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Central Zone

Nineties by Pranay Sharma and Rajesh Bishnoi helped Rajasthan ease to a five-wicket win over Madhya Pradesh at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore. The victory was built on a second-wicket stand of 158 between the pair and the target of 240 was overhauled fairly comfortably, despite the loss of two late wickets. Bishnoi’s 94 was the more aggressive knock as it came off 93 balls – including three sixes – while Pranay’s 92 came off 144. Madhya Pradesh were boosted by an aggressive knock by Murtaza Ali, who smashed 86 off 80 balls but he didn’t get the required support as none of the others passed fifty.Uttar Pradesh suffered their first loss in the tournament after their batting let them down against Vidarbha at the Maharani Usha Raje Trust Ground. After opting to bat, UP managed only 191 and the only notable performances were Tanmay Srivastava’s fifty and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 42. Vidarbha were jolted early on when RP Singh trapped captain Faiz Fazal lbw in the first ball of the chase. Sanjoy Binkar’s unbeaten 77 held the innings together and he was involved in two half-century stands – 68 with Amit Gajanan Paunikar and 74 with Ravi Jangid. Vidarbha coasted him by five wickets with just under ten overs remaining and in the process recorded their first win.

Andy Bichel, a bowler with the toughness of a farmer’s tractor, has finally given into his 38-year-old body and retired from Queensland 17 seasons after turning up from the country town of Laidley. Bichel had shoulder surgery last summer and had hoped to return, but he was unable to regain fitness and stepped down as the state’s second-most prolific Sheffield Shield bowler.His 430 wickets in 89 games left him 11 behind his great friend Michael Kasprowicz. Despite his consistent excellence at domestic level, Bichel’s international opportunities were limited and he earned 58 victims in 19 Tests – his best of 5 for 20 came against West Indies in Melbourne – and 78 in 67 ODIs. The departure continues the changing of the guard in Queensland after Kasprowicz and Jimmy Maher exited last year, and Matthew Hayden retired in Janaury.”I don’t want to let anyone down,” he said in front of the Bulls squad at Allan Border Field. “It [the shoulder] is good enough for grade cricket, but I didn’t want to get out there [for Queensland] and not do what I used to do.”A great team player, Bichel also spent long stints as 12th man – he carried the drinks a record 19 times – but never let the frustration show. He was cheerful, friendly and strong enough to bowl through the day without dropping his pace. Used mostly as a support act with Australia, he was good enough to dismiss Brian Lara five times in Tests and on three occasions in one-dayers.Bichel’s most amazing day came in a World Cup match against England in 2003, when he took 7 for 20 before scoring 34 not out to seal the victory. He was a crucial part of that trophy-winning success but was soon overlooked by the national selectors.After being cut in 2004, he followed up by claiming the Pura Cup Player of the Year award in 2005-06, with 452 runs and 50 wickets, and continued to be a huge threat until the shoulder operation. His final game for Queensland came at the Gabba in November 2007 when he could deliver only six overs before succumbing to the injury.On that ground 12 years earlier he had helped bowl the Bulls to their first Sheffield Shield victory and the boyish smile that he wore for those five days was never far away over the remainder of his career. Batsmen were not that happy when facing his sharp, skidding and swinging deliveries, especially when he was working in tandem with Kasprowicz.Bichel, who won six Sheffield Shields, scored nine first-class centuries and developed enough to end his career as a genuine allrounder. He was also a committed performer in England, playing for Worcestershire, Hampshire and Essex, and being picked for the 1997 Ashes tour. Bichel will wave goodbye at the Gabba during a lap of honour at the dinner break in Australia’s one-day match against New Zealand on Friday.

