- And Pathan? If Indians are fed up of pondering Sehwag’s form, there’s always Irfan Pathan. The performance against Netherlands was bland (barring a sliver of hope when he curved one and nailed an lbw). A strong performance against West Indies will boost his morale no end; another hammering will lead to more contemplation.- The young guns With Sourav Ganguly twisting his ankle, and likely to miss the match, India may get another glimpse of Robin Uthappa and/or Dinesh Karthik. Both have potential but the manner of their dismissals against the Dutch wasn’t the sort that you’d like to see too often. The success of either could create pleasant headaches for the team management.- The extra fast bowler Sreesanth or Munaf Patel? With Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar certain to start, and Irfan Pathan providing some sort of allround option, it’s unlikely that both will find a berth. If they’re tested today, it will be interesting to see who stands out – or, if you are pessimistic, who gets hammered less.- All-round sync Traditionally India start tournaments sluggishly, and some shots against the Dutch appeared straight out of the cobwebs. They’d need to wipe off the rust at the earliest otherwise the opening clash against Bangladesh will take on threatening proportions. Already Bangladesh have upset New Zealand and rolled over Scotland. India can’t afford to sleepwalk into that game and this one provides the ideal launching pad.

Struggling Zimbabwe target ODI relief

Match facts

Tuesday 14 July
Start time 0900 local time (0700 GMT)1:33

Agarkar: India must give Sandeep Sharma and Manish Pandey a chance

Big picture

India have achieved their main goal – sealing the series – so the third and final ODI provides scope for blooding a couple of uncapped players. Zimbabwe, who are in the midst of an eight-match ODI losing streak, have little but pride to play for.Individually, Zimbabwe’s players have shown that this team definitely contains talent. But they haven’t been able to pull all three facets of the game together. In both matches so far, India were offered a glimpse of Zimbabwe’s weaknesses, and despite the fine margin of their victory on Friday, they have generally looked the better side.Yet one feels Zimbabwe aren’t all that far behind this Indian team. Given a fully fit squad, in home conditions, at least one win is a distinct possibility. Unfortunately, the Zimbabweans have been hobbled by injury and have probably already blown their best chance of breaking their losing streak. Sean Williams is nursing a knee problem and is unlikely to play tomorrow.While the bowling has fired, India’s middle order still appears vulnerable. Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa and Kedar Jadhav have managed a combined 58 runs in a total of six innings. If Zimbabwe are able to exploit this, especially given the absence of the series’ leading run-scorer Ambati Rayudu, they may yet be able to pull off a win.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first) Zimbabwe: LLLLL India: WWWLL

In the spotlight

In the absence of Solomon Mire, and with Elton Chigumbura playing primarily as a batsman, Zimbabwe needed an allrounder to balance their side. They appear to have found one in Chamu Chibhabha, who has contributed with both bat and ball in this series. Batting is his stronger suit – he’s averaged 44.42 in ODIs in 2015 – but the pitch at Harare Sports Club also suits his medium-pace bowling.The pressure is building on India’s middle-order batsmen. With this series billed as something of an audition for a slot in the first XI, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa and Kedar Jadhav have averaged 12.00, 6.50 and 10.00 respectively. India have still managed to win both games, but they’ll want more from this trio in the final match.

Team news

Zimbabwe’s hand has been forced by injuries to key members of their squad. Opening bowler Tinashe Panyangara sustained a side strain in the first match, and batsman Sean Williams injured his right knee in the second. With the help of painkillers and heavy strapping, Williams batted during Zimbabwe’s chase, but team physio Anesu Mupotaringa suspects patella tendonitis. Williams went for scans on Monday morning and it’s unlikely the team management will risk aggravating his injury.So Zimbabwe may want to give players such as Chris Mpofu, Prosper Utseya and Roy Kaia a run. Craig Ervine may also be back to full fitness, as he underwent a test, including sprints, with no apparent discomfort on Monday afternoon.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Hamilton Masakada, 4 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 5 Roy Kaia/Craig Ervine, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Neville Madziva, 11 Chris Mpofu.A right quadriceps injury to Ambati Rayudu will also necessitate changes to India’s XI. Twenty-year-old wicketkeeper Sanju Samson has been called into the squad and it suggests pressure on Robin Uthappa’s place. With the series sealed, India might think about offering debuts to Manish Pandey and Sandeep Sharma, and perhaps give Mohit Sharma some match practice ahead of the T20s. India (probable): 1 M Vijay, 2 Ajinkya Rahane (captain), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 Sanju Samson/ Robin Uthappa (wk), 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Sandeep Sharma.

