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ScorecardA splendid spell of bowling by Avinash Yadav and an unbeaten 66 from Raviraj Patil helped the Champs to their first win after three matches of the current Indian Cricket League tournament.The Rockets’ openers, whose powerful stand knocked the wind out of Chandigarh Lions in the first game of the tournament, gave their team a steady start after Damien Martyn decided to bat against the Champs. Sachin Dholpure was trapped by Michael Kasprowicz for 29 after he and Wavell Hinds had put on 61 off 9.1 overs, and although they were slightly off the pace, the platform given was ideal for a run-fest in the remaining overs.However, Avinash Yadav wrecked any such hopes with his 4-0-14-4. He first removed Hinds in the 12th over. Saman Jayantha effected a run-out of Sridharan Sriram in the 14th; in the same over he caught Martyn off Yadav’s bowling. The left-arm spinner went on to make it four for the match by dismissing Reetinder Sodhi and Rakesh Patel in the 18th.The Rockets struggled to 131 for 9, and though it was an improvement on their 107 for 6 against the Delhi Giants, the score was not likely to be enough.Subhojit Paul fell early during the Champs’ chase, and Jayantha wasn’t too impressive in his 22-ball 13, but Raviraj Patil went at a brisk pace to keep the Champs on course.His 66 off 46 balls contained six fours and three sixes. Patil’s fiery 52 against the Kolkata Tigers in their previous match had all but sealed victory, but this time he stayed till the end as the Champs reached their target with two balls to spare.

The Somerset Spring Newsletter, which is always a sure sign that the new season is just around the corner, will be sent out to all members early next week, and will be read no doubt from cover to cover by everyone.The actual logistics of packing and sending out the newsletter and the other enclosures to all of the membership is a well oiled machine which has been set up and running very successfully for several years.Chris Bass, who operates the scoreboards for the club during the summer has sent across the following information about the mail out which I am sure everyone will find enlightening.”A group of volunteers, normally around seventeen of us, gather in the Colin Atkinson Pavilion every September, November and March. The office staff produce the computer-generated envelopes which must be literally “stuffed” with the various articles members are to receive, often as many as fifteen separate items. Some need to be folded, but all must be bundled together into individual envelopes – yes – over 7000 of them!The envelopes are then counted religiously into Royal Mail boxes. There is no production line, no machine, just honest human endeavour and concentration from the volunteers involved.Many of those involved have been carrying out this task for years, uncomplainingly. No doubt fuelled by the players’ success and the spirit prevailing within the club at presentour team is growing.The forthcoming mail out is on Monday march 11th and the norm is to draw stumps around mid afternoon. Any fellow members wishing to join us are most welcome. Please give your contact details to Chris Bass who can be contacted before the season by leaving a message at the ground.The Club provide an excellent lunch, drinks, coffee and tea. The banter enjoyed by all is superb, so why not offer your services to help with this very worthwhile activity.”Thanks Chris for putting us in the picture. Perhaps now when all of the members open their envelopes next week they will know better what effort has gone into to getting them posted out.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:13

