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Mumbai, the winners of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, haven’t made the knockouts

Shashank Kishore05-Jan-2025Mayank Agarawal slammed his fourth List A hundred in five innings as Karnataka entered the knockouts of the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy along with defending champions Haryana, Punjab, Bengal and Tamil Nadu among others.Mumbai, the winners of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, haven’t made the knockouts after finishing third in Group C with five wins in seven games. Both their losses, to Karnataka and Punjab, deflated their campaign which they ended on a winning note on Sunday with teenaged opener Aayush Mhatre hitting an unbeaten 148 to seal victory over Saurashtra in a 290-run chase.Mhatre, who made his List A debut for Mumbai during the competition, finished as the side’s leading run-getter with 458 runs in seven innings, including two centuries and a half-century. The only other centurion for Mumbai was Shreyas Iyer, the captain, who also hit two centuries: an unbeaten 55-ball 114 in a losing cause against Karnataka and a match-winning 133-ball 137 not out against Puducherry.Related

• The long-winding rise of Krishnan Shrijith

• Karun Nair sets new List A record for most runs without being dismissed

Meanwhile, Punjab’s road to the knockouts was dotted with impressive batting performances that helped them rack up scores of 424 and 426 against Saurashtra and Hyderabad respectively. On Sunday, they scored 338 to win by 167 runs against Puducherry and finish the group stage with six wins in seven games. However, Karnataka by virtue of their one-wicket win over Punjab topped the group.That loss notwithstanding, Punjab finished as the best second-ranked team (in terms of points) from all five groups to earn a direct quarter-final berth. Their campaign has been spearheaded by wicketkeeper-batter Prabhsimran Singh, who has so far slammed three centuries: 150* vs Mumbai, 125 vs Saurashtra and 137 vs Hyderabad.Prabhsimran’s opening partnership with Abhishek Sharma has been particularly formidable. Against Saurashtra, they put on 298, the joint second-highest opening stand in the tournament history, equalling the record set by Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sudip Gharami in 2022. Abhishek, Punjab’s captain, hit a career-best 170, off just 96 balls, while Prabhsimran hit 125.Punjab’s scintillating run has also seen wholesome contributions from pace spearhead Arshdeep Singh, who sits atop the wicket-takers’ charts. Arshdeep’s 17 wickets in six games have come at an economy of 5.53, with a best of 5 for 38 against Mumbai.Elsewhere, Gujarat and Vidarbha were the only two teams to finish the group stage with an all-win record, while Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan Bengal are the only three teams (out of ten) to make the knockouts having lost two games.Gujarat’s campaign has been spearheaded by their fast-bowling pair of Chintan Gaja and Arzan Nagwaswalla, who are second and third on the wicket-taker’s charts while Vidarbha’s run comes on the back of Karun Nair’s record-breaking run of form: he has hit four hundreds in five innings.Nair holds the record for most List A runs without being dismissed. He’s currently second on the run charts with 542 runs, behind Agarawal’s tally of 613 in seven innings, which includes four hundreds and a half-century.

Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts line-up

Pre-quarterfinals: Haryana vs Bengal, Rajasthan vs Tamil Nadu (both on January 9)
Quarter-finals: Vidarbha vs Punjab, Karnataka vs Baroda (both on January 11); Gujarat vs winner of Haryana-Bengal, Maharashtra vs winner of Rajasthan-Tamil Nadu (both on January 12)Semifinals: January 15 and 16.Final: January 18

Club hope to draw line under racism crisis after naming long-sought successor to Lord Patel

