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Ankeet Chavan supported Kaustubh Pawar in an unbeaten stand of 129•Fotocorp

Kaustubh Pawar rescued Mumbai from a precarious position with a fiercely-determined century and along with the lower order, all but battedMadhya Pradesh out of the Ranji Trophy. Mumbai had begun the day 122 runsbehind MP with only five wickets remaining, but Pawar showed tremendouscharacter in grinding out his second hundred in his debut season at a timeMumbai desperately needed someone to bail them out.That he struggled with his rhythm till he reached the three-figure markbut did not throw his wicket away was a credit to Pawar’s temperament.That Mumbai lost only two wickets today after 15 had fallen on the firstday was partly due to their tenacity and partly due to the pitch which had eased out.The first session was MP’s only real chance of trying to take the lead butPawar and Hiken Shah kept them at bay, giving no chances. As he had doneyesterday, TP Sudhindra kept the batsmen defensive with excellent controlover his lines and lengths but unlike they had done on day one, Mumbai didnot succumb against the lack of runs. They kept nudging and guiding forsingles and Pawar, especially, continued to leave almost everything thatwas outside off stump.He was beaten on numerous occasions by Sudhindra who also had him down onthe ground a couple of times as he avoided bouncers. Pawar was even hit onthe helmet as he took his eyes off another bouncer but he just refused toget out. There was also only so much Sudhindra could do alone. Hikensignaled Mumbai’s growing confidence when he lofted fast bowler AmarjeetSingh for a straight one-bounce four.Sudhindra managed to break the stand minutes before lunch when Hikenfinally fiddled with one outside off stump and nicked to the slip cordon.Mumbai were less than 50 runs behind by then, though. Also, a tail thathas Ramesh Powar, Ankeet Chavan and Dhawal Kulkarni is not exactly a tail.Kulkarni arrived ahead of Powar and Chavan and with Pawar holding one endup, calmly pushed up the scoring rate with positive batting. MP wereforced to spread the field and bring their innocuous spinners on asKulkarni soon took Mumbai into the lead with a driven four through extracover.Sudhindra was still not done, though. He bowled Kulkarni for 40 with onethat bounced from a good length but MP now had Chavan to contend with.With the crucial first-innings lead in the bag, Chavan was able to playhis strokes from the start. Pawar, meanwhile, got to his century inuncharacteristic fashion off his 233rd delivery, stepping out to drive theoffspin of Jalaj Saxena through extra cover.The landmark brought out the strokeplayer in Pawar as he started to driveand cut with authority. Chavan cruised to a fifty as well, swinging a sixover long-on in between his straight and cover drives. The eighth-wicketstand swelled past 100, taking the game further away from aflagging MP. Pawar showed no signs of fading, still finding theenergy to punch and push for the three runs that took him past 150.MP’s bowlers tried everything after being let down by their batsmen butonce again, Mumbai had someone to do the dirty work and dig them out ofthe hole.

Rajasthan have appointed Meyrick Pringle, the former South Africa fast bowler, as bowling coach for the remainder of their Ranji Trophy campaign. It is understood that the Rajasthan selectors were concerned about the form of their bowling attack and wanted to utilise the services of Pringle, who was already in Jaipur, coaching at a private academy. The Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) executive board agreed and Pringle joined the squad on Sunday.”Our batting has been doing fine but our bowlers have not been performing to the desired level,” an RCA official told ESPNcricinfo. “So we thought we could make use of the experience of Pringle, who was a very good bowler for South Africa and also has coaching experience.”Of prime importance for the new selection committee, which was appointed immediately after a new administration took over after the 2011 IPL, is that they keep the Elite Group berth the team earned by reaching the knockouts and then winning the Ranji Trophy last year.”As defending champions we wanted to retain the Elite status as well as make the knockouts once again this year. For that we need to bowl sides out. The strength of our bowling department is our fast bowlers but they need proper guidance,” the official said.Rajasthan are currently second from bottom in Group A, with just four points from four games. They have three matches left in the group stages, against Punjab, Saurashtra and Orissa.Pringle played four Tests and 17 ODIs for South Africa between 1992 and 1995. He was part of their 1992 World Cup squad, which reached the semi-finals, and is best known for his performance of 4 for 11 against West Indies in a group match in that tournament. He later had coaching stints with both Netherlands and Namibia. Pringle has been roped in mainly to provide technical expertise to Rajasthan’s young seamers: Pankaj Singh, Deepak Chahar, Sumit Mathur and Aniket Choudhary.

