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Group B

S Badrinath was the linchpin of Tamil Nadu’s first innings•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Baroda look set to pick up their second victory of the season after taking 13 Punjab wickets on the third day at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. Punjab ended the day at 79 for 4 after following-on, still 96 runs behind the hosts. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt, who was the star of Baroda’s last win, against Haryana, took 4 for 59 in Punjab’s first innings, and then struck two more important blows in their second. Punjab’s troubles started early, as they lost two quick wickets in the morning to fall to 36 for 3. Punjab opener Sarul Kanwar, playing only his third first-class match, held up one end, getting 130, but with the middle-order devoid of Yuvraj Singh, who is in the India ODI squad for the series against New Zealand, the rest of Punjab’s batting crumbled. Following on, Punjab made a disastrous start, falling to 29 for 4, before Kanwar and Vishwas Bhalla put together a fifty-run partnership. Baroda were in pole position after three days in their last match against Uttar Pradesh before throwing it away on the final day, so will be wary of any complacence.
Manish Pandey and CM Gautam put Karnataka in control of their game against Orissa with an epic 328-run partnership that has turned the game on its head after the hosts had been 54 for 5 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Pandey eventually fell to Debasis Mohanty for an attacking 171, peppered with 16 fours and six sixes, while Gautam made a personal-best 158 from 234 balls, hitting 23 fours and one six. The last wicket pair of Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Aravind then rubbed salt in Orissa’s wound, adding 84 to take Karnataka past 500 before Aravind was bowled by Biplab Samantray for 33, leaving Mithun unbeaten on 63. Facing a deficit for 312, Orissa lost former India opener Shiv Sunder Das for a duck, but Natraj Behera and Nirajan Behera took them to 92 for 1 at close.Only nine overs were possible on the third day of the game between Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur. Play began at 4 p.m., with HP adding 14 runs to their overnight score of 9 for 2.

Group A

Mumbai hold a slight edge over Assam heading in to the final day of their game at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. The visitors began the day on 81 for 3 after most of the first two days had been lost to rain, and Tarjinder Singh and Dheeraj Jadhav made steady half-centuries in a partnership of 128 for the fourth wicket. However, Tarjinder’s departure, he was bowled by Iqbal Abdulla for 74, set off a mini-collapse as four wickets fell for 36 runs. Abu Nechim then played some aggressive shots in making 39 from 46 balls, with five fours and a six, to push Assam to 298. Jadhav was the eighth man to fall, having batted for just under seven hours and faced 269 balls for his 79. Mumbai slumped to 47 for 3, with Dhiraj Goswami removing the in-form pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Wasim Jaffer, but Sahil Kukreja and Abhishek Nayar steadied the innings, adding an unbeaten 44, to leave Mumbai trailing by 207 runs with seven wickets in hand.
It was a good day for Bengal at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, where they managed to bowl Gujarat out for 273 on the third day. The match had seen just 52 overs played over the first two days, due to rain interruptions, but 92 overs were bowled on Friday and Bengal made the most of them, giving themselves a good chance of picking up three points for a first-innings lead. Bengal, who are missing a number of players due to a viral fever, finished the day on 99 for 2. Bengal seamer Ranadeb Bose had taken three wickets on Thursday to leave Gujarat at 162 for 3, and it was allrounder Laxmi Shukla who did the damage on Friday, taking three wickets as Bengal picked seven wickets for 111 runs on the day. Bengal will have their captain Manoj Tiwary still at the wicket on the fourth morning, with Shukla, who scored a double-century in Bengal’s last match still to come.Chiraj Pathak and Bhushan Chauhan added 104 for the first wicket to help Saurashtra to 231or 6 against Delhi at the Khanderi Cricket Stadium in Rajkot. Both openers made identical scores of 58, although Chauhan took much longer than Pathak; he faced 151 deliveries compared to 95 for his partner. 17-year-old left-arm spinner, Vikas Mishra, got the initial breakthrough when he had Pathak caught. He would add three more wickets to end the day with 4 for 33. Jaydev Shah was 43 not out, with Kamlesh Makvana (6*) for company, at stumps. Since the opening two days were washed out, a result isn’t possible, and the only question is whether one side can pick up the three points on offer for a first-innings lead.
Tamil Nadu declared on 335 for 4 in a bid to get something out of their game against Railways at the Technology Chemplast Ground in Chennai Badrinath and Abhinav Mukund had pushed their partnership to 255 when Mukund was bowled by Vikas Tokas for 131, an innings that was studded with 16 fours. The hosts then called time on their first innings soon after S Badrinath fell for 149, having also struck 16 fours. In reply, Railways were 40 for no loss.