Collins: WBBL helping new faces rise to prominence

Sydney Thunder beat their crosstown rivals Sydney Sixers by three wickets to win the inaugural WBBL title, in a tense and scrappy game which came down to the last over.Sixers’ innings was messy. Thunder fielded poorly, missing a plethora of run outs and catches, with each of the top four let off. The bowlers continued to create chances, and no mistake was horribly costly, but while seven wickets were taken and the total was underpar, Thunder could have been more clinical.Fortunately for them, Sixers were in merciful mood. Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy have scored 346 runs in each other’s company this season, and are not players to be missing chances off. So when Claire Koski failed to gather Alex Blackwell’s throw to complete a simple run out of a desperately diving Perry, Thunder would have been kicking themselves. But, after adding just one more run, Perry was gone, slicing the superb Rene Farrell – who finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 26 – to point. Likewise, Thunder had reasons to rue when Maisy Gibson dropped a tough caught and bowled chance off Healy on 15. Five runs later, 19-year-old Gibson, one of the finds of the tournament, had Healy leg before.The most costly drop was of Ashleigh Gardner, who made a breezy 20. The ball after Perry departed, Gardner sent the ball to point too, where the same fielder, Rachael Haynes, dropped a dipping chance. Gardner was away with a beautiful straight drive and found the boundary on three other occasions, before Koski sharply stumped her off Erin Osborne. Osborne used all her experience to dismiss Marizanne Kapp, who had threaded a beautiful cover drive between two fielders only to hit it straight back to the bowler next ball, and Sarah Aley cheaply. Between the two, Lisa Sthalekar had slapped Gibson straight to point.With Sara McGlashan at the crease, Sixers still harboured hopes of an imposing score. She leaned into a beautiful straight drive off Nicola Carey, but before long was involved in the second horrid – yet unpunished – mix-up between the wickets. McGlashan pushed past backward point, and ran one with Angela Reakes. McGlashan turned, making it all the way back for a second, only to slip. Stafanie Taylor had thrown to the keeper’s end, and with both batsmen on the ground, Koski just had to gather and throw to the bowler. She could not, as McGlashan got up, turned, and made her ground. She had run three lengths but had just one to show for her efforts. Most importantly, she was still in.Farrell returned at the death, and trapped McGlashan leg before, before conceding just six runs from the final over. Reakes picked up McGlashan’s mantle, twice driving boundaries – in front then behind point – off Carey, and scampering singles hard in the company of Kara Sutherland.Defending 115 was a tough ask. Kapp found a maiden first up, and every fielder ran in to praise her. Runs were scored off the bat just twice in the first 20 deliveries. But the Thunder grew into the innings and the introduction of spin saw them push the score. At the halfway stage, no wickets had been lost, and just 62 was required from 60.The game returned to life in the 11th, however. Taylor found long-on off Aley, who then dropped a return catch from Haynes, only to bowl Naomi Stalenberg two balls later. Blackwell and Haynes remained calm, sharing a busy 44, only for Aley’s next over – the 18th – to throw the game open again. Haynes pulled to Perry to midwicket, who dropped a diving catch, only to get up and run out Haynes on the second. After Blackwell drove a boundary down the ground, her ramp saw Carey run out on the third.Nine was required from 12 balls when Blackwell charged down, swung and missed Kapp’s full delivery. Osborne was run out with some brilliant work from Healy again. Koski then scampered three after more farcical fielding. Kapp’s spell had cost just 11, and Thunder needed four from the last. Perry had Farrell caught at mid-off, before the batsmen sprinted through for a bye off a wide to seal a remarkable win with three balls to spare.Given this was the highest-profile women’s domestic match ever, broadcast not only in Australia, but also in England, India, South Africa, and Bangladesh – it did not necessarily flatter the sport’s standard. Nevertheless, a thrilling contest emerged and a fine competition – that has exceeded all expectations – had an exhilarating conclusion. All that was missing, for most of the match, was the Benny Hill soundtrack.