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2023Harry Chathli has been confirmed as Yorkshire’s new chair, following a lengthy search for a successor to Lord Kamlesh Patel, who stood down in March.Chathli, 58, will take over from the club’s interim chair, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, following an extraordinary general meeting, having joined Yorkshire’s board as a non-executive director in June. He will serve a three-year term.”It’s an honour and privilege to be appointed chair of one of the most iconic clubs,” Chathli said. “Cricket is at an inflexion point with unprecedented growth reaching new audiences who are attracted by the variety of formats. Yorkshire has played its part in this growth within the men’s cricket and has also been at the forefront of development of women’s cricket in the country. I am also proud of the fact we are championing disability and LGBTQ+ cricket.”I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tanni for her excellent stewardship of the club through a very challenging period this year.”It is hoped that Chathli’s appointment can draw a line under a turbulent period for Yorkshire, in the wake of the racism crisis that ripped through the club, following Azeem Rafiq’s revelations about his treatment during his playing days.Earlier this year, Yorkshire pleaded guilty to four amended charges of bringing the game into disrepute and were fined £400,000, as well as handed points deductions in the County Championship and other domestic competitions, for their mishandling of Rafiq’s case.Lord Patel, Chathli’s predecessor as full-time chair, was appointed to the role in November 2021 at the height of the crisis, which included the suspension of Headingley’s hosting rights for major matches, and the loss of a raft of principal sponsors including Emerald, Yorkshire Tea and Nike.Patel also sanctioned the sacking of 16 members of Yorkshire’s coaching and back-room staff in a bid to create “a culture which is progressive and inclusive”. That decision was later found to have been “procedurally unfair”, with Yorkshire required to set aside £1.9 million for compensation and legal affairs.Chathli, whose daughter, Kira, plays for South East Stars and was part of the Oval Invincibles team that won the 2022 Hundred, is a highly regarded business leader, and an experienced international capital markets expert, with a 25-year track record of advising global companies, organisations and government agencies.Stephen Vaughan, Yorkshire’s CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome Harry to the Board and as Chair at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
“Harry brings strong business acumen and experience, and I am sure this positive impact that will benefit Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the Yorkshire Family as a whole.”The Board looks forward to working with Harry and collectively we are committed to delivering long-term success that YCCC members deserve.”

Teams batting first have made 290-plus totals in six of the last nine ODIs at the venue

Hemant Brar16-Jul-20224:50

Jaffer: Shikhar Dhawan needs to come good

Big picture

The last time India came away from a multi-format tour of Australia, England, New Zealand or South Africa without a series loss in any format was in 2018-19 in Australia. To find the next-most-recent instance, one will have to go all the way back to 1986, when India drew their ODI series in England 1-1, and won the Test series 2-0.On Sunday, India will have an opportunity to add to that list. Yes, they lost the Edgbaston Test on this trip but the Test series, which began last year, ended at 2-2. Then they clinched the T20I series 2-1 with their new, attacking approach. Can they produce the same result in the ODIs as well?Related

• Shikhar Dhawan to lead India in West Indies ODIs

• Rohit Sharma bats for Virat Kohli again amid 'slump' talk

• Rohit Sharma wants India to be more positive in tricky chases

• Harry Brook, Phil Salt, Matt Parkinson released for Finals Day by England

While England may not be aware of India’s touring record, they, and their captain Jos Buttler, will not want to start the post-Eoin-Morgan era with defeats in both white-ball series, that too at home.Both teams, however, need to do better with the bat. In the first ODI, England were bundled out for 110. In the second, India only managed 146 in a chase of 247. One strategy could be to see out the new ball – in both games, the eventual losing team all but lost the match in the first ten overs of their innings. Another thing that should provide some relief to the batters is the fact that Old Trafford, the venue for the third ODI, has seen some high totals in the recent past.