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New Zealand A bowled themselves into a position of complete control on the third day of the second unofficial Test, making Zimbabwe A follow-on, and then picking up four second-innings wickets to leave the hosts struggling to save the game.Malcolm Waller and Forster Mutizwa, who had steadied the innings on the second day after Zimbabwe had stumbled to 61 for 4, were going to be crucial if they were to avoid the follow-on. The duo began positively, adding 41 in the first six overs. However, Chris Martin struck a huge blow when he bowled Mutizwa for 47 with the first ball of the day’s seventh over. Zimbabwe slipped further in the next over, when Waller was run out by Martin Guptill for 53, while attempting a third run with the follow-on mark still 229 runs away.Timycen Maruma resisted with an aggressive half-century, slamming six fours and four sixes in his unbeaten 62 off 78 balls, but lacked support from the other batsmen. James Franklin ran through the lower order, finishing with his 14th first-class five-wicket haul, as Zimbabwe folded up for 256.They began promisingly in the follow-on innings with a 51-run opening stand. Brent Arnel, who was getting some movement off the seam, got the breakthrough, getting Tino Mawoyo caught by Tim McIntosh in the slips. Mutizwa was promoted three places to No. 3, and had motored along to 36 before Arnel struck again, getting him caught by Jamie How, again in the slips. Arnel then dismissed opener Steve Marillier, who had batted patiently for his 50. Punjab-born Auckland offspinner Bhupinder Singh removed Vusi Sibanda late in the afternoon to compound Zimbabwe’s woes as they slipped to 155 for 4.Zimbabwe’s hopes now rest on Waller, who remained unbeaten on 15, and Charles Coventry, yet to come in, if they are to save this match.

The ICC has launched an investigation into the third one-day international between England and Pakistan at The Oval after it received information from a newspaper before the game began alleging that bookies were aware of certain scoring patterns that occurred during the match.The ICC stated that “a full investigation is warranted”, confirming that the information it received in advance about certain scoring patterns during the game appeared to be correct. The information was passed on to the ICC by , which said it was based on details of calls between a person based in Dubai and a bookie in Delhi.The ICC, however, clarified that it was premature to suggest anything untoward had occurred during Pakistan’s 23-run victory on Friday.”A source informed newspaper that a certain scoring pattern would emerge during certain stages of the match and, broadly speaking, that information appeared to be correct,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said.”We therefore feel it is incumbent upon us to launch a full enquiry into this particular game, although it is worth pointing out at this stage that we are not stating as fact that anything untoward has occurred. Only in the fullness of the investigation can that be established.”The Pakistan board was unwilling to comment until further details were available, though PCB chairman Ijaz Butt arrived in Dubai on Saturday from Delhi. It isn’t clear whether the chairman was scheduled to fly back to Pakistan via Dubai or whether the latest allegations prompted the trip to the headquarters of the game’s governing body. A meeting with the ICC at some point is likely. “I don’t have any details as of now. We are just trying to gather all the facts right now, ” Butt told ESPNcricinfo.Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain, was also unaware of the report until it was read out to him, but clearly unimpressed, told ESPNcricinfo, “All this is rubbish.”The development came on the same day that Scotland Yard passed on to prosecutors an initial file of evidence on claims that Pakistan cricketers were involved in spot-fixing. It said evidence that there was a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers will be considered by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).Three Pakistan players – Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif – remain suspended by the ICC for their alleged role in the spot-fixing scandal that engulfed the Lord’s Test between Pakistan and England. The players, however, have filed appeals against the suspension.

A barrier of netting will separate spectators from the playing field at the WACA this summer as the ground authorities aim to prevent pitch invaders. Last season during an ODI in Perth, a man ran on to the field and tackled the Pakistan player Khalid Latif to the ground.The man was convicted of assault and trespass and was fined $9000, as well as being banned for life from the ground. However, the WACA is keen to prevent any similar incidents and the chief executive Graeme Wood said the netting was a way to protect the players without affecting the view for spectators.”Nets will be placed about two metres out from the fence and will be about 1.5 or 1.6 metres in height,” Wood said on the Perth radio station 6PR. “From the slope of the ground, and the slope of the banks, there will be no visual impairment. If you look east to west, you won’t even notice the netting.”Wood said patrons might also have their access to alcohol reduced if excessive drinking started to become a concern during one-day internationals. Fans can purchase four drinks at a time, but Wood said the WACA was considering halving that allowance.”Last year we had to cut it back to one drink per person at about 3pm during the one-dayer,” he said. “There are no issues with the Twenty20 crowd; we have very little problems with the Test matches.”With the one-day internationals it seems to be a small element of the crowd that are forcing us to take these sorts of measures. We’re not saying we’re going to impose one-drink rules from the start of play but we’re looking at cutting it from four to two. This year it will be a very safe environment for everyone that comes to the WACA.”