Pitch and conditions

A third, fresh pitch will be used for this match, and in appearance it is very similar to the first two: dry, with a modest grass covering. It should be reasonably good for batting, with the side batting first looking to score at least 250. The pitch is on the far right of the square, and so the short boundary to the west may affect team tactics. Another bright, sunny day is expected.

Stats and trivia

  • Zimbabwe’s win-loss record is 6-22 when chasing scores of between 240 and 275 in ODIs since 2005.
  • The very first ODI played at Harare Sports Club was between Zimbabwe and India in October 1992. India have played 17 ODIs here, and have won 12 times.
  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the leading wicket-taker in this series, with five wickets at an average of 13.60 and an economy rate of 3.40.

Quotes

“We’re just going to go out there and play for pride, and for our supporters as well.”
“I asked him why I was being congratulated and he told me I had been selected to the Indian team.”

Sussex dimmed despite Mushtaq's efforts

Northants 148 for 9 (Mushtaq 5-25) beat Sussex 110 (Crook 4-20) by 33 runs (D/L)
Scorecard

Lance Klusener top edges Luke Wright for four © Getty Images

Northamptonshire’s title hunt was kept alive and Sussex’s dented after the home side eased to a 33-run victory in a rain-affected pro40 match at Northampton.Sussex appeared well on course when they skittled Northants for 148, Mushtaq Ahmed doing to damage with 5 for 25 in his eight overs. At one stage, Northants were 65 for 1 as Usman Afzaal (37) and Chris Rogers (33) got them off to a decent start, but that became 119 for 9 before some late hitting from Matthew Nicholson and Monty Panesar.That stand proved crucial as Steve Crook, who finished with 4 for 20, triggered an even more dramatic collapse, Sussex crashing from 42 for 1 to 65 for 6, eventually losing their last nine wickets for 68.Sussex could rightly claim that they were not helped by faulty floodlights at Wantage Road which led to the start of their innings being delayed because three of the four retractable pylons could not be raised. They also had the worse of the conditions as the pitch had sweated while covered during afternoon downpours.Sussex remain in second place, one point behind leaders Essex, while Northants move into fourth but could join Sussex in second place if they win their game in hand.

PCB rejects Azhar Ali resignation over Amir

Azhar Ali has agreed to continue as Pakistan’s ODI captain after a request by him to resign, over the presence of Mohammad Amir at the training camp in Lahore for the national team, was rejected by the PCB.”Azhar Ali met the chairman PCB [Shaharyar Khan]. He tendered his resignation. The chairman didn’t accept his resignation, Azhar Ali agreed and he will continue as captain,” the PCB said in a statement.Azhar, along with Mohammad Hafeez, had refused to join the camp earlier, but had finally relented following a meeting with Shaharyar Khan. ESPNcricinfo understands that Azhar had agreed to join the camp, but had said he would need time to decide on his role as captain.Amir is in the selection mix for the first time after his five-year ban for spot-fixing in the 2010 Lord’s Test. He was one of the 26 probables named for Pakistan’s pre-season conditioning camp. Azhar and Hafeez were originally scheduled to join the camp after completing domestic matches, but they did not do so. Azhar went on to state that he would not attend the camp “as long as Amir is there”. After their meeting with Khan, though, the PCB chairman had said: “I do respect their concerns but some of them, I told them, are not acceptable. So they understood and confirmed that they are on the same page with us.”

Blues name Thorpe as assistant coach

Graham Thorpe will broaden his coaching role with New South Wales next season © Getty Images

Graham Thorpe will continue his association with New South Wales as the state’s assistant coach for 2007-08. Thorpe will fill the gap created when Matthew Mott became the Blues’ senior coach after Trevor Bayliss was placed in charge of Sri Lanka.Thorpe, 37, scored 6744 runs at 44.66 in 100 Tests for England and spent 18 years as a first-class cricketer before moving to Sydney in 2005-06 to work with New South Wales as a specialist batting coach. His new role will include taking the reins of the state’s Second XI.”I’m absolutely delighted to be offered the position and very much look forward to the challenge,” Thorpe said. “This represents the next chapter of my cricket career and I intend to give it my all. I’ve enjoyed working with the squad over the past two seasons and can’t wait to start my new role when I return to Australia next month.”David Gilbert, the chief executive of Cricket New South Wales, said the appointments of Mott and Thorpe gave the Blues some stability leading into next season. “To have a player of Graham’s international experience working with our squad, particularly our young talented players, will be tremendous,” Gilbert said.New South Wales reached the Pura Cup final last summer but lost to Tasmania. However, they were disappointing in the shorter forms of the game and finished last in both the Ford Ranger Cup and the KFC Twenty20 competition.