Sri Lanka Cricket has revised the itinerary for India’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, allotting just one ODI to Dambulla – as opposed to the previously planned two – and scheduling the remaining four ODIs and the Twenty20 international in Colombo. Dambulla was initially scheduled to host the first two ODIs, but the venue for the second game has now been shifted to the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Three of the five ODIs will be played under lights – all of them at the Premadasa – while the first, and the fifth – at the SSC – will be day games.India are scheduled to arrive in Colombo on January 26, and will be left with just over a week to prepare for their subsequent tour of New Zealand after the Twenty20 International on February 10.India last toured Sri Lanka in July-August 2008, losing the Tests 2-1 and winning the ODIs 3-2.Revised schedule
Jan 28 – First one-dayer, Dambulla
Jan 31 – Second one-dayer, Premadasa stadium, Colombo (day/night)
Feb 3 – Third one-dayer, Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (d/n)
Feb 5 – Fourth one-dayer, Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (d/n)
Feb 8 – Fifth one-dayer, Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo
Feb 10 – Twenty20 international, Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (d/n)

Hussey’s headache
Aleem Dar has had a poor series and he has contributed to the disappointing results for Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey as well. He gave Hayden caught off his pad in Perth and today Hussey was the victim of a bad decision. Hussey was thumped on the helmet by a Morne Morkel bouncer and the ball lobbed up to Hashim Amla at square leg. Dar gave it out, although Hussey’s gloves were nowhere near the ball, and it was the second time this summer Hussey has had to bite his tongue after a poor decision. At the Gabba against New Zealand, Rudi Koertzen adjudged him caught behind for 0 when the ball had clearly come off his pad and his season has been off track ever since.A very silly point …
Hussey certainly wasn’t smiling after his whack on the head but at least Neil McKenzie could laugh about a similarly painful blow. At the start of a Makhaya Ntini over, McKenzie moved in so close on the off side that he was almost on the pitch. Perhaps he was trying to get in the batsman Ricky Ponting’s eyeline but doing it without a helmet was more stupid than brave. Lo and behold, it took only one ball for Ponting to launch a full-blooded cover drive that rocketed into McKenzie’s midriff. Technically it was a dropped chance but in reality his hands didn’t even have time to move. McKenzie smiled, rubbed his chest, and wandered back to a more regulation cover for the next ball. They call it silly point for a reason.… and a very smart move
That may not have been McKenzie’s brightest move but he showed his smarts earlier in the day. McKenzie was chatting to the captain Graeme Smith and pointing towards short cover during an over from Dale Steyn. As a result of the conversation, JP Duminy was shifted to short cover.Two balls later, Hayden drove straight to Duminy. McKenzie might not be making runs but he is at least ensuring the opposition openers are not scoring much either.One short
Three times Ricky Ponting has scored a century in each innings of a Test. He came agonisingly close to making it four. After he registered 101 in the first innings, Ponting looked almost certain to reach triple figures again in the second. But on 99 he became the second man to be snared at short cover in the innings, when he drove Morne Morkel to Graeme Smith. Ponting became only the second player – Geoffrey Boycott is the other – to score 99 and a century in the same Test. After stumps Ponting had had a chance to think about how close he had come: “I’m actually going to check with the scorers tonight and see if I can take one run from the first innings and transfer it over to the second innings, see if that’s possible.”An all-round champion
Jacques Kallis will soon become the eighth man to score 10,000 Test runs – he is only 53 short – and he will be the only one of the group with 100 Test wickets to his name as well. In fact, Kallis has been such an enduring allrounder that he now has 250 Test victims. He brought up the milestone with the last ball before tea, when he bowled Brett Lee.Comeback of the day
Lee is expected to miss the third Test in Sydney with a foot injury that is almost a stress fracture, but it couldn’t stop him doing his part in South Africa’s second innings. Lee, who was off the field for the entire third day because of the problem, ran in to bowl the first over of South Africa’s chase. He slammed his left foot down, each time risking a small crack in the bone becoming a full stress fracture. It might be his last chance for the next six weeks to prove he is still aforce in international cricket. The left foot caused him more problems when he overstepped with a delivery that bowled Neil McKenzie.