Form guide

England WLWWW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
India LWWWWJason Roy’s form will be a concern for England•AFP/Getty Images

In the spotlight

Jason Roy epitomised England’s aggressive approach under Morgan. But in his last five outings, the first three in T20Is and the next two in ODIs, he has scored 4, 0, 27 (off 26 balls), 0, 23 (off 33 balls). While he has continued to show the intent to go hard from the get-go, the results have been missing. With England’s white-ball bench strength arguably at its all-time peak, Roy will know he needs an impactful knock sooner rather than later.Virat Kohli will always be in the spotlight – whether he is scoring runs, not scoring runs, or replying to Babar Azam on Twitter. But the focus will also be on Shikhar Dhawan, who scored an unbeaten 31 at The Oval but consumed 54 balls while doing so and looked less than convincing. In the second ODI at Lord’s, he was out for 9 off 26 balls. He was been named the ODI captain for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, but at 36, his long-term place in the side could be in danger if his form doesn’t improve.

Team news

England have released Harry Brook, Phil Salt and Matt Parkinson for the T20 Blast Finals Day. While the trio will be back in Manchester for the ODI, they are unlikely to play. England didn’t make any changes after a ten-wicket drubbing in the first ODI, so it’s unlikely they’ll tinker with the side that gave them a 100-run win in the second.England (probable): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 David Willey, 9 Craig Everton, 10 Brydon Carse, 11 Reece Topley.Despite Dhawan’s struggles, India may still persist with him. They could, though, bring in Shardul Thakur for Prasidh Krishna to extend their batting because No. 8 feels at least one slot too high for Mohammed Shami. Thakur may also be better-suited than hit-the-deck Prasidh to exploit the swing that the new Kookaburra has offered so far on the tour.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Mohammed Shami, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Prasidh Krishna/Shardul Thakur.Prasidh Krishna could make way for Shardul Thakur if India want to lengthen their batting•PA Photos/Getty Images

Pitch and conditions

Given its big boundaries and a dry square, Old Trafford is generally the best pitch for spin in the country. The UK’s weather office has issued a warning for “extreme heat”, but one would assume a peak temperature of 30°C would not affect India too much. That, though, could mean the pitch assists the spinners even more.

Stats and trivia

• In the last nine ODIs played at Old Trafford, teams batting first have posted 290-plus totals on six occasions.
• Teams batting first have won eight of those last nine ODIs at this venue.
• Moeen Ali is 20 short of 2000 ODI runs. He also has 91 wickets to his name.

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“I’m expecting a pretty good atmosphere in Manchester – almost like an away game really. But that’s the thing you want to practise, especially with a World Cup in October [in Australia] – you want those win-or-you-are-out-of-it sort of games.”

Thanks coach Hilton Moreeng as she makes “mental shift” to get her on-field performances to match her promise

Firdose Moonda14-Mar-2021Lara Goodall has dedicated her career-best 59* against India Women to national coach Hilton Moreeng, who she credited with believing in her even when she was not performing. The innings, Goodall’s second fifty in 25 ODIs, helped secure the series for South Africa Women, with a game to play.”It was nice to get the team over the line. The personal milestone was good but to be there at the end after grafting so hard in the middle and to win the game was special,” she said. “To coach Hilton, for all his faith in me. I know I haven’t always backed him up but he has always backed me as a player, so this one was for him.”Goodall was recalled by Moreeng and the selection panel for January’s home series against Pakistan after spending 15 months out of the international game. She was dropped after South Africa’s last tour of India, in 2019, where she played in two of the three ODIs and returned scores of 38 and 6. At that point, her ODI average was 15.14 – quite substandard for a middle-order batter.”I took that quite hard,” Goodall admitted, while conceding that she had clear weaknesses. “I wasn’t sure of my game and how to play spin and what my scoring options were. I didn’t really back myself so I was making half-hearted approaches.”She called what happened between training session and match day back then a “disconnect”; she was unable to translate her talent into runs for the runs national team, and she was forced to go back to the domestic set-up and refine her skills. “I looked at myself and saw that I needed to improve a lot to become a mainstay in this line-up. There was a slot in that middle-order, which I wanted to make mine.”In the 2019-20 summer, Goodall finished outside the top 10 in the CSA women’s provincial league and probably still wasn’t doing enough to be recalled. But then lockdown happened and, for her, it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. “I trained very hard during the lockdown and just came back with a different approach. It was more of a mental shift, because I felt that I always had the shots and the ability to bat.”One of the shots is the reverse-sweep, which she cheekily pulled out twice in the 48th over to put South Africa in touching distance of victory in Lucknow. “It’s a shot I’ve always backed myself to play. I’ve played it back home all the time. Once they took the slip out, that was always going to be my option. My conventional sweep wasn’t working so I had to go to that option and it came off. I was calm and I was set, which helped to execute such shots. And now that I am back I don’t ever want to go back to provincial structures for the whole season. I want to be playing for the Proteas with a view to the World Cup next year.”Related