ScorecardJames Taylor struck his third County Championship century of the season as Leicestershire’s batsmen dominated on the third day against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. The 20-year-old passed the 1,000-run mark in this season’s Championship en route to a magnificent 156 off 316 balls as the visitors declared on 448 for 9. The hosts, who made 250 in their first innings, had reached 10 for 1 in their second when bad light ended play.Former England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon contributed 65 with Northamptonshire debutant David Burton claiming 5 for 75 – his last four dismissals came in the space of 14 balls. Leicestershire started the day on 159 for 2 – 91 runs behind Northamptonshire’s first innings total – with Greg Smith resuming on 102 and Taylor on 32.Smith was to add just two more to his overnight total before he left a straight delivery from former Middlesex seamer Burton and looked back to see his leg stump being toppled. But Taylor hung around to complete a patient half-century off 118 balls including one six launched over midwicket.Veteran Nixon also made a fluent fifty off 75 balls before Taylor made it to his century – his sixth in first-class cricket – off 210 balls after lunch. Jack Brooks finally broke up the partnership after they had added 132 between them, when he forced Nixon to edge his delivery to wicketkeeper David Murphy.Leicestershire keeper Tom New and Taylor added 68 runs for the fifth wicket together before the tea interval with the visitors on 365 for 4. New, who made 43, only lasted until the second over after the restart before he slashed James Middlebrook to David Lucas at backward point.Taylor reached his milestone in the following over before going on to 150 off 308 balls, but he finally holed out in the 129th over. He launched Burton high into the air and David Sales ran to short third man to take the catch. Jigar Naik (27) edged the next ball to Sales at second slip and Burton then claimed his five-for when he forced Nathan Buck (two) to play onto his stumpsand bowled Leicestershire captain Matthew Hoggard with the next ball for nought.The visitors declared during a brief delay for bad light, giving them a lead of 198. Northamptonshire lost stand-in captain Stephen Peters (four) when he was trapped lbw by Buck in the second over, before bad light brought play to a close with five overs left. Mal Loye and Alex Wakely were unbeaten on four and two respectively at stumps.

ScorecardSomerset limped to their seventh Clydesdale Bank 40 win in seven games by beating the Unicorns by three wickets at Exmouth.Marcus Trescothick’s side shook off the loss of their skipper to a second ball duck to chase down their target of 167 with two overs to spare. A second-wicket stand of 67 in 14 overs between Nick Compton (64) and Craig Kieswetter (30) broke the back of the semi-professional team’s resistance. The result was rarely in doubt after the Unicorns made just 166 for 9.Trescothick was bowled by an inswinger from Neil Saker for a duck, but the ex-Surrey seamer’s opening partner Jonathan Miles then received some punishment from Kieswetter and Compton as they took advantage of the powerplay.Kieswetter eventually pulled medium-pacer Glenn Querl to deep backward square-leg and Devon star Neil Hancock forced Zander de Bruyn to play on in the next over. Compton reached his 50 from 66 balls with four fours and one six, a lofted cover drive off Miles. And Compton and James Hildreth took the game away from the Unicorns with a stand of 58 in 13 overs before the latter was adjudged lbw to Tom Sharp for 29.Jos Buttler has developed a reputation as a one-day finisher in his first full season at senior level and he and Compton took the powerplay in the 34th over. Buttler smashed Querl straight for six but Compton attempted the same shot and picked out long-on. Pete Trego and Ben Phillips then both popped up catches off Querl but by then the game was already over as a contest.De Bruyn had been the pick of Somerset’s bowlers with 3 for 27 from his eight overs. Alfonso Thomas had Jackson Thompson caught behind in the third over before Josh Knappett pulled Trego to square-leg. Chris Murtagh cut de Bruyn to Compton at point before home captain Keith Parsons edged Murali Kartik to Trescothick at first slip for 20.Sean Park flayed de Bruyn high to Trego at third man before top-scorer Michael O’Shea’s 40 came to an end when he skied leg-spinner Max Waller to deep mid-off. Waller had a second wicket in as many balls when Hancock went back and missed a cut to be bowled for 19.De Bruyn’s third wicket saw Sharp edge him behind and Kieswetter also caught Saker to give Phillips a third wicket before Querl (28 not out) helped reach respectability.

