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Jim Allenby scored an unbeaten 74 to give Glamorgan a fighting chance after Hampshire’s bowlers had begun well in Dimitri Mascarenhas final home match

Alex Winter at the Ageas Bowl07-Sep-2013
ScorecardJim Allenby played a composed innings of 74 not out before chipping in with two wickets in a miserly spell•PA PhotosJim Allenby has been the saviour of Glamorgan this season. He is so prized the county secured him on a new four-year contract in August; some deal for a 30-year-old. But his value was evident as he top-scored and bowled a painfully mean spell to send Glamorgan to their first showpiece final since 2000.His knees must be creaking given the weight of responsibility he has been forced to carry this year. Without his 1700 runs in all competitions, Glamorgan would have endured a miserable year. Here, he read the conditions far better than any of his colleagues with the bat and, with the ball, showed the correct length to bowl on a sluggish pitch.A 60-ball half-century gave some progress to what was for 30 overs a laboured first innings. From Allenby’s stability, Glamorgan added 81 in the final eight overs. That blitz, which included four fours and two sixes in Ben Wright’s unbeaten innings, was more like the cricket seen recently at the Ageas Bowl. Four hundred runs were scored here in the Friends Life t20 quarter-final and run-fests ensued in England internationals with New Zealand and Australia.The push gave Glamorgan a very competitive total, which they defended well, despite Hampshire’s own late surge of 71 in the final 10 overs, led by Sean Ervine, who arguably played the innings of the day by continuing to find the rope and keep Hampshire in the hunt with 54 in 51 balls. But once he holed out to long-on with 58 needed in 27 balls, the champions were dethroned.Ervine was removed by Michael Hogan – another who has made a standout contribution for Glamorgan and who they have relied on in all formats to be competitive. Having been slightly too full in his opening three overs, which conceded 20, Hogan closed out the match with full, straight bowling to end with 4 for 51.But it was Allenby who led the way with the ball, conceding only 18 runs from his eight overs and claiming the wickets of openers James Vince and Michael Roberts, who were pulling their hair out at how difficult the bowling was to manoeuvre.Allenby praises team effort

“It was a good all-round display. We’ve prided ourselves on putting in consistent team performances and not relying on individuals to win games and that’s what we showed again today. Three or four guys chipped in with the bat and all the bowlers did a good job.
“It was a tough wicket. It was quite slow and took turn. We summed it up quicker than they did and bowled brilliantly. With Michale Hogan and Graham Wagg and our spinners we’re always going to go well. It was probably lucky that we were sent in really because it turned more as the game went on.
“A few times out there I thought I’ve got to just whack this but it would probably have gone straight up in the air. It was good to have Murray Goodwin out there to work with and Ben Wright, that is probably one of the best one-day innings you’ll see. He’s only got 40 but that changed the momentum. He’s done it quite a few times this year without the recognition so it was good for him to do it today on the big stage.
“Whoever we come up against in the final, be it Notts or Somerset. They’re going to have guys who want to be seen on TV and are competing for England squads. They’ll take the focus away from the game. If we don’t do that and stick to our roles which are very well defined this year then we’ll go well.”

The Ageas Bowl has seen some cracking wickets for one-day cricket but a slow, sticky surface was unveiled for this semi-final and the conditions were alien to hosts Hampshire, as they lost a second one-day semi-final this season. Hitherto unbeaten at home in the competition this year, and successful in seven out of eight chases in the group stage, Hampshire were unable to hunt down a target asking for just under a run a ball.Allenby was almost impossible to score off. He bowled wicket-to-wicket on a length just fuller of good. With no pace or angle to work with, the batsmen endured eight overs of largely patting the ball back up the pitch. Only one boundary came from his spell, Jimmy Adams reaching out to flick a ball from middle and off wide of deep midwicket.It was Adams who headed the pursuit. Like Allenby, he largely settled for carefully working the bowling around and it was the Hampshire captain who elected to take the batting Powerplay in the 28th over when the required rate had leaped to 10 an over.Two slog sweeps found the rope but as he attempted a third, Andrew Salter, Glamorgan’s 20-year-old offspinner, slid one on to the front pad that was somehow not given out lbw by umpire David Millns. It was the second exceptionally close lbw appeal Adams had survived. He also escaped a caught behind decision when it appeared he gloved an attempted sweep to Mark Wallace.But he rode his luck and brought up a 73-ball fifty with a leg side swat that bounced over the head of Wallace. It was cricket straight from a schoolboy fixture and matched the six-yard run-out Adams missed earlier in the day; one of three run-out chances Hampshire didn’t take in a lacklustre fielding display.Adams fell top-edging an on-side flick that went straight in the air when 76 were needed from 42 balls and it was too much for the new batsmen who followed to settle on a pitch where timing was very difficult all day, even accounting for a fairytale scenario from Dimitri Mascarenhas, playing his last game for Hampshire.It was not the swansong he had hoped for. He stood at the end of his run at the Northern End preparing to bowl the 31st over of the Glamorgan innings. But the public address delayed his shuffling few strides to the crease to announce that this would be Mascarenhas’s final over at the Ageas Bowl.He acknowledged the generous applause before sending down a typically slippery over from which only three balls were scored off. A standing ovation followed as the Hampshire faithful recognised the final sight of one of their great servants. Hampshire lost the match and a legend.