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Wasim Jaffer returned to form with a comfortable century, which became the only element of interest in the match on Friday, which Saurashtra had dominated on the previous three days before having to settle for a draw. They earned three valuable points to keep their chances of making the knockout stage still alive. Despite getting only a solitary point Mumbai are well placed, on 17 points and in second spot behind group leaders Karnataka.The early morning chill on Friday was an encouraging sign for the hosts’ new-ball pair of Jaydev Unadkat and Sandip Maniar, Saurashtra’s first-innings’ hero with a five-for. In the second over, Unadkat duly angled a delivery across a helpless Kaustubh Pawar, who could only edge it back to the wicketkeeper. Pawar had managed only eight runs in the first innings and the second time around he could add only five more.His opening partner Sushant Marathe, who had made an eight-ball duck on Wednesday evening, battled for 100 minutes for just one run. Then he played a cross-batted stroke too far from his body to a delivery that moved away from him. It seemed to take a thin edge on its way to wicketkeeper Sagar Jogiyani, who accepted his second offering of the morning. Marathe remained unimpressed with the umpire’s decision, shaking his head in disapproval throughout his walk back to the dressing room.As the sun came out, Jaffer and Suryakumar Yadav played with more assurance to dominate the bowlers. Yadav, who had hit an aggressive century in the first session on Thursday, was more circumspect and took eighteen deliveries to open his account. Jaffer, who hadn’t made even a fifty so far this season, returned to form, playing elegant strokes and lofting the slow bowlers for his trademark straight sixes.Once the match moved to the second session without the fall of any more wickets, it became of academic interest. So much so that Saurashtra bowled only spin after tea and Jaffer helped himself to his first century in twelve months. His last Ranji hundred came in a winning effort, against Gujarat last December which Mumbai won by an innings and 167 runs.

Mohammad Hafeez’s Man-of-the-Match winning 83 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Dubai has extended his prosperous run as opener, a slot that has been a headache for Pakistan in recent years.Hafeez made his international debut in 2003 as part of the sweeping changes after the World Cup debacle in South Africa. He flitted in and out of the Pakistan team for seven years, and it was only during the controversial tour of England last year that he cemented a place in all three formats of the game.Since the comeback in 2010, he’s amassed 1350 ODI runs at a solid 39.79 and snapped up six Man-of-the-Match awards, assuring him a permanent slot. He said he had to work hard on his batting technique to succeed but his bowling was a natural ability that required little work.”I worked very hard on my technique, which has paid off and really given me (a lot of) confidence,” Hafeez said at the post-match press conference on Friday. “I am very thankful to the support staff, especially my batting coach – Shahid Aslam – who really worked hard with me to correct things. And I am very happy with the way I am performing for my country.”Besides runs at the top of the order, Hafeez has also chipped in with his tight offspin bowling, a combination which has boosted him to the third spot in the ICC’s one-day allrounder rankings. “Bowling is natural for me, I don’t really work very hard on it,” Hafeez said. “Basically I am a batsman, I can understand the psyche of the batsmen.”The confidence given by the management is very important, especially by the captain. Previously Shahid [Afridi] was using me very well and now Misbah [ul-Haq] – with whom I had played at the domestic level too. So in any situation, he trusts me and if required asks me to do the job for the team and it has really worked.”Misbah highlighted Hafeez’s importance to the team, and praised the allrounder’s contributions. “You can say he’s one of the best allrounders because of the way he has performed over the last one-and-a-half years,” Misbah said. “He’s really doing well for Pakistan team in all formats, be it Twenty20s, one-dayers or even Tests. He can bat, bowl well, is good at fielding and is improving day by day. It’s really a blessing to have a person like him in the team.”