ScorecardStephen Moore crashed 51 not out off 24 balls to underpin his side’s nine-wicket win•PA Photos

Lancashire reached the quarter-finals of the Friends Provident t20 for the fourth season running after beating North Division leaders Nottinghamshire. In the process, they gained revenge for a comprehensive defeat at Trent Bridge earlier in the competition and were also thankful for Warwickshire’s win over Yorkshire at Edgbaston.The result continued Lancashire’s impressive record at Old Trafford – they have only lost eight times in eight seasons here, including two this summer. But, despite restricting David Hussey’s side to a below par 136 for 7 after the Australian won the toss and elected to bat, they were forced to chase a Duckworth-Lewis altered target of 81 off 10 overs after an hour’s rain delay.Stephen Moore crashed 51 not out off 24 balls to underpin his side’s nine-wicket win with 10 balls to spare. Alex Hales was the only man who went beyond 11 for the visitors, notching his fourth half-century and finishing with a career-best 83 off 61. He was dropped on 24 by Moore at deep square leg off the bowling of Tom Smith in the seventh over.Hales hit eight fours and a six over midwicket off Sajid Mahmood before being bowled by left-armer Gary Keedy to leave the score at 129 for 7 after 19 overs. Keedy was playing his first game of the season after breaking his right collarbone in a pre-season friendly. He finished with 2 for 27 from his four overs, also dismissing Chris Read.Stand-in captain Mark Chilton opened the bowling with Nathan McCullum and Simon Kerrigan, both spinners, and McCullum finished with 2 for 23. The New Zealander had Ally Brown caught at mid-on by Steven Croft with the fourth ball of the match and later had Steven Mullaney caught and bowled. Mullaney was the only other Notts player to hit a boundary aside from Hales.Smith also chipped in with 2 for 6 but he only bowled two overs. The medium pacer had Matt Wood and Samit Patel caught at mid-wicket and mid on by Chilton and Mahmood respectively. Smith and Moore then shared 43 for the first wicket inside five overs in a definitive opening stand. But Smith was trapped lbw by Ryan Sidebottom for 16.Moore hit sixes over square leg and midwicket off Darren Pattinson and Dirk Nannes in the first two overs of the reply. A feature of the home side’s batting was also their running between the wickets, turning ones into twos on a regular basis.Moore hit a 24-ball half-century in a win against Yorkshire last Friday but bettered that by one ball tonight. Croft (15 not out off 12 balls) hit Graeme White for six over long on to confirm the win. Notts still need a victory from their last two matches to guarantee a home draw in the last eight.

Ricky Ponting has brushed off Paul Collingwood’s comments that England will “go hard” in the first ODI in Southampton on Tuesday. Collingwood emphasised the importance of getting on top of Australia early in the tour, as they did in 2005 when England thumped Ponting’s men at the Rose Bowl in a Twenty20 and went on to claim the Ashes.”You’ve got to go hard at them,” Collingwood said. “We’ve learnt that over the last five or six years. If you go hard at them and it comes off, it puts them under a lot of pressure. The 2005 series was a prime example.”But Ponting dismissed the talk and said the game at the Rose Bowl would be no different to any other international fixture.”Isn’t that what international cricket is all about?” Ponting said. “I would expect that they would come out aggressive in every match that they play. I can’t see why they would want to come out aggressive in one match and not another game.”So that is just words, it does not mean anything. It is about level of cricket that you bring to the table when it matters under pressure. We’ll be ready for that.”However, Australia will be without Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin from their first-choice line-up, while the fringe ODI fast men Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle are also missing due to injury. The ongoing absence of the injured Brett Lee from the attack leaves the bowling group lacking experience.Doug Bollinger, Ryan Harris and Clint McKay will be Australia’s frontline seamers and between them they have 45 one-day internationals to their names. Despite Australia’s strong recent record – they have won their past six ODI series as well as the Champions Trophy – Ponting said it would be tough to beat England at home.”You would probably think that we have got our work cut out for us to win this series but we are looking forward to the challenge,” Ponting said. “I have great belief in this group and great belief in what they have inside themselves.”