The ECB have requested clarification from the ICC on the chain of events that led to Jonathan Trott being adjudged lbw in England’s second innings at Trent Bridge.

George Dobell at Trent Bridge11-Jul-2013The ECB have requested clarification from the ICC on the chain of events that led to Jonathan Trott being adjudged lbw in England’s second innings at Trent Bridge.Andy Flower, the England team director, went to see the ICC match referee, Ranjan Madugalle, after the TV umpire, Marais Erasmus, overruled the on-field umpire, Aleem Dar, following Australia’s review of Dar’s decision to give Trott not out.Erasmus took the decision to overrule Dar despite conflicting TV evidence and without the chance of inspecting Hot Spot from the crucial side-on position. Sky Sports, the host broadcaster who supply the Hot Spot cameras, told Erasmus the technology was not available as the delivery to Trott was not recorded because the technology had been cued to show the previous delivery, the dismissal of Joe Root to a catch down the leg side.In a comment posted on ESPNcricinfo, Warren Brennan, Hot Spot’s inventor, said the issue was down to “operator error”.”Here is the absolute truth from our perspective in regard to the Trott incident,” he wrote, “it was operator error. My operator did not trigger the system in order to cater for the Trott delivery. Instead the operator sat on the Root delivery in order to offer a replay from the previous ball and did not realise until it was too late that he should have triggered the system for the Trott delivery as the priority. Simple mistake, something that anyone could have made but my Hot Spot operator has worked on the system since 2007 and to my knowledge this is the first serious mistake he has made.”England have asked the ICC to explain the protocol whereby a TV umpire can overrule despite an absence of the expected technological aides and asked for those protocols to be reviewed.”It’s very frustrating,” James Anderson said afterwards. “Trott has hit the ball and been given not out. He did hit it. It is frustrating that it got overturned. We’re all for technology because, since it came in, more decisions have been given out correctly than wrongly, so we want it.”While replays suggested a deviation before the ball hit Trott’s pad – perhaps from an edge, perhaps in the air – there was no evidence of an edge on Hot Spot from the front-on angle. The Snickometer, a visual representation of the noise made as the ball makes contact with the bat, is utilised by Sky for the purposes of entertainment, but is not currently among the approved ICC aides. It did not suggest an obvious edge.The England team management were also perplexed after Ashton Agar was given the benefit of the doubt by Erasmus following a very tight stumping appeal when he had scored just 6. Agar went on to score 98 – the world record contribution from a No. 11 batsman in Test cricket – and added 163 for the tenth wicket – another world record – in partnership with Phil Hughes.”I thought the stumping was out, but I saw it on the big screen so it’s hard to tell,” Anderson added. “Matt Prior was pretty confident it was out.”It may also be worth noting that, had Root utilised the DRS, he may well have been reprieved. There was no evidence of Hot Spot following his dismissal to a leg side catch but, after consultation with his captain, Alastair Cook, Root did not call for a review. Those who suggest that the technology does not currently support the DRS, may feel they have further evidence for their case.

MatériaMais Notícias

O palco da partida entre Vasco e Resende foi definido. Nesta terça-feira, a FFERJ (Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro), definiu que a semifinal da Taça Guanabara, o primeiro turno do Campeonato Carioca, disputada no próximo domingo, às 17h, será no Maracanã. A decisão foi tomada após uma reunião com Alexandre Campello, presidente do Cruz-Maltino, e Mauro Darzé, do consórcio do estádio.