One of the Super League quarter-finalists could be identified over the next four potentially intriguing days in Bangalore. Uttar Pradesh, who are one point ahead of Karnataka and one behind leaders Tamil Nadu, will know that this is their last match, while the other contenders have a game in hand. Karnataka, on the other hand, were not expected to be in the running after the initial rounds but Rahul Dravid and Sunil Joshi have led their team’s comeback. Dravid, however, won’t be available to them when they start this crucial match.It will be interesting to watch how the teams approach the contest. For UP, the match is like a race where they set the time first and their opponents try and beat it. Do they go for the three points first and then wait and watch to see if others overtake them? Or do they go all out for an outright win and risk staying put at 14 points?UP have the bowling resources to take 20 wickets. RP Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar have had impressive spells so far and if they can fire at the same time, an inexperienced Karnataka will be under severe pressure. UP’s back-up fast bowler Sudeep Tyagi is not bad either but he will get a go only if they decide to pick only one spinner. The new ball, though, will be crucial for UP. In their last game, they reduced Railways to 12 for 4 in the first innings and 33 for 6 in the second, but there wasn’t enough time to get an outright result on a slow track.The reason why UP are more likely to not think of an outright win just yet is their brittle batting. Praveen has the best average in the side this season. Mohammad Kaif hasn’t been his usual solid self, although he has scored one big century and saved one match via resolute defence. Tanmay Srivastava has been UP’s leading run-scorer but even he has converted only one of his four half-centuries. UP would also love a big innings from Suresh Raina, who has scored 22, 66 and 17 in three innings this season. Raina is the man who can score big enough and quick enough to set up a win but he needs to build on good starts.Kaif said his team was not thinking too far ahead and will not be desperate for an outright win on what looks like a good batting pitch. “It’s a four-day match, so we can’t go in with an outright win as our only motive,” he said.After conceding the first-innings lead against Railways and Tamil Nadu, Karnataka’s hopes quarter-final berth were thin. Robin Uthappa wasn’t getting much assistance from the middle order but that changed after Dravid joined the side. In their last two matches, Uthappa scored a century and Dravid two half-centuries, while the old partnership of Joshi and R Vinay Kumar started working again. Joshi took 15 wickets, and Karnataka won both their matches against Andhra and Baroda.Dravid’s contribution was crucial, said the Karnataka coach Vijay Bharadwaj. When Karnataka threatened to squander the first-innings advantage in Mysore, Dravid scored a patient 50 to set up a target in excess of 300. Against Baroda, Karnataka were in trouble at 24 for 3 after bowling the opposition out for 169 and once again Dravid rescued his team by scoring 83. “I am not saying we don’t know how to play without Rahul,” Bharadwaj said, “but it will be difficult. The challenge for the younger boys will be to take that extra responsibility.” Karnataka will want their captain Uthappa to bear that extra responsibility and make a big hundred. Dravid’s replacement in the side will be either Deepak Chougule or CM Gautam.Karnataka, though, have more breathing space than UP do. “We know this is their last game, and they will need an outright win to be safe while we can aim for the first-innings points, and then take it from there,” Bharadwaj said. Their next match is a home game against Maharashtra, who have struggled for their four points so far.With five teams competing for the final three spots, the probabilities are immense and UP know they will have no say in what happens because they won’t be playing in the last round. Urgent UP versus resurgent Karnataka should make for good viewing.Teams
Karnataka (likely): Robin Uthappa (capt.), KB Pawan, Manish Pandey, C Raghu, Thilak Naidu (wk), Sunil Joshi, B Akhil, Sunil Raju, R Vinay Kumar, NC Aiyappa, Deepak Chougule/CM Gautam.Uttar Pradesh (likely): Tanmay Srivastava, Shivakant Shukla, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif (capt), Parvinder Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Amir Khan, Praveen Gupta, Ashish Yadav, Sudeep Tyagi, and Imtiyaz Ahmed.