ScorecardA last-ball boundary by Darren Maddy ended Warwickshire’s two-match losing streak in the Friends Provident t20 as they snatched a six-wicket win against Derbyshire at Edgbaston.Needing 14 from the last over to overhaul the Falcons’ 148 for 7, Warwickshire got home after a rare lapse by Charl Langeveldt – the South African with a reputation as one of the best ‘death’ bowlers in the world. Langeveldt’s fourth delivery was a huge wide, spearing down the leg-side for a boundary, which gave Maddy the opportunity to finish the job with an unbeaten 25.Acting captain, Jim Troughton led Warwickshire’s challenge with 58 from 41 balls in his fifth game since taking over from county skipper Ian Westwood for the duration of the competition. Troughton was caught on the long-off boundary off Langeveldt after hitting four fours and two sixes, but his partnership of 66 with Jonathan Trott (44) put Warwickshire in contention before the England batsman fell to Tim Groenewald.The fourth-wicket pair eased some of the pressure after a double strike by Derbyshire. Loots Bosman ran out Neil Carter with a swift return from cover and Ian Bell did not have time to benefit from his day release from the England one-day squad. A loose drive to cover off former Edgbaston team-mate Groenewald cost him his wicket after making two from eight balls.Derbyshire also had to rebuild after a troubled start. In eight deliveries from Carter and Chris Woakes, they lost Wes Durston, top edging to square leg, Bosman and Chesney Hughes, both caught by Troughton at backward point.Greg Smith (30) and Garry Park (28) partially corrected the situation in a stand of 63 during which the two South African-born batsmen batted sensibly in picking off just seven boundaries in their eight overs together.Former Derbyshire spinner Ant Botha and left-arm seamer Keith Barker finally nailed the fourth-wicket pair with catches by wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose and Woakes. Derbyshire still finished with a flourish thanks to a positive approach by John Sadler. In 28 balls the left hander hit two sixes and two fours in an unbeaten 38 and Derbyshire gave themselves a chance by taking 26 from the last two overs.

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Alex Wakely’s half-century helped Northamptonshire to a thrilling three-wicket victory over Championship leaders Sussex on day three at Wantage Road.Wakely’s 51 from 127 balls, aided by former captain Nicky Boje’s explosive 42 from 56 balls, steered the hosts towards their win after they had been left struggling on 88 for 5. Three wickets apiece for Jack Brooks and Lee Daggett helped Northamptonshire, who have announced the signature of former Sri Lanka bowler Chaminda Vaas, to bowl out Sussex for 274, leaving the hosts with a target of 171, which they reached inside 49 overs.At the start of the third day Sussex had resumed on 137 for 2, 38 runs ahead of Northants, with Michael Thornley and captain Murray Goodwin on 45 and 21 respectively. Thornley completed a patient half-century from 138 balls, but he added just one more run before he edged Daggett to Ireland wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien.England keeper Matt Prior came to the crease, but he went without troubling the scorers when he was trapped lbw in Brooks’ first over of the day. Goodwin made it to 39 before he was superbly caught at second slip by David Sales off the bowling of Daggett.The collapse continued when Andrew Hodd (5) gave Wakely the easiest of catches at mid-wicket before James Middlebrook was brought into the attack and he trapped Ollie Rayner (27) lbw.David Willey grabbed the wicket of Rana Naved (7) in the second over after lunch when a loose shot from the Pakistan international went to Sales at second slip. James Anyon made just a single before Brooks sent his off stump spinning and Robin Martin-Jenkins was left unbeaten on 55 off 71 balls after Corey Collymore (5) was pinned leg before by Willey.Early in the Northamptonshire chase, Stephen Peters went past 10,000 first-class career runs before he went for just four when Naved trapped him lbw. Fellow opener O’Brien made 24 before his drive off Collymore went towards Anyon at wide mid-on and he took a fantastic catch low down to his left.Anyon then forced Sales (12) to play on to his off stump to leave Northants on 57 for three, before Rob White (9) was caught and bowled by Rayner in the first over after tea. Home captain Andrew Hall, who faced four balls without scoring, then became the next batsman out lbw, dismissed by Rayner.Chris Nash claimed the wickets of Boje and Wakely, caught by Collymore and Prior respectively after valuable scores, before Middlebrook and Willey ensured Northamptonshire claimed their third win of the season.