Por ter terminado a fase de grupos na primeira colocação, com cinco vitórias em cinco partidas disputadas, o Vasco terá a vantagem do empate para se classificar à final do turno, que não terá vantagem de um resultado igual para nenhuma equipe. Quem conquistar a Taça Guanabara garante vaga nas semifinais gerais do Cariocão.

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A outra semifinal do turno, que será disputada entre Flamengo e Fluminense, no próximo sábado, às 19h, também será no Maracanã. A final da Taça Guanabara vai reunir os dois vencedores desses duelos e será disputado no domingo da próxima semana, dia 17 de fevereiro, também no maior palco do futebol carioca.

Antes do compromisso pelo Campeonato Estadual, o Vasco terá que mudar a chave para fazer sua estreia na Copa do Brasil. Nesta quarta-feira, o Cruz-Maltino vai encarar a Juazeirense, às 21h30, no Estádio Adauto Moraes.

Neil Wagner, the left-arm quick, has been added to the New Zealand squad for the first Test against England in Dunedin after impressing in the tour match in Queenstown

Andrew McGlashan in Queenstown01-Mar-2013Neil Wagner, who started Saturday by being called into the New Zealand squad and finished it hitting the winning runs in Queenstown, singled out Kevin Pietersen’s lack of runs as a significant boost for the home side going into the first Test in Dunedin after the New Zealand XI managed to disrupt England’s preparationsWagner claimed six wickets in the match, and produced some lively spells in the second innings to trouble England’s batsmen. Pietersen made scores of 12 and 8 in his first match of the tour, while Nick Compton hit 21 and 1. For both those players, the four-day match in Queenstown was their only chance to spend time in the middle, ahead of the Test series.”For me, personally, it was a good thing that the top order, apart from Belly (Ian Bell) who played exceptionally, hasn’t had a long hit out there,” Wagner said. “Guys like Kevin haven’t batted that long in this tour match…so it’s good that he’s going into the Test without much batting under his belt. It does help us. We can hammer on his confidence and try to give him nothing.”He also believes there were useful points picked up about England’s batsmen which those who are playing for the New Zealand XI, and are now transferring to the Test squad, can take with them. “There were a couple of things, obviously things we’ll keep quiet about,” he said. “It’s nice to have a little bit of a look. In a game like this you can have a look at things real close and search for little spots of weakness.”New Zealand may yet decide to field an all-pace attack in the first Test, which would mean Wagner, who has three caps, could line up alongside Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell. However, if they opt to give a debut to left-arm spinner Bruce Martin, then Wagner could find himself carrying the drinks.Wagner, for obvious reasons, was clear what he thought should be done. “I can’t see why we wouldn’t play four seamers – that’s just by personal opinion – but any time I get a chance, I’ll be happy to try and grab it and make the most of it.” He has only managed five wickets in the early stages of his Test career, but has had a productive Plunket Shield season with 30 wickets at 25.43.”I had a couple of chances before, and I would have liked to have done better,” he said. “But I’ve worked a lot on certain parts of my game which I needed to fine tune and sometimes, unfortunately, with those sorts of things, you have to play more to get those things working as it doesn’t always come out in the nets. Playing a bit of first-class cricket I felt like something started clicking, and I had a lot of confidence coming into the game. I’m pretty stoked about it.””It was a very special day. It’s something I’ve been working hard for. You just have to keep fighting every day to find yourself a spot. That’s what I’ve been trying to do so I’m very pleased with that, and it was nice to get the news this morning. Then to finish the game off like we did and get a win was like the cherry on the top.”

