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Highlights of the day

Cheteshwar Pujara blasted his highest score in Twenty20 cricket, as Saurashtra thrashed Jammu & Kashmir by 73 runs in Kochi. Pujara slammed five fours and sixes each during a 55-ball 81, and shared a 70-run partnership with Chirag Jani, who stroked 38 off 19 balls. Their efforts lifted Sauarashtra to 157 for 7. J&K failed to string together a single meaningful stand in their chase, and folded for 84 inside 18 overs, with only two batsmen managing double-digit scores. Dharmendrasinh Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers, ending with figures of 3.1-0-19-3.Gujarat nearly made a mess of a small chase against Hyderabad in Nagpur, but Parthiv Patel’s 70-run blitz ensured the team had enough gas in the tank to register a three-wicket win. Set 132 for victory, Parthiv drilled eight fours and three sixes during a 40-ball 70, and added 99 for the opening wicket with Priyank Kirit Panchal. Parthiv’s dismissal in the 12th over triggered a slide, as Gujarat lost seven wickets for just 30 runs, but held on to complete the chase with three balls to spare.Domestic heavyweights Karnataka suffered their second defeat of the season, going down to Uttar Pradesh by five wickets in Cuttack. Karnataka, opting to bat, compiled a total of 160 for 6, thanks to a 40-ball 45 from Mohammed Talha, and handy lower-order knocks from CM Gautam and Aniruddha Joshi. UP, though, gunned that total down with relative ease, as their top and middle order all got in among the runs. The opener Prashant Gupta top-scored with 48, while Suresh Raina carried forward the momentum by smoking a 15-ball 28 with three sixes.Biplab Samantray’s maiden T20 ton went in vain, as Odisha failed to defend 183 against Maharashtra. Samantray thumped a 59-ball 102, and put up 155 for the third wicket with Govinda Poddar, but important knocks of 44 and 49 from Prayag Bhati and Ankit Bawne respectively helped Maharashtra to a last-ball win.

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When your batsmen score nearly 400 runs in 50 overs and your bowlers and fielders then lead you to a comprehensive win, it’s only understandable that the coach is pleased.Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, praised his side’s ODI batting line-up, fresh from mauling Pakistan to the tune of 392 runs, and added that they would not relent for the rest of the series.Arthur was particularly happy that the batsmen built on good starts and added, “Add Herschelle Gibbs to that batting line-up and you have something special.”Gibbs, having served his suspension for referring in improper language to Pakistan supporters, will be available when the second ODI is played in Durban on Wednesday. Loots Bosman is expected to drop out to make room for Gibbs, who will bat number four while Jacques Kallis will move to one-down.Arthur said his team had batted, bowled and fielded well. “We showed we had taken our fielding, in particular, to new heights. Now we plan to provide our best players with as much match practice as possible ahead of the World Cup tournament. Therefore, we won’t easily change the winning combination.Despite beating them by ten wickets and 164 runs over the weekend, Arthur warned against not taking Pakistan seriously. “We also realise Pakistan can regain their best form at any time and we are not taking them lightly.”We have to maintain that momentum and put Pakistan under even more pressure.”

A spicy, green-tinged MCG pitch came under significant scrutiny after a 20-wicket Boxing Day blockbuster in which both Australia and England were bowled out cheaply.Matt Page, the MCG curator, said ahead of the fourth Ashes Test that he hoped to replicate the pitch he had prepared for last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy fixture, which Australia won in the final session of day five. But this Test looks highly unlikely to last into a fourth day, let alone a fifth, after ball dominated bat in front of a record crowd.Page left 10mm of grass on the surface, 3mm more than he had last year, and fast bowlers on both sides found substantial seam movement throughout the day. England have not picked a frontline spinner all series, but Australia’s decision to play an all-seam attack was a reflection of conditions and both captains wanted to bowl first at the toss in unseasonably cool weather.Related