James Faulkner predicts more feats of run scoring and further sobering times for bowlers in the second ODI between Australia and India at the Gabba, even though playing conditions have actually eased in favour of the fielding sides since last year’s World Cup.Batting Powerplays were abolished three months after Australia’s players lifted the trophy at the MCG last March, but a preponderance of flat pitches, spring-loaded bats and powerful hitters mean that scoring has been only subtly affected by the change.Faulkner pointed out that the Gabba shared the WACA’s tendencies for fast scoring in ODIs, and expected something similar to the series opener when Australia reeled in India’s 309 with something in reserve, on a surface affording less assistance to the bowlers than the hosts had expected.”Everyone was quite surprised by the way the wicket played in Perth, it was very flat and we saw a lot of runs scored. I think any time you see 300 scored and chased it’s definitely a flat wicket,” he said in Brisbane. “I’m expecting the same sort of scenario here as well, I haven’t seen a one-day wicket that hasn’t been flat here for a fair while, so it should have good pace, carry and be a good contest again.”In general it’s a tough gig bowling in Perth and here. Runs can be scored so fast due to the pace on the ball, change-ups don’t grip as much as other grounds like the MCG and Canberra that we’ll see later in the series. Everyone got hit the other day so I don’t think you can single out one or two bowlers.”Commenting on the removal of the Powerplay, Faulkner said the ability of the fielding side to post five boundary riders was a relief. He also felt it meant that batsmen were less likely to contrive their innings by playing within themselves before the chance to hit into unmanned expanses of the outfield caused them to switch to and overtly aggressive posture.”I did notice a change,” he said. “The big change was the overs leading into the old Powerplay where batters tended to milk it around and stay in and then use that as a launching pad. That was a dangerous time for any team batting, if you lost a wicket before that five-over period it could really halt your momentum.”Likewise if you didn’t lose a wicket you could really set up a big total. I like the new rules, it goes back to five in the last 10 and it’s still a massive challenge for the bowlers, but it’s a bit more normal instead of players milking it around before.”While admitting he was trying to “avoid” taking in too much of the Big Bash League while on Australian duty, Faulkner indicated that Australia’s players felt no more pressure to be entertainers than they usually are under their coach Darren Lehmann’s desire for attractive cricket.”Every time you go onto the ground you try to entertain, I don’t think you specifically go out there and think ‘I want to put on a show’, it’s more worrying about what you can do to contribute to the team,” Faulkner said. “The revolution in T20 cricket and how successful the Big Bash has been this season with the crowd numbers that have attended and also on TV, it’s only going to get bigger.”It’s an exciting time for cricket in general, you’re seeing a lot more high scores in the one-day format as well. That’s entertaining enough.”

ScorecardFile photo – Mandeep Singh and Uday Kaul added 124 together•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Uday Kaul and Mandeep Singh made sure Punjab ended the third day against Uttar Pradesh in a position of strength despite hitting some speed bumps. On a day when either team could have seized the momentum to set up a win on the last day, Punjab first took a first-innings lead of 46 runs, and then accumulated 244 in the second innings to stretch the overall lead to 290, before bad light curbed the third day in a row. UP bowled well only in phases – first with the new ball and then in the second session to take three wickets in 13 overs – but things became easier for the Punjab batsmen as the pitch did not assist the bowlers the way it did on the first day.Punjab and UP, who are among four teams to be stuck with 17 points in Group B, will be desperate to get six points and push for a quarter-final spot.Mandeep and Uday did most of the work for Punjab in the first two sessions as they switched gears according to the conditions and the situation. They weathered a spell of 12 consecutive and probing overs from Praveen Kumar before lunch to soften the ball as the sun came out after an overcast morning. While Uday was patient and mostly defensive, Mandeep showed his aggression from the beginning by pulling Praveen for his first four, in the 13th over.

Mandeep Singh on…

Punjab’s declaration: “We’ll look to score another 30-40 runs and then ask them to bat. The wicket will be difficult to bat on the fourth day because there are some patches now. If we can give them 70-80 overs also, we can turn it into a match.”
Punjab’s approach for the last day: “It will be tough to get them out but both teams need those six points. If we can give them 325-odd then they will also have a chance to score quickly and chase. But we will have to take a chance to go for a win.”
His recent form: “I didn’t score well in the last three to four innings but at Patiala we played on a rank turner and Baroda had a lot of uneven bounce. I’m not saying I got out only because of that but…it wasn’t playing on my mind that my last few innings had been a flop or anything. Overall I knew I was batting well. Like in the first innings my target was to leave as many balls as possible because it was cutting a lot. I did what I wanted to do in the first innings – to wear the ball down and then score some runs.”
Batting on the third day: “Initially it was a bit difficult to bat because the ball was hard and new. But it was a bit easier in the second innings so I was looking to score freely and big today, and we were looking to declare today itself but unfortunately we couldn’t do it.”