• Stable base and consistency the pillars as South Africa Women reach new high

• No central contract for Faf du Plessis; Heinrich Klaasen and Lara Goodall get maiden deals

• Lizelle Lee becomes top-ranked ODI batter after strong run against India

• Report – SA pull off their highest successful chase to clinch series

South Africa have identified the postponed tournament as theirs to challenge for. They automatically qualified for the event by beating New Zealand in New Zealand and Goodall believes their victory in India is an illustration of how seriously they should be taken, especially if they increase the margin of their series triumph in Wednesday’s final match. “The last time we came to India we got clobbered, so we came here with a point to prove. We are a lot more sure in our games. We back ourselves a lot more than we did a few years ago. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy with conditions. It was nice to come and make a statement and nice to show we have that belief,” she said. “And 4-1 is a lot better than 3-1, so if we win 4-1 in India it is a statement to the rest of the world that we are gunning for that World Cup.”There’s still a year to go and much more cricket to be played before that and South Africa may use the time to tinker with their combinations. The middle-order was a concern before this serious, and criticised for relying too heavily on the opening pair, which Goodall recognised. “We have a world-class opening partnership in Lizelle [Lee] and Laura [Wolvaardt] and we haven’t always backed them up in the past. We could always rely on our opening partnership but as a middle order, we had to look at ourselves,” she said. “We owed it to Lizelle and Laura. Today was for them. They’ve always given us the best starts.”Although Lee and Wolvaardt were responsible for setting up South Africa’s chase in this match, neither of them was there at the end. Instead, it was Mignon du Preez, who hadn’t scored a half-century in more than two years before today, Marizanne Kapp and Goodall who finished the chase, proving that there are others who can handle responsibility in the South African line-up. “We didn’t lose wickets in clusters, which has been our problem in the past,” Goodall said. “And to come here and win without Dane [van Niekerk] and Chloe [Tryon], who are big players for us, shows the immense depth and talent we have.”van Niekerk and Tryon are not on the tour as they both recover form lower-back injuries, but South Africa also won the last two matches without stand-in captain Sune Luus, who is ill, and regular wicketkeeper Trisha Chetty, who is carrying a niggle.

Heat had recovered through Miller and Bopara’s 100-run stand but their total wasn’t big enough

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2019Durban Heat may have felt that they had dug themselves out of a hole after posting 160 from a precarious 50 for 4 in the eighth over, and may even have briefly entertained thoughts of a maiden win, but against the MSL’s top team this season, it wasn’t quite enough. For table toppers Nelson Mandela Bay Giants who maintained their supremacy with their fourth win in five matches, Jason Roy set things up with a 38-ball 50 at the top and Chris Morris closed off the chase in thrilling fashion with just one ball to spare.Roy dominated the opening stand worth 68 with Matthew Breetzke, before he was caught short of his ground by England team-mate Alex Hales halfway into the 11th over. But No. 3 and captain JJ Smuts took over, racing to 15 off eight balls with the help of a four and a six, before Breetzke, who had laboured to 25 off 31 fell to the legspin of Shaun von Berg.Just as the Giants looked like coasting to their target, they lost three wickets in quick succession, Malusi Siboto removing the dangerous Smuts for 33, before accounting for Marco Marais for a five-ball 11 only two balls later. That left the Giants 31 to get from 15 balls, and the equation came down to 16 required from six before Morris clobbered a six and two consecutive fours off Siboto to seal the match with his 22 off 10.Earlier, Heat lost their way after opting to bat against an attack featuring three of the tournaments’ top five wicket takers. But it was the lesser known medium pace of Nandre Burger that did the damage, first accounting for Hales for a leading edge on the off side and then Wihan Lubbe, who scooped a catch to mid-on.Captain Dane Vilas fell to his counterpart Smuts, before Imran Tahir had the set Wesley Marshall caught at long-on to leave them four down. It was then that David Miller and Ravi Bopara got together for the highest stand of the match, adding 100 in 70 balls, to bring Heat back into the contest. Miller was strangled down the leg side for a 36-ball 45, but Bopara batted through, finishing unbeaten on a 43-ball 57. Eventually, though, their efforts were in vain.Heat are yet to win a match this season, with three washouts to their name so far, and are currently second from bottom.