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Ex-players from both sides blamed the pitch – more so than the attacking approach or technical shortcoming of both sets of batters – for the fact that 20 wickets fell on the opening day, with Stuart Broad and Glenn McGrath leading the criticism.”The pitch is doing too much, if I’m brutally honest. Test match bowlers don’t need this amount of movement to look threatening,” Broad said, commentating on SEN Radio. “Great Test matches pitches, generally, they bounce, but they don’t jag all over the place.”Glenn McGrath told the BBC: “This pitch has got far too much grass on it… That pitch has got too much life in it for Test cricket… The Australians bowled well [but] it’s hard to apply yourself on a pitch that’s doing plenty because if you’re looking to defend, one’s got your name on it. You’ve got to find that balance between somehow keeping balls out while still looking to score.”MCG pitches have been far more sporting in recent years after the batter-friendly surface was heavily criticised during the 2017-18 Ashes Test, which saw 24 wickets fall across five days. Alastair Cook, who scored 244 not out in that match, said that the balance had tipped too far the other way.”The bowlers didn’t have to work hard for their wickets,” Cook said on TNT Sports. “It was an unfair contest. I don’t know how you hit it [the ball]. If this flattens out tomorrow then fine, it’s an even contest over three or four days. But I don’t think this is particularly even.”Brett Lee, another former fast bowler, joked on Fox Cricket that Pat Cummins “was almost going to go back to the hotel to pick up his spikes” after seeing the pitch, having ruled himself out of the rest of the series as he continues his rehabilitation from a back injury.Scott Boland claimed the big wicket of Harry Brook•AFP/Getty Images

“I think there’s a bit too much in it,” Lee said. “I wouldn’t be complaining at the end of the day if I was a [current] fast bowler. It’s a different surface: it’s that furry feeling. I rubbed my hand on the side of the wicket this morning, and you can feel the grass lift up.”This is the second time in the series that all 22 players have batted on the opening day of a Test match, after 19 wickets fell in Perth on a pitch that was ultimately rated “very good” by the ICC – though was described as a “piece of s***” by Australia’s Usman Khawaja.The ball appeared to deviate more off the seam at the MCG than in Perth, with several balls moving sharply after pitching – including Josh Tongue’s delivery to clean up Steven Smith, and Scott Boland’s nip-backers to Harry Brook (pinned lbw) and Jamie Smith (bowled through the gate).Michael Neser was Australia’s outstanding performer on the opening day, top-scoring with a counter-attacking 35 from No. 8 before taking 4 for 45 to help bowl England out inside 30 overs. He suggested that the pitch might yet flatten out, and defended the attacking approach that both sets of batters took.”The ball definitely nipped around a bit there with the new rock, so it was just a matter of trying to find ways to put pressure back on their bowlers – and knowing that, when we bowled, we had to just be patient and let the wicket do the work,” Neser said.”Going into it, you knew it was going to nip around with the amount of grass there, but traditionally it can flatten out here, so we’ll see how it pans out… I don’t want to go into tomorrow with the preconception of ‘the wicket’s going to be doing a lot’ because it can flatten, and we’ve just got to stick to our processes.”I think you have to change the way you approach it because bowlers are so good at just holding their length nowadays, so you have to actually put pressure back on them as a batter. I know it can look streaky at times, but at times that’s the only way to score: be brave and come at them.”