The two batsmen put on 124 runs after Punjab had lost their openers in consecutive overs to UP’s pacers. Manan Vohra started briskly with two fours before he pulled Praveen straight to deep square leg and Imtiaz Ahmed drew Jiwanjot Singh’s outside edge with an outswinger.Punjab were left in a spot of bother at 28 for 2, but Mandeep and Uday showed confidence and steered the score past 150, not allowing UP to press the accelerator. Mandeep, who had scored three ducks in his last five innings, made sure that he capitalised on a good start this time.Suresh Raina was forced to change his tactics, as he brought spinners from both ends about 40 minutes after lunch, and Mandeep cashed in further by shifting to accumulation mode. Piyush Chawla conceded nine runs from his first over, including two no-balls, and a four that brought up Mandeep’s fifth-fifty plus score of the season. He soon launched left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar over long-on for six but was bowled by a flatter delivery only three balls later, for 84.Seeing Yuvraj Singh walk out next, Raina replaced Chawla with Praveen, gifting the crowd another PK-Yuvi show. Yuvraj went about his innings fluently, taking three fours and a six off Praveen in consecutive overs. He started by steering one off the pads, one through the covers, and a back-foot cut before Praveen switched ends and Yuvraj unleashed a six on the leg side.But Yuvraj’s show ended when Ankit Rajpoot trapped him lbw with a short ball; a decision that left the batsman seemingly unhappy. To make things worse for Punjab, first-innings top-scorer Mayank Sidhana swatted Praveen to midwicket for a straightforward catch for 4 in the last over before tea with the score reading 197. The loss of five wickets meant Punjab’s score was not commanding, but their lead of 243 meant they were well ahead.Punjab were hardly troubled after tea. With Mandeep gone, Uday took charge as the main run-scorer and pushed Punjab’s score past 200, and lead towards 300, by scoring 36 runs from 52 balls with five fours, in the last session. He took minimal risk, played most of his shots along the ground, and nudged the ball easily in the gaps as UP tried several bowlers in pursuit of breakthroughs. Gitansh Khera fell when he gave an easy catch to over off a leading edge at the score of 239 but Punjab had consolidated their position by then.UP’s assistant coach Mritunjay Tripathi, however, was confident of his team staging a comeback on the last day, saying that they would not hesitate to chase a target beyond 300. “If we can get them out in the morning and have a target of 300-350, it’s chaseable in about 80 overs. We’ll try our best and go for it. We’ll go with a positive intent and win hopefully.”Earlier, Siddarth Kaul foiled UP’s plans to minimise the deficit, from their overnight 205 for 8, by removing Imtiaz and Rajpoot in quick succession, even as Saurabh collected boundaries at the other end. The hosts were eventually bowled out for 226.

Nottinghamshire have signed swing bowler Darren Pattinson on a two-year contract.Pattinson, 28, was born in Grimsby but raised in Australia. He made his first-class debut for Victoria in 2006-07 and has played in five Pura Cup and 12 limited-overs games for the state.”We have had an eye on Darren for a couple of years, ever since he came along for a net with us two years ago,” Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell said. “Like Charlie Shreck, he’s come into the first-class game late and that should mean he’s got plenty of miles left on the clock.”He bowls with good pace and gets the ball to swing. We’re keen to see how he gets on with more regular cricket and believe he will be a very useful performer in all competitions.”