Uttarakhand opener made 202 against Sikkim, eclipsing the 187 Ajinkya Rahane had made in 2007-08

Saurabh Somani06-Oct-2018Uttarakhand opener Karn Veer Kaushal became the first batsman to score a double-century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, hitting 202 off 135 balls in a Plate Group match against Sikkim on Saturday. The previous highest score in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was Ajinkya Rahane’s 187 for Mumbai against Maharashtra in Pune in 2007-08.Kaushal accelerated steadily during his innings, reaching 50 off 38 balls, a century off 71 balls, 150 off 101 balls and his double-century off 132 balls. He put on 296 for the first wicket with Vineet Saxena, who made 100 off 133 deliveries, the highest opening stand in List A cricket in India. The previous highest was the unbeaten 277 that Shikhar Dhawan and Aakash Chopra had put on for Delhi against Punjab in 2007-08.”I never thought or expected I’d get a double-century,” Kaushal told ESPNcricinfo. “I just played as the innings went on. Only when about 30 runs were left did I think that, ‘Okay, I can try for a double-century’. I felt very nice when I completed it, but I didn’t know then that it was a record. I got to know that I was the first one to score a double-century after I came back to the dressing room.”I didn’t know it was Ajinkya Rahane’s record that I broke till you told me now. I didn’t even know our opening partnership was a record till you told me.”Kaushal’s innings drove Uttarakhand to 366 for 2 in 50 overs at the GS Patel Stadium in Nadiad, and he fell only in the 47th over.

Kaushal had been trying, unsuccessfully, to get into the Uttar Pradesh team since a number of years, but the doors to senior-level cricket in India for him opened only when Uttarakhand became among the nine new teams allowed to participate in BCCI’s domestic competitions. “I had been trying to get into the Uttar Pradesh team for the past eight to ten years without success,” he said. “In the last two years, I attended some camps they held also, but never got selected. I attended their T20 camp, and also their Vijay Hazare camp. This is the first time that I’m playing at this level. This year I didn’t try there, because Uttarakhand got a team. I knew that there is very tough competition in the Uttar Pradesh team, and being from Dehradun this (Uttarakhand) is my state so I knew that there will be more support here and people have seen me play cricket here.”This is the third century for Kaushal, 27, in the tournament, during which he made his List A debut. He had made 101 against Puducherry, and 118 against Mizoram. Kaushal now has 467 runs in seven matches at an average of 77.83 and strike-rate of 122.25, second to Punit Bisht, the Meghalaya professional, who has 488 runs. Kaushal’s three hundreds are the most for a batsman in the tournament so far.The doors opening for Uttarakhand, and his own good performances, have meant that his pursuit of cricket has finally paid off. “This is my profession and my passion. I used to earn some money playing local cricket, and managed with that,” he said. “Both my parents are in the police, my father in Uttar Pradesh and my mother in Dehradun. They have both supported me a lot too, telling me to not worry about finances and leaving me free to concentrate on the game.”Yes, with both being in the police, they did think I might follow them. But from the start, cricket was my passion. In fact, till last year, my mother would tell me that, ‘What is this silliness you’ve got yourself entangled in, if you had studied hard, you’d be in the IPS [Indian Police Service] by now.’ But now there is some peace at home and I don’t get chided as much’.”In the Plate Group, Uttarakhand are battling Bihar for the top spot. They have 24 points, just two behind Bihar’s 26 with both teams having one match each remaining. The team that tops the group will qualify for the quarterfinals. Uttarakhand will play Arunachal Pradesh, and Bihar will take on Mizoram, on October 8.