Dimitri Mascarenhas’s life has changed considerably in the couple of months since he was part of England’s one-day squad in New Zealand. He has been named Hampshire captain after Shane Warne terminated his deal, but more significantly he will be the only England representative in the Indian Premier League.His three-year deal with Jaipur came about after Warne made contact with Mascarenhas following the first round of auctions. Some hasty negotiations followed before a contract was signed, although for this season he will only be part of the IPL for two weeks in mid-May, with the possibility of returning for the final on June 1 if Jaipur make it through.In recent weeks the ECB have been trying to convince people that England players won’t be joining the IPL, a stance reiterated in some bullish comments from the chairman, Giles Clarke. However, there has been a subtle shift in attitude from some leading lights with Kevin Pietersen the most high-profile player to say that they should be given a slice of the action.Mascarenhas has yet to find out how envious some of his England team-mates are, but being a non-centrally contracted player clearly has its advantages. It allowed him to come to a deal with Hampshire which didn’t involve the ECB and he doesn’t feel his international career will be jeopardised. Future seasons of the IPL could be moved to avoid conflict and Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, has already said that international commitments will take precedence.”If you look around, all the other players can take part in the IPL and still play for their countries,” he said. “I’m not missing any one-dayers or anything. I suppose there is an element of risk, but speaking to the hierarchy – Hugh Morris, Geoff Miller and Peter Moores – they are all pretty positive about it and don’t see too much of a problem. They couldn’t guarantee me anything, obviously they can’t, but they all seemed very positive.””I did all the negotiations with Rod [Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman] and he’s been really supportive of what I want to do. He thinks it’s a good opportunity for me, but also for Hampshire to be involved.”Mascarenhas is fairly relaxed about the whole affair, and thinks the experience of bowling to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and facing Brett Lee will be benefit his game, even though he has little idea of what to expect when he arrives next month.”Because I got in late I literally don’t know anything about it,” he said. “All I know is the dates, I don’t know where I’m going to be. I’ll just meet up with Warney and the rest of the team when I get there. I’ll be getting some good cricket, playing with and against world-class players. I can’t see why more won’t do it in the future.”Hampshire, though, will have to do without their captain for two weeks while Mascarenhas is away. “At the time I signed I didn’t know the captaincy situation would come up, but there are a couple of guys lined up who could take over,” he said.One name suggested by Mascarenhas as a stand-in was Nic Pothas. He has spent parts of his winter with the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the unofficial event which has caused the ECB more headaches even though it hardly clashes with the domestic season. Hampshire, too, were unimpressed when Pothas took up his ICL deal, but clubs are having to find pragmatic solutions as cricket’s changing face makes an impact on English shores.

Mickey Arthur has said that he has been impressed with his first look of the local talent assembled by Dhaka Dynamites. The team’s head coach believes that hunger within the young Bangladeshi cricketers will help his side.Dynamites’ icon pick had to be Nasir Hossain as they were the last team to be drawn in the lottery in the draft last month. But they picked the sensational Mustafizur Rahman with their first pick and also took Mosharraf Hossain (Man of the Match in 2013 BPL final), Mosaddek Hossain Saikat (who made three first-class double-centuries this year), Shamsur Rahman, Shykat Ali, Farhad Reza, Nabil Samad, Abul Hasan and Irfan Sukkur.Shamsur, Farhad and Abul have played international cricket for Bangladesh while Shykat and Sukkur are impressive young domestic batsmen.This is Arthur’s first stint coaching in Bangladesh although he last toured as coach of the South Africa team in 2008. He was also impressed by how the Dhaka franchise contacted him and has so far run the team.”We have a good bunch of talented young players but T20 is all about one performance,” Arthur said. “Their work ethic has been outstanding, they work incredibly hard. It has been a pleasure. They are looking to make a name for themselves in Bangladesh cricket. If you have guys who are willed to learn and play, you have a recipe of some success.”What interested me are the good talented youngsters out here. The Dhaka Dynamites is very well organised, which also interested me. The communication with everyone was brilliant. They seemed like a professional outfit. I haven’t been let down, it has been a fantastic experience so far.”Arthur said that the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Yasir Shah and Ryan ten Doeschate will add experience to the Dynamites squad. Apart from these three, they have Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Sohail Khan and Shahzaib Hasan and it is understood that Zimbabwe batsman Malcolm Waller, who scored 68 and 40 in T20s against Bangladesh last week, could soon join them.”I have been really impressed by the local talent. I don’t want to single out anybody. We have Sanga, Yasir Shah and Ryan ten Doeschate; those guys just add the little bit of international experience to the squad. The young players have been trained extremely well and are hungry for success,” Arthur said.Arthur said that while coaching in the Caribbean Premier League he saw how the T20 tournament helped local cricketers learn more from the international players, and hoped the same would happen for the uncapped Bangladeshi cricketers.”It gives international exposure to all the young players that are playing with international superstars. The experience rubs off on them. It just provides them with such a good base to work from.”I coached in the CPL and just seeing what that does for West Indian cricket, I suspect the BPL is going to do exactly the same for Bangladesh cricket.”