Sussex coach Mark Davis is confident of securing the services of Mustafizur Rahman this summer, despite reports in Bangladesh suggesting that he may skip the county stint.”We can’t confirm anything at the moment but I am confident he will still be joining us,” Davis told . “He is probably the best bowler in the world at the moment so we’re very excited about him coming and we should know for sure what’s going on in the next couple of weeks.”In March, Sussex announced that Mustafizur will be their second overseas player and will participate in the NatWest T20 Blast and the Royal London One-day Cup in the 2016 season. But since the announcement, Mustafizur’s side strain kept him out of the majority of Bangladesh’s Asia Cup and World T20 campaigns before he played in the first ten IPL matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad, taking 13 wickets at 17.61, with an economy rate of 6.18.ESPNcricinfo has since learned from multiple sources that Mustafizur has spoken to those close to him of his tiredness from playing continuously in the IPL. While the BCB has said that they have “agreed in principle” to his deal with Sussex, they have in the past considered saving him from playing in overseas leagues. In January, they considered withholding him from the PSL. As it happened, he was ruled out of the PSL by a shoulder injury he picked up during Bangladesh’s tour of Zimbabwe.On May 5, BCB’s cricket operations chairman Akram Khan said that the decision lay with Mustafizur, and nothing had been finalised as yet. “A decision is still pending on Mustafizur’s participation in county cricket this season but then again it is his personal decision, we can only make suggestions,” he said.Mustafizur’s stint at Sussex could already be delayed because Sunrisers are likely to play in the knockout stages of the IPL, which could keep Mustafizur in India until the end of May.

A push to give umpires access to Hawk-Eye to help their decision-making has won support from an unlikely source, with Geoff Boycott insisting the ICC make the move as soon as possible. Boycott believes at the very least the game’s governing body must allow umpires to see basic information such as whether the ball pitched in line with the stumps.The ICC is set to discuss Hawk-Eye at its Cricket Committee meeting in Dubai next week and a trial in Winchester on Wednesday was intended to give the members hard proof of whether the system works. However, rain meant the testing had to be postponed, possibly in favour of another trial at Lord’s following the England-New Zealand Test in a fortnight.But Boycott hopes it will not be long before umpires are allowed to use the technology. “We seem too reticent to try things, we’re taking too long,” he told Cricinfo. “As a player, all you ever want is as many accurate decisions as possible. If I make a mistake and I’m out, well so be it, that’s my fault, but you don’t want to be given out when you feel you’re not out.”Boycott is a member of the MCC World Cricket Committee and there is strong support within the group for greater use of Hawk-Eye. If the ICC agrees, it must decide whether to give umpires unrestricted access to all of Hawk-Eye’s data, including the predicted flight of the ball, or limit it to more clear-cut information such as where the ball pitched and where it struck the batsman.Although Boycott believes in the accuracy of Hawk-Eye’s predictions he thinks a gradual introduction of the technology would help appease the doubters. “These line decisions – I think we can get them into the game straight away,” he said. “The lbws [predicted ball path] – there’s too much doubt at the moment to convince the ICC.”He hopes the on-field umpires can remain in charge by simply asking the third official for specific Hawk-Eye information, much like the video-referee system in rugby. Boycott believes the proliferation of new tools being shown to viewers means umpires are being hung out to dry.”Umpires make mistakes – they’re human, we all make mistakes – but today with television as it is and so good, they show the replay and it shows up any errors. I don’t like seeing umpires embarrassed or made to look foolish but you can’t tell television not to show it because television now pays all the money to keep the game alive.”There should be a way of doing it, like other sports, where the umpire on field is still in charge and makes the final decision. We need to get rid of blatant mistakes but also accept line-ball decisions. Unless it’s clearly not out we should go with the decision of the umpire on field.”If Hawk-Eye is adopted by the ICC, the spotlight will almost certainly move to other devices like the snickometer and the infra-red Hot Spot camera. While Boycott is uncertain whether those tools should be used by umpires, he believes it would be foolish to deny the officials any hard facts available to viewers.”I’m more concerned at the moment about things that are quite easy to tell – pitching outside leg stump, that should be quite straightforward,” Boycott said. “Television is getting so good you’ve got super slow-mo, it shows inside-edges when people are given out lbw. You’ve got to find ways to open your mind and some people have closed minds to change.”