Vernon Philander will work on his conditioning ahead of a packed home summer scheduled to feature 10 Tests, including two four-match series against India and Australia

Firdose Moonda at Old Trafford07-Aug-20171:54

Du Plessis challenges Philander to prove fitness

Vernon Philander will work on his conditioning ahead of a packed home summer scheduled to feature 10 Tests, including two four-match series against India and Australia, for which South Africa want him to be fully available.Philander struggled with a comeback from an ankle injury and a viral ailment in the first and third Tests in England respectively and then sat out the fourth with a back concern. He came under severe criticism from his former captain Graeme Smith and his current skipper Faf du Plessis has also weighed in, urging Philander to focus on his fitness.”It’s fair that you need to play a lot of cricket for your country and be available for selection and Vern accepts that,” he said. “If you’re only playing one or two Test matches and then off for one or two… there have just been too many times when we as a team go, gulp, ‘Vern might be injured again’. So he’s taken it on board from a fitness point of view.”We have important series coming up, not that we play series that are not important, but India and Australia at home, it’s eight Test matches and he needs to be fit to get through all of them.”Philander’s value to South Africa was underlined in the second Test when he turned in a Man of the Match performance at Trent Bridge. South Africa were depending on him as they sought the series lead at The Oval and though he bowled well on an opening day interrupted by toilet breaks, the rest of his participation was limited. He spent a second night in hospital and though he returned to bat, could not bowl as much as needed in the second innings in conditions that would have been perfect for him.Then, just as South Africa thought they would have Philander back for their must-win game at Old Trafford, he pulled up with back spasms, which left Smith fuming and du Plessis frustrated.”The last I spoke to you, I said he’s just got to do a small fitness test but he’ll be fine. So when he woke up with a stiff back the next morning it was frustrating,” du Plessis said. “For us to have competed and to win Test matches we needed Vern, you need your best players. Duanne bowled well this game but Vern is one of the best in these conditions, probably the best in seaming, swinging conditions which has been the case in all four Test matches, so not having him here was very frustrating and disappointing.”Philander played in all 11 Tests – two against New Zealand at home, three against Australia away, three against Sri Lanka at home and three against New Zealand away – prior to this series, but he struggled with injury in the early part of his career. He had injuries in three of his first four series – a knee, back and hamstring problem – before tearing ankle ligaments in India in November 2015 that kept him out of action for nine months. Philander has admitted it took time for him to fully trust the ankle again and it would not have helped that he injured the other one in the lead-up to this series.Given that he only plays one format at international level, Smith pointed out that Philander does not always have the benefit of a team trainer to put him through his paces. He has had to take that responsibility for himself and du Plessis said Philander has committed to doing more. “It is a challenge for Vern because it’s happened too often that he doesn’t play a full series. I’ve spoken to him about that and he’s accepted the challenge and that he needs to improve that.”