A half-century from Vijay Shankar and an all-round performance from R Sathish propelled Tamil Nadu to a 37-run win against Andhra at the MRF Pachayappas ground. Having chosen to bat, Tamil Nadu moved to 101 for 4 courtesy useful contributions from their top order before Shankar (69 off 49 balls) and Sathish (32 not out off 14) combined to add 76 in just 41 balls to power Tamil Nadu to a total of 179 for 5.Sathish then dismissed both Andhra openers over the course of a tight four-over quota in which he only conceded 18 runs. Hanuma Vihari (37 off 34) and Ricky Bhui (61 off 44) revived Andhra with a 75-run third-wicket stand, but the asking rate was climbing steadily, and they needed 79 off 32 balls when Vihari fell. Andhra couldn’t keep up, and eventually finished on 142 for 6, with two of their last three wickets falling to run-outs.A stifling bowling display helped Karnataka defend 148 and hand Hyderabad their first defeat of the tournament at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. A 66-run opening stand between Tanmay Agarwal (22) and Akshath Reddy (42 off 32 balls) gave Hyderabad an excellent start to their chase, but they struggled to keep up with the required rate thereafter as the left-arm seamer S Aravind (3 for 25) and left-arm spinner J Suchith (2 for 18) struck regular blows. S Badrinath remained unbeaten on 37, but wickets fell steadily around him and he himself only managed three fours in a 31-ball innings as Hyderabad finished on 134 for 6.After they chose to bat, Karnataka’s innings was built around two significant contributions. Opener Mayank Agarwal made 65 off 55 balls, while their No. 5 Pavan Deshpande scored 32 off 24. The two added 63 for the fourth wicket after Karnataka had slipped to 49 for 3, and eventually set them up for a total of 148 for 7. Left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan was Hyderabad’s most successful bowler with figures of 3 for 16.A three-wicket haul from the medium-pacer Basil Thampi and two wickets each from Jalaj Saxena and Raiphi Gomez helped Kerala bowl Goa out for 86 and beat them by nine wickets. Choosing to bat, Goa’s innings never got going, with only Swapnil Asnodkar (23) and Keenan Vaz (22) getting past 20. Their innings lasted only 18.4 overs.Kerala’s chase was even shorter, lasting only 7.5 overs. Vishnu Vinod plundered 35 off 13 balls in a 40-run opening stand with Mohammed Azharudeen (22*), who then finished the match in the company of Rohan Prem (24*).