Pakistan were to throw at least one limited-over international on the 2010 tour of England, a court was told on Monday, and only the timing of the ‘s expose seemed to prevent such a result from occurring.Mazhar Mahmood, the undercover investigative journalist who sparked the alleged spot-fixing controversy, was appearing as a prosecution witness at Southwark Crown Court on the fourth day in the trial involving former captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who are alleged to have bowled pre-determined no balls. They deny the charges.A recording from secret microphones of agent and alleged conspirator Mazhar Majeed was played in chunks throughout Monday and one aspect dealt with the intention to fix results during either the five-match 50-over series or the two Twenty20 games.It can be safely assumed he was not referring to Test matches because in earlier recordings Majeed had told of how important it was that his “best friend” and key client Salman Butt won Tests so he remained in his position for a long time. Shahid Afridi was Pakistan captain in the 20 and 50-over formats at that time.Those matches followed the four-match Test series that England won 3-1. The newspaper, though, exposed the alleged corruption on the Saturday of the fourth and final Test at Lord’s. The jury, also following the recording with a written transcript, heard Majeed’s vague boasts about his corrupt intentions.”We have been working towards the next month for a long time,” Majeed was heard saying in one segment.And in a previous sequence on the same recording, he had said to the reporter while chatting in a parked car off the Gloucester Road in London: “We’re doing two results soon, within a month.”The journalist confirmed his intentions by asking: “So Pakistan will lose and then what?”Majeed replied: “Pakistan will lose but you know when Pakistan, like a game, you know as a cricket game it goes backwards and forwards, yeah, it’s your responsibility to put it on at the right times because there’s gonna be times in that game, it doesn’t matter what the odds are before, there’s gonna be times in that game when Pakistan are the favourites.”When Mahmood inquired whether there would be any mistakes and if there was a danger that his (fictitious) Far East backers would lose their money on false information, Majeed said: “They will do their job, don’t worry.”Majeed was also heard to earlier promise the journalist “four or five brackets for the Lord’s Test” and two no-balls, which were meant as a tester for Majeed to demonstrate his influence over the players he controlled.A bracket is a ten-over sequence when bettors might punt on a certain amount of runs in a set period or a number of no-balls, for instance. Majeed said a fixed bracket cost between £50,000 and £80,000. The jury was told last week that Majeed priced a fixed Test result at £1 million, a fixed one-day international at £450,000 and a Twenty20 international at £400,000.The case continues.

Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal batsman, has been named as the replacement for Rohit Sharma in India’s ODI squad in England. Rohit fractured his right index finger during the first ODI in Durham and has been ruled out of the remainder of the series.India are also waiting on the fitness of Sachin Tendulkar, who missed the first ODI because of an aggravation of an old toe injury. He is scheduled to visit a surgeon in London on September 5.Tiwary has played three ODIs for India, the last two being in the West Indies in June, when he made only 2 and 22. Since then, however, Tiwary travelled to Australia for the Emerging Players Tournament, in which he scored 188 in a three-day match against New Zealand A and 59 against Australia Institute of Sport. He also made 45 not out and 36 in two Twenty20 matches on that tour.Tiwary said he wanted to carry on his rich vein of form from that tournament. “When you are in good form, you need to cash in on the opportunities that are provided to you,” Tiwary told . “For me, the Emerging Players Tour in Australia was a big confidence-booster and I would like to carry my good form to England.”I think my 188 against New Zealand A was one of my best innings. The ball did seam around and I batted confidently. I have been on A tours before but thanks to coach Bharath Arun who let me bat at my preferred No. 4 slot, which did my confidence a world of good.”It has been a tough tour for India so far, losing 4-0 in the Tests and the solitary Twenty20 match as well. “That’s a big challenge for me,” Tiwary said. “If I have to cement my place then I have to score in a pressure scenario.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBrian Vitori made it ten wickets in his first two ODIs•Associated Press