The attention was on Durham’s Scott Borthwick but he ran himself out for 2 and Steven Patterson then drove home Yorkshire’s advantage with 6 for 56

David Hopps at Chester-le-Street20-Jun-2016
ScorecardSteven Patterson recorded career-best figures•Getty Images

At a time when a potential home Test debut for Scott Borthwick against Pakistan has been widely floated, it is perhaps inevitable that the Durham wicket that gained most attention was the one where Steven Patterson just vaguely stood there at the end of his run and happened to get in the way.Borthwick, who began the match with a Championship average top side of 80, has had a prolific season, in contrast to the current incumbent as England’s No. 3, Nick Compton, who has mustered 151 runs at 16.77 in a troubled season for both Middlesex and England.Patterson, one of the stingier bowlers around, was probably silently berating himself for allowing Borthwick something as self-indulgent as a front-foot drive when the ball was parried at mid-off by the diving Andrew Gale. Borthwick first held the pose – as if displaying his England credentials for a dozing photographer – then sensed a single, aware that Gale is carrying a few niggles and is a bit exposed in the field these days.But there was a Patterson roundabout to negotiate and Borthwick was still a foot short of the crease, sliding in on his knees, when Gale’s direct hit struck the stumps. The physio had to come on to give Gale attention, but it was only a graze and he was safe in the knowledge that he had pronounced he has not become an automatic single just yet.That was England affairs done and dusted, Borthwick left to curse a scorecard showing two runs in six balls. Attention turned to the Championship, the arena in which, day in day out, Patterson proves his worth. This time, with career-best figures of 6 for 56 to celebrate, and Durham dismissed for 172, he might get a share of that headline.Chris Rushworth, who two seasons ago took nine wickets in an innings, did his best to upstage Patterson late on, serving up a draught of local defiance. Shaven pate shimmering in rare evening sunshine, he claimed all four Yorkshire wickets to fall, including Alex Lees for 71 and Patterson, loping out as nightwatchman, for a second-ball duck, to leave Gale and Gary Ballance playing charily for the close.With the bat, Jack Burnham stuck it out, his 49 from 134 balls representing a mature contribution in a decent first full season, showing the sort of resilience that is expected from this Durham side, no matter how inexperienced. He drove pleasantly at times, but he never drove Patterson, wisely settling for suspicious pushes into the leg side.”Patto does what Patto does,” his coach, Jason Gillespie, is fond of saying. He does not so much hit a length as beat it into submission at speeds just above the motorway speed limit, but not quite fast enough to make the camera flash. But when he hits the seam he can change lane as sharply as the best of them. On a nibbly Chester-le-Street seamer, he was a permanent irritation: as nagging as a wasp in the kitchen, the thing you can’t quite remember, the noise in the car you can’t quite place.Every team needs a Patto, someone to throw the ball to when the pressure is on, and for Yorkshire the pressure was at maximum. They have four senior pace bowlers absent – Jack Brooks, Ryan Sidebottom, David Willey and Liam Plunkett (the latter with England) – their hugely promising fast bowler, Matt Fisher, is plagued by hamstring trouble, and England have also called up the legspin of Adil Rashid.Add Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, and Yorkshire had eight missing in all. Two seamers were on Yorkshire Championship debut, Ben Coad and Josh Shaw, although Shaw had at least had some experience at Gloucestershire, where he has been called back from an intended season’s loan.With one point separating Lancashire, Durham and Yorkshire at the top of Division One, the table is a triumph for the north, although this being the north, the did curb its regional pride with the observation that Lancashire are in a false position.Durham were reasonably placed at 74 for 2 when Patterson struck for the first time with his second ball after lunch, having Mark Stoneman lbw, pushing well forward. Then came a run of 3 for 8 in 18 balls: Michael Richardson edged a brute of a ball which spat off a length; Paul Collingwood, who seemed intent on breaking him early, managed one cover drive but then mistimed a wide one to backward point; and Ryan Pringle’s off stump was removed as he groped forward.Coad and Shaw both acquitted themselves well, and Tim Bresnan produced a decent delivery of his own to have Usman Arshad caught at the wicket, but Gale ran Patterson for 14 overs in all, a spell broken by lunch, his value never more apparent. A brief second spell went unrewarded before Gale turned to him again after tea and he ended the innings courtesy of two off-side catches. A bowler just doing his job, and doing it well.