Left-hander makes fastest-ever List A double-century off 114 balls

Alex Malcolm13-Oct-2021South Australia captain Travis Head became just the third player – and first Australian – to score two double-centuries in List A cricket after hammering 230 to set up a comfortable win over Queensland at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide.Head joined India’s Rohit Sharma, who has scored three in ODI cricket, and Englishman Ali Brown, who has the highest score in List A cricket, as the only men to have managed multiple double-centuries, with Head adding to the 202 he scored against Western Australia in the Marsh Cup in 2015.Head made 230 from 127 balls – the sixth-highest List A score – with 28 fours and eight sixes to help set up South Australia’s total of 8 for 391 from 48 overs, with two overs lost to rain. Queensland were set 397 for victory under DLS and chase fell well short with Brendan Doggett taking 4 for 75 on South Australia debut against his old side, while Lloyd Pope bagged career-best List A figures of 4 for 78, tripling his career wicket tally. Pope took the key wicket of Sam Heazlett with a brilliant wrong ‘un after the left-hander kept the Bulls chase alive with a blistering 93 from 59 balls.Head’s innings was the second-highest score in Marsh Cup history behind D’Arcy Short’s 257, as well as the fastest List A double-hundred (off 114 balls). The team total was South Australia’s second-highest in competition history.Head last played ODI cricket for Australia in 2018 when he was dropped after three single-figure scores in a series against South Africa. Since then in 21 List A innings, he has made 1136 runs at an average of 63.11 and a phenomenal strike-rate of 121.75, with three centuries and six half-centuries. His love affair with Karen Rolton Oval continues as well, averaging 95 in 11 innings there across Marsh Cup and Sheffield Shield cricket including three scores in excess of 163.He entered with the score at 1 for 22 in the fourth over following the loss of Alex Carey. Head began his assault on the Queensland bowlers immediately and never relented. He raced to his century off just 65 balls, bringing it up with a six over square leg. His second hundred took 49 balls with the only thing to halt his progress being a short burst of rain that cost the Redbacks two overs.Head scored all around the ground but was particularly savage on anything short, clubbing sixes over square leg and point. He was fearless with his footwork to the spinners smashing them repeatedly down the ground. He finally holed out at long on in the 47th over.He got great support from Jake Weatherald who made 97 in their 244-run stand. Weatherald missed out on his century when he was caught off a leading edge at mid on from the bowling of Gurinder Sandhu. The right-armer took 4 for 73 on his Queensland debut having played previously for New South Wales and Tasmania.Queensland made an excellent start to the chase racing to 2 for 132 in the 17th over thanks to Heazlett’s electrifying innings. But unlike Head, he was unable to keep it going, running wildly down the track to Pope only to be deceived which left him stumped by a mile.Matt Renshaw and Michael Neser made half-centuries, Neser’s coming off 25 balls batting at No. 8, but Doggett and Pope kept taking wickets at regular intervals to leave the Bulls well short.

Australia’s team performance manager Pat Howard has expressed his disappointment at the Sydney Sixers Twenty20 team not passing on information about Pat Cummins’ condition before he was diagnosed with a back stress fracture

Daniel Brettig04-Nov-2012

Australia’s team performance manager Pat Howard has expressed his disappointment at the Sydney Sixers Twenty20 team not passing on information about Pat Cummins’ condition before he was diagnosed with a back stress fracture.Cummins is missing a second consecutive home summer due to injury, having developed soreness across the Champions League in South Africa that was revealed to be a stress fracture on his return home to Australia. Having already lost the allrounder Shane Watson to a pre-planned decision to bring him home to prepare for the home Tests, the Sixers did not initially inform Howard of Cummins’ discomfort.Howard, who remained in touch with the Sixers general manager Stuart Clark during the tournament, said he would be meeting with the Sixers at the next available opportunity.”We’re obviously disappointed we didn’t have the information as quickly as we should’ve,” Howard told ESPNcricinfo. “But for the opportunity to sit down with Sixers management on that, there’s a fair few other things going on. We know Pat’s out, and we have to deal with that, that’s life and you keep moving on. But we were disappointed with how that transpired.”Brett Lee meanwhile has volunteered to help Cummins rework his action after he was ruled out for the season with a stress fracture of the back. Cummins, 19, missed most of last summer with a foot injury and suffered a side strain during this year’s tour of England, and his latest injury is not the first back problem he has encountered during his short career.After scans revealed the extent of his injury, Cummins wondered whether he had fallen into bad habits with his action while playing so much short-form cricket, instead of bowling in the same manner he would when trying to swing a red ball. Lee had a number of injury troubles early in his career and he said he would be happy to pass on some advice to Cummins regarding the best way to bowl at express pace without damaging the back.”I’m not saying in any way, shape or form that Pat needs to change his action,” Lee told the . “But there are some things I reckon I could help him with [such as how] to clean his action up to make it a little bit easier on his back.”The one thing you don’t want as a fast bowler is hyper-extension and counter-rotation [like] he has [and] as I did when I was at the same age … I had that same set-up where there was a lot of twisting and turning in my action, which is where you get your pace from, but it does come at a cost.”Lee shrugged off injuries throughout his career to finish with 310 Test wickets and 380 one-day international victims, but unlike Cummins he did not make his Test debut until he was 23. Cummins was 18 when he wore the baggy green for the first – and so far, only – time against South Africa at the Wanderers last November, where he was Man of the Match for his seven wickets in Australia’s win.Cummins was especially impressive in the way he worked over the veteran Jacques Kallis, who struggled with a few short deliveries before edging to slip. The back injury means Australian fans will be denied the chance to see Cummins take on Kallis and the rest of the South Africans again this summer, and Lee said it was disappointing given what Cummins could have achieved on the Australian pitches.”This is a real blow. He’s a great fellow and I just want to see him out on the field and playing,” Lee said. “I’m shattered for Pat because someone like him bowling 155kph to 160kph at the Gabba would be exciting to see. It would be great to see him match what the South Africans have. It’s disappointing and frustrating to think we haven’t got that now, though it’s not the poor bugger’s fault. I’m 100% confident he’ll be back, but I would’ve loved to have seen him bowl to Jacques Kallis who, in my opinion, is the world’s best cricketer.”