Scorecard
After starring with the bat yesterday, Vineet Jain shone with the ball on the final day to help Tripura close out a tense 54-run victory over Services in Delhi. Services’ batsmen put up a much-improved show in the second innings in a determined pursuit of 316.The innings revolved around Jasvir Singh’s patient 67 after Ashish Mohanty had made the most of a reprieve – being bowled off a no ball – to score 52. Jasvir also got support from No. 9 Shuvra Karmakar, who made a quick 43, as Services looked to clinch their first win since their ten-wicket victory over Tripura two years ago. With the match in its final session, and Services on 249 for 7, it could have still swung either team’s way.Medium-pacer Vineet secured five points for Tripura by removing both Jasvir and Karmakar in the space of five runs before knocking over Hari Prasad’s middle stump.
Scorecard
Kerala grabbed three points for their first-innings lead after playing out a high-scoring draw against Goa in Palakkad. With Kerala still batting on the morning of the fourth day, an outright result was always out of the question but there was still plenty of drama.Preambhastn Prem’s 138 steered Kerala towards the first-innings lead and at 426 for 4, with only 35 more needed, the three points seemed in the bag. But they had to endure some nervy moments before getting them as left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati struck thrice to reduce Kerala to 458 for 8. The match then meandered to a stalemate; Kerala’s tail-enders took the score to 486 and Goa replied with 69 for 3 before play was called off.
Scorecard
Shafiq Khan’s century came too late for Jammu and Kashmir since Jharkhand had already gained a first-innings lead in a match that eventually meandered to a draw in Jamshedpur. Twelve wickets fell on day one as Jharkhand bowled J&K out for 225 and their openers with 23 on the board. Half-centuries by Manoj Joglekar (77) and debutant Aditya Pratap and a quick lower-order 37 by Vijay Sharma by boosted J&K’s total after medium-pacer Kuldeep Sharma had reduced them to 52 for 5.In reply, Jharkhand’s first-class debutant Ishank Jaggi scored a half-century and, along with Saurabh Tiwary, helped his side to 301. Shafiq’s 143 anchored J&K’s second innings though he was assisted by Joglekar, who scored a second half-century, Samiullah Beigh, with a useful 40, and Sharma, with 30.Their total at the end of day three – 309 for 7 – was not enough to set a target their bowlers could defend so J&K batted on and were finally dismissed for 366 on the final day giving Jharkhand 50 overs to chase 291. The hosts chose to play for a draw and Subroto Ghosh and Jaggi helped themselves to half-centuries on the way to three points.

The offspinner Jason Krejza has bowled one over at the Gabba and it went for 18, seven fewer than his initial offering in Tests in Nagpur 11 days ago. Andrew Symonds was the mean batsman in 2004-05 when Krejza was a 21-year-old – “He took me out of the Gabba” – but the Queenslander may be a team-mate on Thursday if both are named in the first Test side againstNew Zealand.Krejza captured an amazing 12 wickets on debut following some heavy early treatment from Virender Sehwag, who welcomed him with a six and a four in the opening over. If the match against New Zealand was not being played atthe Gabba Krejza would be guaranteed a second match, but he is not sure of his place despite promising recommendations from Ricky Ponting and Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors.He has a lot more self-belief following the Nagpur performance and is prepared to adjust his tactics to cope with Australian conditions. “A dream debut doesn’t mean I can do it at that level, but it definitely means I have confidence in myself to do that, and confidence from my captain,” said Krejza.After five days spent knowing the Indian batsmen would attack him, Krejza is looking forward to facing the more cautious New Zealanders. “I guess I’ll be trying to attack again, depending on the situation,” he said. “I wouldn’t be expecting them to be coming out and doing a Sehwag to meagain.”Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder are the most aggressive of the New Zealand batsmen, but the destructive Symonds is now on Krejza’s side. “I got Andrew when he was about 80 not out and it just started raining, so I got thrown the ball to bowl one over,” Krejza said of his first-classdebut. “He took me out of the Gabba. It was interesting for a young fella, to be given the ball against him. It was an experience to remember.”