Zimbabwe stormed to another easy victory against Bangladesh, with another commanding all-round performance giving them a 2-0 series lead. After Brian Vitori carved up the Bangladesh line-up, with his second ODI five-for in as many games, Vusi Sibanda built the foundation for the chase, before Tatenda Taibu’s half-century sealed the win.The hosts rectified their problem of losing too many wickets in the middle order and held firm where they could have wobbled. Bangladesh also made gains, although much smaller. They bowled with a little more consistency, although failing to find enough bite, and only managed to score four more runs than they did in the first ODI. Their batsmen failed to apply themselves and succumbed to poor shot selection against a particularly precise attack.Bangladesh started positively with Imrul Kayes pouncing on width from Chris Mpofu at the first opportunity. But the encouraging start proved to be a false dawn as Vitori’s golden arm struck again. He bowled his usual tight line and was rewarded with his fifth ball, when Tamim Iqbal tried to smack him through point without moving his feet, gifting Ray Price a catch at first slip.Mushfiqur Rahim was promoted to No. 3 in an attempt to repair the early damage, but the experiment failed. One ball short of completing five measured overs at the crease, he mistimed a pull to be caught at square leg. Instead of consolidating, Kayes followed Mushfiqur, trying to force a length delivery through extra cover, and offering Hamilton Masakadza a simple catch.Shahriar Nafees was dropped in the slips off the next ball, giving Bangladesh a bit of a lifeline. But Nafees and Mohammad Ashraful withdrew into their shells as the run-rate stagnated though they managed to see off Mpofu’s bounce and Vitori’s movement, before Prosper Utseya provided respite. Elton Chigumbura’s introduction offered them the ideal opportunity to forge forward, but instead, they regressed.Nafees gave his wicket away, to the fielder extra cover, and in Chigumbura’s next over, Ashraful, who had displayed real patience, gave up. He hung his bat out to a wide delivery and got an edge through to Taibu. The wicketkeeper snapped up his second catch when Mahmudullah misread the line from Utseya and played for turn that wasn’t there.At 58 for 6, Bangladesh were in a familiar mess, having slumped to 43 for 5 in the previous game. Shakib Al Hasan found an unlikely but welcome partner in debutant Nasir, who had a good tour of South Africa with the A side in April. Nasir showed the maturity that those before him should have employed. His handling of the short ball, and execution of the pull shot against Mpofu were of particular distinction.Shakib’s ability to come to Bangladesh’s rescue is well documented and the captain’s efforts were, once again, praise-worthy. His fault is that he hasn’t been able to convert his starts into bigger scores and he stumbled again when Vitori returned for his second spell. Nasir was the senior partner in his time at the crease with the captain and continued in that vein when he was joined by Abdur Razzak.Their partnership flourished at a run-rate of over six, with both application and assurance against the spinners. They found themselves needing to accelerate when Vitori returned for a third spell. Nasir took him on, but lofted straight to the fielder at long-on.Vitori’s dream introduction to the international arena continued with another stunning effort when he bowled Razzak with a full delivery. Bangladesh’s innings ended limply when Rubel Hossain was run out, 15 balls short of their allotted 50 overs.Bangladesh’s effort in the field was a little more promising. Shafiul Islam struck early, removing Taylor in his second over, inducing him to push outside off stump. The ball took the edge and was dying on Nafees at second slip, who completed a good catch.The early breakthrough gave Bangladesh something to work with, but as was the case in the first ODI, they were unable to maintain pressure, although their use of the new ball was markedly better. Abdur Razzak, however, had less success with his left-arm spin, with Sibanda using his feet well against him.Shakib and Mahmudullah operated in tandem with better results, managing to squeeze and force the batsmen to work them around the field. Sibanda and Masakadza were up for the task and found the gaps without needing to play a shot in anger.Shakib could have had Masakadza stumped when he was on 30 but Mushfiqur could not collect the ball. Mahmudullah ensured that the team only paid eight runs for their error. He lured Masakadza forward by tossing it up, and made him play for turn that wasn’t there. Mushfiqur didn’t repeat his mistake and took the bails off.Sibanda struggled at times against the short ball, but his mistimed pulls did not cost him and his driving remained impressive. His half-century came up with a lofted shot over Shafiul’s head. Taibu took eight balls to get off the mark but when he did, with a single, it opened the floodgates and his next scoring shot was a six over extra-cover.Rubel was only given two overs and even Ashraful was allowed to turn his arm. He dismissed Sibanda, who was stumped after going too far down the track. Taibu took his time when he needed to, but showed off the footwork that he is renowned for, taking on the spinners and playing a dominant role in his partnership with Craig Ervine.Taibu was dropped at deep midwicket on 46, a wicket that would have made no difference to the result, but it was fitting that he was there at the end. His exquisite pull off Ashraful took Zimbabwe home with 35 balls remaining.

Canada 239 for 4 (Patel 75) lead USA 166 by 73 runs
ScorecardCanada ended the first day of their two-day game against USA in Toronto in a commanding position, scoring 273 for 4 in reply to the visitors’ 166 all out. The first innings of both sides was limited to 45 over by arrangement, and so when play resumes USA will be starting their second innings.USA won the toss and stuck the Canadians in, but their bowlers failed to make much impression. Hiral Patel and Khushroo Wadia put on 71 for the first wicket, and then Patel and Rustam Bhatti 67 for the second. Patel was in particularly good form, smacking 75 off 85 deliveries before his innings was ended by a run-out. There was little respite for the USA, however, as Bhatti and Nitish Kumar added 71 for the third wicket.USA lost early wickets and the innings never regained anything like enough momentum. At 24 for 4 they seemed in deep trouble, but Jignesh Desai and Anand Tummala stopped the rot in a fifth-wicket stand of 61 but they were always off the pace and were eventually bowled out with 15 balls of their 45 over remaining.