Vernon Philander, South Africa’s new-ball seamer, has admitted that he would “definitely be a bit concerned” if he was in the same boots as England’s attack ahead of the second Test at Headingley next week.

Firdose Moonda26-Jul-2012Vernon Philander, South Africa’s new-ball seamer, has admitted that he would “definitely be a bit concerned” if he was in the same boots as England’s attack ahead of the second Test at Headingley next week. After going 1-0 down in the series, if England lose they will also lose their No.1 ranking and while their batsmen have plenty to answer for, the lack of fight in their bowling also needs addressing.England’s attack toiled for 189 overs and more than two days on an unresponsive Oval surface and had only two wickets to show for it. Given the conditions and that they kept the run-rate at below 3.5 an over, they may not have been too disappointed with their performance if not for South Africa’s contrasting showing.The tourists dismissed England twice and were able to find swing, bounce and turn that eluded England. Although South Africa had the better of the bowling conditions, under cloudy skies and with enough moisture in the air for the ball to swing, they also made better use of what was at their disposal. Few would argue that in the battle of the two attacks, who were talked up as the best in the world, South Africa are leading.”I can’t really speak for the England attack but my thoughts would be on how I can get the guys out and trying to think of alternative plans,” Philander said at Worcester, where South Africa will play a two-day tour match from Friday. He also offered an explanation for the South African’s penetration and it had nothing to do with their ability with the ball. “It was beautiful watching Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla start it off and Jacques Kallis stepping it up. It gave us the confidence to take the 10 wickets we needed in the second innings.”After a victory as resounding as the one South Africa enjoyed on Monday, the trip to New Road will offer a sobering comedown from the highs of London. South Africa may have preferred to go straight into another high intensity contest because they have the advantage with them, but Philander said they also understand, and relish, the rare time in between matches. “When you win a game, you want to get into the next game as soon as possible but this break gives us time to recover properly.”It also provides a period to reassess their strategy and while South Africa’s tactics would appear to need no adjustments, there is some work to be done. Philander, for example, experienced a coming down to earth after his barely believable start to this Test career. After taking 51 wickets in seven matches, he claimed only two at The Oval and while he said he expected the curve to change direction at some point, he also wants to keep it pointing upwards.Talk before the series was that Philander would find England tough and perhaps even struggle but he maintains that he “bowled really well” in the first Test. “I beat the bat on numerous occasions and there were a lot of nicks that didn’t carry.”Although still confident he can induce edges, Philander said he has also had to work on other ways of threatening the batsmen with the Duke ball. “It’s a bit slippery with the newish nut and as soon as it gets past the 25th over it goes a bit soft. Then you’ve got to find new ways of taking wickets,” he said. “The edges don’t really carry to slip or to the keeper so we’ve got to try and get an lbw rather than get conventional nick offs.”The extra match will also give South Africa’s middle-order time in the middle, after everyone from No. 5 missed out in the Test. “There are a lot of guys that haven’t batted so it gives them the opportunity to have a bat,” Philander said. “And for the guys who are on the side, this will give them an opportunity to play.”Tami Tsolekile, Albie Morkel, Robin Petersen and Lonwabo Tsotsobe all play in the match. Tsolekile is expected to keep and AB de Villiers, who did the job in the Tests will play as a batsman and captain in Graeme Smith’s absence. Smith flew home on Monday to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. His daughter was born on Wednesday.