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

A smattering of spectators had come to see the obvious denouement to what had hitherto been a lopsided contest but were instead treated to a gritty fightback by Bangladesh. The hope held out by a spirited 86-run opening stand between Shahriar Nafees and Javed Omar and a 67-run stand between Rajin Saleh and Mohammad Ashraful was however frittered away towards the end as Ashraful committed hara-kiri and Bangladesh trailed by 255 runs, with five wickets standing, at stumps at the Sinhalese Sports Club.Sri Lanka’s first challenge was served even before a ball had been bowled. Vaashad fired a barb, perhaps as well-intended advice, at the visitors lastevening. “Bangladesh’s players should put their heads down, concentrate more. You can’tthrow away your wicket at this level.”Omar and Nafees seemed to have taken the suggestion to heart. The action began in the fourth over of the day when Omar unleashedthree square drives – a couple of which were played uppishly and kept Chaminda Vaasinterested in bowling full – that crashed into the cover-point boundary.Nafees drove one elegantly down the ground in the next Vaas over andsuddenly the batsmen had begun to find their feet.But the contest of the first session was between Nafees and Muttiah Muralitharan, whocame on in the ninth over. There was a man at deep midwicket and one at long leg yet Nafees went for his slog sweeps. Murali adjusted bybowling fuller and he was drilled down the ground, and once, through thecover region. After he was slog swept for yet another boundary, Muraliripped one full and outside off. Nafees attempted another slog sweep butmisjudged the length and the ball went to the left ofMurali, who pulled off a sharp catch.The bowling got more incisive in the second session as the seamers foundsome reverse swing; Lasith Malinga slung in furious yorkers which dipped inlate to threaten the toe if not the stumps, while Vaas got hisoffcutters to tease the outside edge and the batsmen were on the back foot.Malinga was the first to strike. A searing yorker crashed into the backboot catching Omar plumb and leaving him hobbling in pain. Jayawardene immediately went for the kill and replaced Murali with Vaas, whostarted to get the ball to cut away from the batsmen. Saleh hung on, stabbing at afew that didn’t carry to the slips. Habibul Bashar played a few drives but Vaas induced a nick fromone such attempted drive.

Even Murali looked more dangerous in the second session. There wasn’t muchbite in the track, which offered slow spin, and Murali had to rely on flightand variation to test the batsmen. Ashraful and Saleh approached him withdifferent techniques: while Ashraful chose to lunge forward to smother thespin, Saleh preferred to go back and play it off the track. Both edged afew on to the pad to keep the close-in fielders interested but none poppedup into the palms.The game entered the final session, something that had looked remote afterBangladesh’s dismal first-innings display. Saleh played an immensely patientknock, the state of play fitted him to a T. All he had to do was defend and forget about scoring runs. He got into a few problems whilepressing forward and was reprieved twice, on 37 and 43. On the firstoccasion he hung his bat out at a Fernando delivery but Kumar Sangakkaralet him off at first slip; he then played a loose defensive prod at Muraliwithout leaning fully forward but a simple chance was messed up by MalingaWarnapura at short-leg.Fernando, who was the best seamer on view in the pre-lunch period,continued to steam in in the last session. Balls leapt up from a sluggishtrack, surprising the batsmen into ungainly prods. After seeing Salehhanging back to keep away his short-pitched stuff, he went around thewicket to change the angle. He slipped in a few full-pitched deliveriesthat went with the angle to beat the bat. He would have got his man hadSangakkara held a relatively simple chance.Fernando’s duel with Ashraful was equally fascinating. There was a volley of bouncers, some of which hit the gloves and a couple crashed into shoulderbut Ashraful, who had got out pulling in the first innings, desisted fromattacking.Ashraful was admirably patient for the best part of his stay but the demon ofimpatience resurfaced every now and then. He had faced 94 balls for just 22 whenhe charged down the track to Murali to loft him just over mid on. Thatfour had a rather strange effect on Ashraful. He twice tried to reversesweep Murali in the same over and was lucky to get away the second timewhen Asad Rauf negated a close shout for lbw.However, 32 balls after that shout, the adrenalin rush returned toterminate his knock. Saleh had just fallen but Ashraful charged out toMurali only to hole out to long on. The Bangladesh wall had begun to crack.