CA contemplates scrapping Sheffield Shield final

The Sheffield Shield final could soon become a thing of the past. Although there are no immediate plans to scrap the five-day decider from Australia’s domestic fixture, Cricket Australia has indicated that it might be squeezed out of the schedule in the coming years if the Big Bash League continues to thrive and expand.Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland and outgoing chairman Wally Edwards have both questioned the value of the Shield final, which was described by Edwards as being too often “a bad advertisement for the game”. The concept of the top two teams playing off in a final was introduced in 1982-83; until then the Shield was awarded to the team that finished on top of the table.While the final theoretically gives the second-placed team a chance of winning the title, the advantages given to the top team – home advantage and needing only to draw to win the Shield – have led to very few away wins. The last time the away team managed to claim the title was in 2004-05, when New South Wales scraped home by one wicket over Queensland at the Gabba.Not just that, the home side needing only to draw has often meant dull, defensive batting and ridiculously long innings. At the Gabba in 2005-06, Queensland finally declared their first innings at 6 for 900, with Victoria, who bowled 242 overs, having no hope of winning. Edwards said he would prefer a return to the old system, which was in place when he had been a state player.”I don’t think it plays any real part in our season,” Edwards said about the final after Cricket Australia’s AGM in Melbourne. “I think, and this is just me, when I played Shield cricket, we didn’t have a Shield final. The games were played in two rounds – home and away. The best side wins. It seems to be the fairest way.”And to me, it feels the Shield final over many years has proven itself to be a bit of a non-event to be honest. There have only been three or four good Shield finals, the rest of them have been shockers; a bad advertisement for the game. I think it confuses the back end of our season. I think the best team should win in Shield cricket. We play ten games, which should sort it out.”The final is still very much part of the schedule for this season but how long it can remain so will likely depend on whether Cricket Australia looks to expand the BBL in coming years. Should the BBL add extra teams or rounds, its schedule may well swell into February, and if any other cricket had to make way, the Shield final would likely be first on the chopping block.”I think Wally is right, if you do have a look through history the Shield finals have been absolutely dominated by the home team or a long draw,” Sutherland said. “I think it is very rare – maybe 5% of the time or something – that the away team has actually won. So, from that point of view, it has never been a great spectacle. And I think that’s part of where we continue to review and assess the mix of content.”At the moment it is there and I don’t think we’d change it unless there was a good reason to change that. But at the same time, we’re in a very fortunate position at the moment of having a burgeoning domestic Twenty20 competition which is in big demand. At some stage in the future, we’ll be looking at ways in which we can expand that, whether that’s expansion in the number of matches or teams or what have you, and that might put pressure on other parts of our program.”

Kenya ease to eight-wicket win

Kenya 302 and 161 for 2 (Ouma 63, D Obuya 70, C Obuya 14*) beat Bermuda 281 (Hemp 97, Varaiya 5-56) and 178 (Hemp 68*, Varaiya 5-77) by 8 wickets
ScorecardKenya knocked off the final 79 runs to beat Bermuda in their Intercontinental Cup match at the Nairobi Gymkhana, easing to an eight-wicket win.Maurice Ouma brought up a slick fifty from 49 balls, but he couldn’t replicate the blistering strokeplay of yesterday afternoon, scooping Malachi Jones straight to mid-off for 63.But David Obuya, the slower of the two yesterday, opened his shoulders – clubbing Jones over long-on before dispatching Rodney Trott over the same boundary for six. Trott got his man, however, when Obuya stepped to the leg-side and was beaten by a quicker delivery. Obuya’s namesake, Collins, together with Tony Suji knocked off the required runs with the minimum of fuss to inflict yet another defeat on Bermuda.Kenya now top the Intercontinental Cup table with 40 points, six ahead of Netherlands. Bermuda, though, have won just a single game on their forgettable tour of Kenya, beating Uganda in their opening match. They now travel to Sharjah to face UAE on November 8.

Team Mat Won Lost Tied Draw Aban Pts
Kenya 2 2 0 0 0 0 40
Netherlands 3 2 1 0 0 0 34
Ireland 2 1 0 0 1 0 29
Canada 4 1 3 0 0 0 26
Scotland 3 1 0 0 2 0 26
Namibia 1 1 0 0 0 0 20
U.A.E. 2 0 1 0 1 0 3
Bermuda 3 0 3 0 0 0 0
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