Only five domestic matches have been played in Bangladesh since the national side’s successful Asia Cup campaign, due to a suspension of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League that has now run into its second week. A controversy surrounding the clearance letter of Mohammad Yousuf, the former Pakistan batsman, has spiralled into a three-way battle between Victoria Sporting Club, the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the giants, the Mohammedan Sporting Club and Abahani Limited. The conflict has had a big impact on cricket in the country, as the first-class competition, the National Cricket League, also remains in limbo with one round and the final left to play.Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM), the BCB committee that runs the league in the capital, has said they are not in a position to take a decision on the issue. “The board president [Mustafa Kamal] is not in the country and I haven’t received any letters from the clubs,” Aynul Islam Tiash, the committee’s coordinator, told reporters yesterday.During the Super League match on March 28, Abahani refused to play Victoria after being bowled out for 177 runs in 47.4 overs. Their grouse was the participation of Yousuf, whose clearance was said to be forged though the CCDM had initially endorsed the letter. Mohammedan, which had supposedly provided the clearance letter, denied submitting any letter to the CCDM and immediately made a complaint with regards to his participation. As they raised the red flag, Abahani asked for an explanation and when none was made available by noon, they didn’t take the field. Four hours later, match referee Obaydul Haque Azam ruled that Victoria be given two points for Abahani’s actions.The CCDM promptly suspended the league on the same evening and two days later asked the BCB president Mustafa Kamal to take a decision on the matter. During the April 1 board meeting, it was decided that a four-member committee, led by vice president Mahbubul Anam, resolve the issue. A week later, their recommendations were set out at an emergency meeting, and it was decided to restart the league from April 10, endorse the match referee’s decision and restrain Yousuf from taking further part in the competition.But the clubs didn’t comply and just a day after the date of resumption was announced, the CCDM resorted to using “inclement weather” as a reason to suspend the league once again. Abahani, on Thursday, demanded that two points be awarded to them as Yousuf has been barred from playing, and that the league restart on April 17. Mohammedan supported Abahani in this matter, while Victoria has asked for an increase the number of foreign players in the XI from three to five as their star players, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, are away at the Indian Premier League.There is growing discontent among the other three clubs – Old DOHS Sporting Club, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club and Gazi Tank Cricketers – while the media and public too have been left bewildered by the issue that has stopped Bangladeshi cricket in its tracks.

Australia’s quartet of fast bowlers dismantled India for 161 in dishearteningly familiar scenes for the visitors on day one of the third Test at the WACA ground

The Report by Daniel Brettig13-Jan-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner leaps in celebration after scoring the fourth quickest century in Test cricket•Getty Images

David Warner smote a magnificently brazen century to rush Australia to 0 for 149 after their quartet of fast bowlers dismantled India for 161 in dishearteningly familiar scenes for the visitors on day one of the third Test at the WACA ground.In what was the joint fourth-fastest century in Tests, Warner utterly demoralised India in the company of the relatively obdurate but still free-scoring Ed Cowan. Warner was momentarily stopped by a blow to the head from Umesh Yadav, but recovered to clout his next two deliveries to the fence and moved from 95 to 101 with a rasping club over wide long-on from the bowling of the debutant Vinay Kumar. Unbeaten at the close, he did not give a chance.The match is now streaking away from the tourists, who had placed themselves in a position of peril with another abject batting display. Sent in to bat by Michael Clarke on a pitch promising early movement in addition to its customary bounce and pace, India were 4 for 63 at lunch, and subsided not long after tea to undo the grafting of Virat Kohli and VVS Laxman, who added 68 in the afternoon to momentarily blunt the hosts.That partnership aside, India once again failed to cope with the swing, seam and disciplined line of the home attack, comprising Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc. Upon his dismissal of Laxman, Siddle sank to his haunches, in a sign of how much a hot day in Perth had drained Australia’s bowlers despite their regular wickets, and he did not re-emerge after tea.Hilfenhaus removed Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at either end of the morning session before helping to round up the tail, while Siddle accounted for Rahul Dravid, bowled for the fourth time in five innings. Harris was sturdy in his first Test appearance since November last year, and had the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar to show for it. Starc nabbed two of the last four wickets.Warner and Cowan began not long after tea, intent on building their most substantial opening stand together. There were a few nervy moments early as Zaheer Khan gained some early swing, and Cowan edged centimetres short of Tendulkar at first slip.However Warner was striking the ball crisply, and he was given added impetus when Ishant Sharma chanced a few jibes. Warner responded with fighting words and a flailing bat, in what soon became a rare exhibition of unbridled batting aggression.He drove Zaheer through mid off, pulled Yadav wide of mid on, and greeted Vinay’s entry to Test cricket with the most impudent straight six. Warner would save his most telling blow for Ishant, who delivered a length ball only to watch it sail back over his head and rows back into the crowd.Cowan was moving along quite swiftly himself, driving and pulling with good sense, and together he and Warner looked the most perfect of contrasts. In the space of 17 overs Warner had sprinted to 80, on what now looked the most friendly of pitches.Peter Siddle broke India’s innings by dismissing Virat Kohli and VVS Laxman just before tea•Getty Images