The impasse in West Indies cricket continued with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) claiming that Chris Gayle has been “antagonistic and unrepentant” in the negotiations aimed at resolving their dispute, but kept the offer of a meeting open, to reach a compromise. The board was reacting to a long and emotional public statement from Gayle, who had said all attempts at reconciliation from the WICB were a “sham and a mockery”.”The WICB reiterates its stated position, that there is a history of difficulty in communicating with and relating to Mr Gayle and wishes to bring this matter to a resolution; but from his latest statement and his expressed views in the meetings with the WICB it would appear as though he is of the unshakeable view that he has conducted himself impeccably,” the board stated in a release. “The WICB insists that his conduct cannot simply be swept under the carpet as is the apparent desire of Mr Gayle.”The board said that Gayle would be made available for selection for the West Indies team, but not if he remained inflexible. “As previously communicated to Mr Gayle, the WICB wishes to ensure that Mr Gayle’s services remain available to West Indies cricket, but not at any cost and not on his inflexible take-it-or-leave-it terms.”There must be mutual respect and a commitment to put West Indies cricket first. The WICB has written to Gayle making it clear that it is willing to seek a compromise resolution. Gayle’s position is that he has nothing to account for and expects to be automatically reinstated to the West Indies team whenever he decides that he is available.”Even though at a follow up meeting between Mr Gayle and the team management, the head coach indicated what was required to assist in his return to the West Indies team, Gayle has refused and has demonstrated no inclination to compromise; instead he has been antagonistic and unrepentant in the entire process.”The board expressed its willingness to meet with Gayle and address the outstanding issues.Gayle wasn’t picked for the ongoing series against India owing to differences with the board, including issues over a widely-publicised radio interview with , in which he strongly criticised the WICB. The disputing parties met on June 15, but the rift only appeared to widen.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka’s captain and Man of the Match in the second Test at Lord’s, fears he will not be fit to play in the series decider at the Rose Bowl on June 16, after being advised to rest for three to four weeks following a hairline fracture to his right thumb.Dilshan’s first-innings 193 was the outstanding performance of a match that petered out into a stalemate on the final day, with England’s declaration target of 343 providing no incentive to take risks on an unresponsive wicket. Although he was padded up and ready to bat if needed, Dilshan stepped down from his opener’s role, and remained unused as Sri Lanka closed on 127 for 3.”At the moment I am out for the third Test,” said Dilshan at the close of play. “The physio and doctors have advised that it will take three to four weeks to heal. I have ten days [before the third Test] so if it’s a quick recovery, it might be that I can play, or else I’ll give a youngster a chance and be ready for the one-dayers.”That youngster is likely to be the 21-year-old left-hander, Lahiru Thirimanne, who played in three ODIs in 2009-10, but has yet to make his Test debut. He is now certain to play in Sri Lanka’s three-day warm-up against Essex later this week, with the prospect of higher honours to follow. “He is batting really well in the nets and ready to play international cricket,” said Dilshan. “I think if I can’t play, I can give him a chance to open the batting.”Despite the injury, Dilshan’s team-mate Mahela Jayawardene backed his captain to play through the pain. “If he’s ruled out, that is something we’ll need to cope with,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “But knowing him I reckon he’ll be okay to play the Test match.”After all, the way he batted on after two really painful blows shows what determination he has got, and though he didn’t field yesterday or bat today, that’s simply because we didn’t want to take any risks with him,” he added. “We wanted to give him three extra days to settle that sore thumb and see how it comes up.”He’ll now have five or six more days to rest and if he’s feeling well enough to hold a bat, I know he’ll want to play that Test match. If he’s not there, it’s going to be a big blow, but fingers crossed for him. Like we’ve always done when things get tough, we’ll back the guys to stand up just like they did in this match.”In Dilshan’s absence, the captaincy would pass to his predecessor, Kumar Sangakkara, who led the side in the field on the final two days of the Lord’s Test. “We have one more chance to level the series so we have to come out strong at the Rose Bowl and try to win and draw the series,” said Dilshan. “All the players have that mindset for playing good cricket at the moment.”Despite the obvious parallels with the situation in Cardiff, when Sri Lanka were left to bat for 51 overs on the final day and were bowled out for 82 in 24.4, Dilshan insisted that no such negative thoughts had crossed the team’s mind when Andrew Strauss’s afternoon declaration left them with 58 overs to negotiate at Lord’s.The draw was set up by another disciplined anchor role from Dilshan’s opening partner, Tharanga Paranavitana, who made 44, while the veteran Mahela Jayawardene also helped soak up the pressure of the situation in a 53-run stand for the second wicket.”We just talked about batting normally, whatever we got, 50 overs or whatever,” said Dilshan. “Just bat those 50 overs and don’t think about the result. They all played really well and I’m happy Mahela spent some time in the middle. The batting group did a great job.”