ScorecardIreland beat Kenya by an innings-and-65 runs to reach their third successive Intercontinental Cup final. Kenya only needed a draw to reach the final, and in spite of showing a total absence of form in their first innings, they fared much better second time round. So much so, in fact, that the match went right down to the wire, with Ireland picking up the final wicket with just 20 minutes left in the day’s play.Ireland made a strong start to the day, removing Seren Waters, the debutant, for 75. And then the biggest wicket of them all, Steve Tikolo, who chipped a return catch back to Trent Johnston on 47. However, Kenya’s middle order led an impressive rearguard effort, thanks to Rakep Patel (32), Thomas Odoyo (61) and Jimmy Kamande (42), each of whom battled resiliently to take the game well past tea.At 294 for 6 Kenya were beginning to believe that a place in the final was theirs, but soon after tea Odoyo was caught in the slips by Andre Botha off the tireless Regan West. From there, Kenya slumped to 327 all out, as West held his nerve in the dying moments, picking up the final wicket to record figures of 3 for 81 from 42.4 overs.”We still had it all to do in the second innings because it was a good track and Kenya batted very well the second time around,” Ireland’s coach, Phil Simmons, said. “But our bowlers did really well to keep probing in the right areas and it paid off in the end.”The pitch did take a bit of spin so it was always going to be up to West and McCallan to do the lion’s share of the bowling because they were getting it to turn. And I thought they did really well.”After a period of uncertainty due to work commitments, Ireland’s former captain, Trent Johnston, made himself available for this tour and his four wickets in the second innings proved vital.”Trent is a great player for us and has been for a long time,” said Simmons. “His experience really came through today and he showed the younger pace bowlers how you need to adapt as a seamer if you are to be successful on different types of wicket and in different conditions. It is great that he’s back in the team again.”Looking forward to the final against Namibia, to be played in Port Elizabeth on October 30, Simmons was confident that Ireland were favourites.”I think that’s fair. We have beaten Namibia in Namibia and Kenya in Kenya so that gives us confidence,” he said. “But the final is a one-off game and anything can happen so we won’t be going to Port Elizabeth thinking we only have to show up to win it. It’s going to be a tough game and we will have to work hard if we are going to take the cup home to Ireland again.”

Glamorgan and Worcestershire finally bowed to the inevitable and agreed to abandon their Championship match at Sophia Gardens.Heavy rain had caused the first three days to be washed out, and although no rain fell today, the outfield was far too wet to allow any cricket. The umpires did their best, but after three inspections, they called the game off.There was considerable disquiet about the state of the outfield, especially given that next July the ground stages its first Test, the opening match in the 2009 Ashes. However, there are plans to spend £600,000 over the winter on laying a new drainage system, which the authorities are confident will resolve any potential problems.Both counties take four points from the match. That extends Worcestershire’s lead at the top of the table to 20 points over Warwickshire, who have a game in hand. Glamorgan, meanwhile, move off the bottom of the table.

The third day of the Dhaka Test lived up to its very rainy forecast with a full day washout. The covers never came off the Shere Bangla National Stadium, and Bangladesh and Pakistan players didn’t come to the ground, as the country’s capital bore the brunt of a depression at the Bay of Bengal.Play was called off at 2pm local time, a foregone conclusion, though it could have happened much earlier. Match officials usually cling on to the hope of rain relenting. Even in that case, it takes an hour to clear the water off the ground and the covers. None of that was required on Monday.The last time a full day’s play was lost in a Test in Bangladesh was in July-August 2015, when South Africa toured the country.Only 30 minutes of play was possible on the second day, when Pakistan resumed their first innings for just 6.2 overs. It was enough time for Azhar Ali to move from his overnight 39 to his 34th Test half-century and then to 52 not-out. Babar Azam struck a few boundaries to move to an unbeaten 71.Babar started the day with an easy boundary off Khaled Ahmed, before Azhar brought up the 100-run stand. He then struck two fours off Ebadot Hossain to reach his fifty, off 126 balls. The pair have so far added 118 runs for the unbroken third-wicket stand.Earlier on the first day, visitors made an unsurprisingly strong start, with Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique adding 59 for the opening stand. It was Pakistan’s fourth successive 50-plus stand for the first wicket, equalling the same feat from 2002. Taijul Islam removed both Abid and Shafique, but Azhar and Babar remained solid.The weather, however, promises to be better on the fourth and fifth days. There is no more rain in forecast, but it might take a while for the ground staff to rid of the excess water even when the sun comes out.