Warner’s eagerness to attack brought him one moment’s discomfort when he was too swiftly through a hook at Yadav and suffered a blow to the side of the head and helmet. After gathering himself and calling for new headgear, he spanked the next two balls to the boundary – there was toughness to go with the terrorising of India’s bowlers.His century duly and deservedly arrived before the close, and a sell-out crowd rose unanimously to salute two hours of awe-inspiring destruction.India’s openers fared very differently. They were confronted by a pitch that looked green but was already beginning to show evidence of cracking, which suggested it was not as moist as it appeared. Nonetheless there was still plenty of swing, seam and bounce on offer to Australia’s bowlers, requiring astute judgment of line and length.Sehwag had been at the centre of plenty of pre-match bluster surrounding his natural method, and the batsman looked tentative in his brief stay. Sehwag only faced four balls, the last of which was a beautifully pitched Hilfenhaus away swinger that flicked the edge and was well held by Ricky Ponting in the cordon.Dravid walked to the wicket having been bowled in three out of four innings, and played at more than he might otherwise have done to avoid a repeat. He struggled for timing, however, and was so intent on defence that when Siddle delivered a leg side ball of full length, Dravid’s unnecessarily conservative posture turned it into a yorker that clattered into middle stump via the pads.Tendulkar drew applause for a trio of straight drives from Siddle that recalled his sparkling 114 at the ground in 1992, but was not in total command. Harris was rewarded for two unstinting spells before lunch when he seamed one back to pin Tendulkar in front of the stumps.Next over Hilfenhaus ended Gambhir’s stony-faced occupation, whizzing an offcutter across the left-hand batsman to prompt a push away from the body and an edge through to Brad Haddin. Gambhir admonished himself for succumbing to a nick for the fifth time in as many innings, the victim of another intelligent display of full, fast bowling from Australia.Laxman and Kohli were more or less India’s last hope of a substantial total, and their batting in the first hour of the afternoon was suitably grave. Starc, Hilfenhaus, Harris and Siddle continued to bowl well, but neither batsman offered quite so much in the way of probing bats that their predecessors had done. The ball grew older, the pitch settled under the sun, and the batsmen grew a little more comfortable.The stand was gathering strength and tea was less than 10 minutes away when Siddle made a critical break. Bowling full and swinging wider, he tempted Kohli to press too eagerly forward, and the low chance was held by Warner at point. In Siddle’s next over Laxman pushed firmly at a length delivery and offered a catch to Clarke at first slip.Starc had been threatening to bowl the perfect inswinger for most of the day, and it was Vinay Kumar who received it to be palpably lbw. MS Dhoni played an ordinary stroke at Hilfenhaus to be caught in the slips, though Zaheer’s ugly smear at the same bowler was arguably worse. Ishant edged Starc behind to complete what had become a procession – the last six wickets falling for 30.