Mohammad Hafeez will miss the third Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele to undergo a test on his bowling action, which was found suspect after the Galle Test

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2015Mohammad Hafeez will miss the third Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele to undergo a test on his bowling action. The offspinner was granted an Indian visa on Wednesday afternoon, and the ICC is expected to confirm a date for the test on Thursday. The PCB had earlier requested the ICC for an extension to the July 4 deadline for the test, on the grounds that Hafeez had not yet been granted an Indian visa to travel to the accredited testing centre in Chennai.Hafeez was reported for a suspect action after the first Test in Galle. According to ICC regulations, he is allowed to bowl until the results of the tests are out and he bowled 14 overs in the second Test in Colombo, which Pakistan lost by seven wickets. He travelled to Pallekele, the venue for the third Test from July 3, to join the squad, but will now travel to Colombo before leaving the country for the test.Hafeez was reported on June 21 and according to ICC regulations he needed to appear for testing within 14 days. He faces a one-year suspension from bowling if his elbow flex is found to be over the permissible 15-degree limit because it would be the second time his action was declared illegal in the last two years.Hafeez had also been reported in November last year and then banned from bowling in December because he was found to have an elbow extension as high as 31 degrees. After a delay due to injury, Hafeez was cleared to bowl only this April following tests in Chennai.1538 GMT, July 1, 2015 This story was updated after Mohammad Hafeez was granted a visa

A wrap of the second day of the eighth round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group C

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2012
ScorecardJaummu and Kashmir’s medium pacer Ram Dayal bowled an incredible spell at the start of the second day picking up Himachal Pradesh’s top-six batsmen and giving away just 14 runs. But Himachal recovered to take a narrow lead and then removed three J&K batsmen to go ahead by the end of the day.Dayal struck with the third ball of the morning, removing Aakash Chopra and from there on, continued to torment the Himachal top-order. Bowling an extended spell, he had reduced Himachal to 58 for 6 at one point. It was Dayal’s third five-for this season and it almost gave a chance to J&K to take a first-innings lead after scoring 175.But a 65-run seventh-wicket stand between Aatish Bhalaik and Karanveer Singh revived Himachal and helped them take a narrow 11-run lead and Himachal’s opening bowlers – Vikramjeet Malik and Rishi Dhawan – struck thrice in the nine overs of J&K innings to help Himachal take control.
ScorecardCenturies by VA Jagadeesh and Robert Fernandez helped Kerala to a big first-innings lead against Jharkhand in Mallappuram. The two batsmen, who were unbeaten yesterday, took the lead past 100 as Kerala looked set to post a big total. But left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem struck twice in two overs to disrupt the progress. After the 230-run second-wicket partnership, Kerala lost their last nine wickets for 95 as Nadeem took four and Samar Qadri picked up three.Still, Kerala had a 205-run lead and they made the most of the day by picking up Jharkhand’s openers before the end of play and will start tomorrow with an innings win in sight.
ScorecardA strong opening partnership between Pallavkumar Das and Sibsankar Roy led Assam’s response which has put them in a strong position to take first-innings lead. Pallavkumar was out one short of his half-century but Roy stayed unbeaten on 72 when stumps were called, with Assam 83 runs behind Andhra Pradesh’s 249.The highlight of the day was veteran Amol Muzumdar’s fourth hundred of the season – his 29th in first-class cricket. Mumzumdar, on 82 overnight, completed his century in time before he ran out of partners. Arup Das was the most successful bowler for Assam with four wickets.
ScorecardAfter losing the first day to rain, Tripura were pulled out of deep trouble, losing their top three wickets for only six runs, by their middle-order batsmen to recover to 170 for 5 at stumps. Saurabh Bandekar and Hanumant Gadekar took two wickets each as Abhijit Dey stitched two crucial partnerships with Abbas Ali (44) and skipper Ajay Ratra (37).