England 213 for 7 (Bopara 43*, Broad 45*) beat India 212 (Yuvraj 71, Tendulkar 55, Broad 4-51, Anderson 3-38) by 3 wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad, two England players with bright futures, shone under the Old Trafford floodlights to lift their team from the brink of defeat to a three-wicket victory and a 3-1 lead in the series. Coming together with 99 still needed to overhaul India’s 212, they formed a record eighth-wicket stand for England and Broad registered career-best performances with bat and ball as the target was achieved with two overs to spare.The pair showed a maturity that had escaped the top order except for Paul Collingwood. Leaving behind the patient approach which served them so well while batting first in the previous games, they played as though warming up for next month’s Twenty20 World Championship. The partnership between Bopara and Broad went to the other extreme, as the run-chase began to resemble Test cricket. It was compelling viewing.Slowly but surely they knocked off the runs with calm, correct batting. Broad survived a close lbw shout, against Piyush Chawla, on 25, but as the target slipped below 50, India began to fret and mistakes crept into their game. The fielding, which had held relatively firm, creaked again with overthrows and fumbles and the pressure got to the bowlers.When Zaheer Khan was recalled for a second spell, Broad drove him off the back foot with such class that his father would have been proud. He repeated the shot off Sachin Tendulkar, between which Chawla sent down five wides to aid England’s cause, and Ajit Agarkar’s final over also included two wides to spoil his earlier four-wicket burst.Broad was looking like the Test No. 7 that everyone hopes he will eventually become, driving Chawla through the covers off the front foot and it was he who hit the winning runs. Bopara, however, was equally impressive. At the World Cup, he took England to within two runs of a remarkable run-chase against Sri Lanka and this time he was able to see the job through. By the end England had the run of play, as airy shots fell into gaps but they deserved the good fortune for the earlier hard work.It will be a huge fillip for this England team to know they can pull themselves round from the trouble they were in at 114 for 7, however, they will realise they shouldn’t have left it to two players with a combined age of 43. Alastair Cook and Matt Prior were gone within the first four overs, while Ian Bell played in an unusually expansive manner, forgetting how successful he had been with accumulating in the early overs.England were playing in a different manner now they had a target to chase, even though it was considerably smaller than the totals they had reached batting first. After using more edge than middle, Bell didn’t offer any bat at all to Agarkar and watched the ball nip back off the seam and take off stump.It has been a feisty second half to the summer since India arrived and Kevin Pietersen’s arrival at the crease rarely suggests a period of calm. He and Collingwood counter-attacked as England stayed well ahead of the asking-rate. However, with the match heading England’s way Agarkar, back for a second spell, banged one in at Pietersen who lofted it to Chawla at square leg. Andrew Flintoff played a stiff-legged drive and Owais Shah was undone by a beautifully flighted delivery from Ramesh Powar.All the while Collingwood was playing a captain’s innings, but when he was run-out by RP Singh, from backward point, England had virtually thrown away their chances. Then their new-found one-day resilience made another appearance.

The Man-of-the-Match award was an easy decision after Broad also bagged 4 for 51 as India struggled to 212. Even when they weren’t losing wickets, progress was slow, the main stand of 71 between Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh taking nearly 18 overs.It ended in the most unlikely fashion when Tendulkar pulled a Pietersen long-hop down Flintoff’s throat at deep square-leg. Pietersen, never one to miss such a moment, celebrated with Brett Lee-style fist pumping. Tendulkar’s half-century was a painstaking affair but he only played as he was allowed to by the outstanding efforts of England’s three frontline fast bowlers.However, the cheers for the early wickets paled in comparison with the roar that greeted Flintoff’s introduction in the 12th over. This was his first international appearance on his home ground since the Ashes Test in 2005 and his first ODI here since 2003. It took him just six balls to get on the scoreboard when Rahul Dravid nibbled outside the off stump after facing a hostile opening over.Monty Panesar, back on a happy hunting ground, produced one of his more effective one-day spells and his dismissal of Mahendra Singh Dhoni was classic. A flighted delivery on middle gripped and spun past Dhoni’s forward lunge and hit off stump. Yuvraj briefly broke free; taking 16 off Broad’s eighth over in his 104-ball 71, but the young fast bowler had his revenge when a leg-stump yorker breached Yuvraj’s defences. Powar followed two balls later as Broad took a four-wicket haul for the first time in one-day internationals, but his day in the spotlight was far from finished.

Scorecard