The first women’s World Twenty20 will be played alongside the men in England in 2009 opening up huge TV exposure opportunities, the ECB has confirmed. The women will play both the semis at the same ground, on the same day and same ticket as the men and then the final at Lord’s will be the curtain raiser for the men’s match.Cricinfo revealed in December that the tournament was likely to get the go-ahead subject to financial approval which has now been granted by the ICC. Taunton, the home of women’s cricket, will stage the group matches.Clare Connor, the ECB’s executive director of women’s cricket, was understandably delighted by the ratification of the tournament. “The ECB’s support and drive to get women’s cricket showcased is fantastic,” Connor told Cricinfo. “To think you could have forty thousand fans watching England-Australia women’s final from Lord’s before the men’s – how exciting. Just brilliant. It’s hard to put into words, it’s so unprecedented. The number of people that will tune in across the world and see a superb day at Lord’s.”The budget the ICC have given for the staging of both these tournaments is very generous and it’s as it should be, but it’s still a huge step. We’ve just had the World Cup qualifiers, then two massive tournaments in the World Cup and the World Twenty20 next year, it’s a very very exciting time.”I would want to add huge credit for people who have worked for it – Gill McConway (Connor’s predecessor), the ICC women’s committee who proposed the tournament to the next committee up. The work that’s been done to get to this point has been mammoth.”Steve Elworthy, the tournament’s director, said: “The ECB are extremely proud that we will host the first global team competition that will culminate with the semi finals and final on the same day as the men’s events. We must praise the ICC for their foresight in scheduling this event in this historic fashion.”The tournament will be contested by the same eight teams who will compete for the next World Cup, in Australia in March. They are Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.Whether these teams will head into the World Twenty20 with seeds based on their performances before or after the 50-over World Cup which predates it remains to be seen. The eight sides won’t be too worried about that at the moment, for now it’s a case of looking forward to competing on one of the biggest stages yet for them.There have already been several trial days across the world where the women have been a curtain raiser for the men, largely with much success. The latest such event was when the Australia and England women were up first at the MCG ahead of the Australia and India men. The game went down a storm with the fans who had filtered in early and highlights on prime-time TV a week later showed their skills, albeit briefly.The biggest chance yet to awaken the world comes next year. While the game could never hope to compete with the men on a large scale, women’s cricket – including the contracts that are about to be announced for the England women – continues to head in the right direction.

Delhi consolidated their position over Hyderabad thanks to an unbeatenhundred by Shikhar Dhawan, in the three day Vijay Merchant Trophy(under-16) semifinal at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Ground onWednesday. Delhi were 277/5 at the close of play in reply to Hyderabad’sfirst innings score of 139 all out.Resuming at 58 for no loss Delhi found themselves in a spot of bother,thanks to some tight bowling. Without a run for the first 38 balls, Delhilost opening batsman PP Singh for 35. MP Arjun, who claimed Singh’s wicket,went on to trap Aditya Jain LBW for 8. Delhi were 67/2 at that stage.Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan was joined in the middle by Himansu Mehtaand they carried Delhi past the first innings score of Hyderabad with apartnership of 76 runs. Delhi were 143 when they lost Mehta for 36, AmolShinde accounting for that dismissal. Mehta hit 5 boundaries and a six inhis 101 ball innings. Shinde soon sent back the new batsman Abhishek Nagfor just one run, trapped in front.It was then Dhawan decided to bloom. He was in a punishing mood, smashingthe ball for 18 boundaries to reach his well deserved hundred off 304balls. Rawat was the fifth batsman to be dismissed for 17, Absolom beingthe bowler. At close of play Dhawan was going strong with an unbeaten 136off 370 deliveries. He has already hit 25 boundaries in his marathoninnings off 7 hours and 36 minutes. Giving him company is Sumit Kapoor on 10.