Mumbai overtook defending champions Rajasthan’s mighty first innings’ score to take lead and thereby pocketed three critical points

The Report by Nagraj Gollapudi in Mumbai13-Nov-2011 625 (Nayar 243, Rohit 100, Pankaj 5-111)
Scorecard
Relief was writ large on Abhishek Nayar’s face when he helped Mumbai overtake Rajasthan’s first-innings score•Fotocorp

The picture of the match was a moment of pure synchronicity. Abhishek Nayar, the best batsman, caressed a square drive between point and cover off Pankaj Singh, the best bowler. Nayar and his partner Iqbal Abdulla completed a single as the ball raced past the square boundary. Then, unbeknownst to the other, Nayar and Abdulla raised their gloved left hands, swiftly whipped it down in an arc, before letting out a cry of relief. Mumbai had overtaken defending champions Rajasthan’s mighty first-innings score to take the lead and pocketed three critical points.By the end of their innings, Mumbai led by 95 runs, courtesy Nayar’s first double-century in the Ranji Trophy and some sturdy partnerships from the lower order involving Abdulla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Nayar and Murtuza Hussain. The match entered the second session and a dead zone. Rajasthan played for an hour, lost their openers before the teams decided to call off the game.Though Nayar deserved to be present to savour the moment, it was the 106-run partnership between the overnight unbeaten pair of Abdulla and Dhawal Kulkarni that had paved the way for Mumbai to overtake Rajasthan. They walked out together immediately after tea on Saturday when severe body cramps had forced Nayar to the physio’s table. Mumbai were 146 runs behind, and Rajasthan sensed an opportunity to wrest control. However, Abdulla and Kulkarni, no strangers to such anxious situations, stayed calm to battle out the next two hours as Mumbai finished 92 runs adrift.The first hour on the final morning held the key to the contest. Pankaj Singh and Deepak Chahar, Rajasthan’s new-ball pair, bowled attacking lines but the Mumbai pair remained steady. Aakash Chopra, leading the side after Hrishikesh Kanitkar’s injury on Saturday, employed the spin pair of Gajendra Singh and Vivek Yadav early. The moved tempted Kulkarni, who stepped out twice against each spinner and was lucky to survive having dragged his back foot in in the nick of time. Otherwise he timed his cuts and pulls well to collect five fours while Abdulla had three boundaries in the morning session.Half an hour before lunch, Kulkarni swished at a straight, seaming delivery from Pankaj, and the thin edge was pouched easily by Rohit Jhalani behind the stumps. Mumbai were just ten runs away from Rajasthan’s score. Abdulla ran towards Kulkarni, patted him on the back and ruffled his hair in appreciation. That was the story of Mumbai this match: through collective efforts – two centuries, three fifties – the hosts bounced back in a match in which they were bystanders on the first two days.To say Mumbai managed to escape easily against an opposition that lacked a killer instinct wouldn’t be wrong. Barring Pankaj, Rajasthan have an inexperienced bowling attack. Chahar overcompensated trying to go for speed and, like any rookie, struggled with his mind, lines and lengths. The inability of the spin pair of Yadav and Gajendra to break through only added to Rajasthan’s woes. In three straight games this domestic season, Rajasthan have conceded 600-plus scores. In the Irani Cup, Shikar Dhawan, Abhinav Mukund and Ajinkya Rahane pummeled the hosts’ bowlers in Jaipur, setting up massive totals in both innings. Last week, Karnataka batted only once to put pressure on the Rajasthan bowlers.Rajasthan, though, are playing in the Elite league for the first time. As their captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar said, they improved with every game last season and to maintain the consistency in the higher grade against quality and seasoned opponents will be difficult.Mumbai have their own issues to deal with. The most significant among them could be the difference of opinions between the selectors and the team management. On the second evening after the day’s play, Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni laughed at the suggestion from a media person that his team had home advantage playing at Brabourne. According to Kulkarni, the Brabourne pitch was flat and put pressure on his bowlers who toiled on the first two days in vain. Reportedly, his remarks did not sit well with his own selectors, who felt Kulkarni should look at his bowlers who failed miserably in their lengths and lines.”Why was there no third man for most part of the Rajasthan first innings. About 75 runs were leaked there,” said an aggrieved Mumbai selector. “And what about bowling part-time bowlers in Nayar and Kaustubh Pawar after tea on the second day. Why was Ramesh Powar only bowled for a handful of overs (six) on Friday. The field was also not attacking when all the specialist batsmen were out,” were questions that the selector rolled out.Mumbai have plenty to think about in order to avoid any hiccups when they meet a tougher opponent in Karnataka in four days’ time at the same venue.