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A stunning wicket taking burst from left arm quick Mark Harrity and another fine Greg Blewett innings has continued to afford South Australia an edge over Victoriain the teams’ all-important Pura Cup match here at the Adelaide Oval. After the third day’s play, the Redbacks have first innings points and a lead of 161 runs in thebank at a scoreline of 3/157 in their second innings.This was after Harrity (4/55) and Blewett (80*) intervened heavily. The former helped snatch the last four Victorian first innings wickets for a total of just fourteenruns to give the South Australians a thrilling win in the tense battle for the two points, while Blewett assisted his side to recover following a shaky second innings starton a pitch providing increasing encouragement for the bowlers.Chasing a target of 220 or more certainly won’t be easy on the final day. Despite the fact that Blewett is approaching twin tons, there hasn’t been a century stand inthe game and, on a pitch that has already been used this season for a four-day encounter, scoring at anything above the match average of three runs an over won’t bestraightforward.Only three batsmen have really flourished in this match: Blewett, Matthew Elliott and Ian Harvey (87), who all but steered his side to first innings points.In a chaotic forty-five minutes following the lunch break, Victoria lost 4/25 to be all out for 336, after seemingly cruising at 6/306 at lunch.This situation, in effect, was set up by an excellent partnership of eighty-nine runs in even time between Harvey and skipper Paul Reiffel (34) who carried the scorefrom a staggering 6/222 to within thirty runs of the two points.It must be said that Reiffel survived a vociferous appeal on nought for a bat-pad catch off Peter McIntyre (2/107). SA captain Darren Lehmann had just placedhimself at silly point, Reiffel played the ball with a combination of bat and pad to him and the appeal was rejected. Lehmann’s subsequent action in throwing the ballto ground in an act of disappointment may cause him to be lighter in the pocket. We’ll have to wait on that one.Harvey lost Reiffel straight after lunch and, two overs later, John Davison (1) played an undignified swish to point. Michael Lewis (6*) helped add twenty-three withHarvey before the final bit of drama unfolded in Harrity’s eighteenth over – when five runs were needed.The left-arm quick sent down three bouncers in a row, more to prevent a run than inflict any physical damage. The fourth ball was short again, about shoulder height,and Harvey escorted to the ball to a deep backward point, where Jeff Vaughan held a great catch. Harvey looked mortified as he left the crease and would have hadevery reason to feel that way when, two balls later, Mathew Inness (0) edged to wicketkeeper Graham Manou to give the home side an unlikely first innings win.Harrity deserves due credit for his effort. He was the last of the regular bowlers to be used in the morning session – fifteen minutes before lunch – and he fullydeserved his best figures for the season.In their attempts to set up a fourth innings target for the Victorians to chase, Shane Deitz (1) went to an excellent inswinger and then David Fitzgerald (15) choppedto Matthew Mott in gully who all but stood on his head to take a blinder of a catch. At 2/29 there were some tremors, particularly as doubts surround the injuredChris Davies’ ability to bat. But these were allieviated with a ninety-nine run stand between Blewett and Lehmann (42). For a time it seemed SA could be 200 aheadat stumps, but the demise of the left hander to one which kept low with fourteen overs to go put a halt to those thoughts. Vaughan (13*) was content to playcarefully rather than forcefully in adding twenty-nine with his senior partner before the close.

Even Australia’s captain is running out of words to describe Shane Watson’s current form. Four matches into the tournament, Australia’s supposedly suspect middle order has barely seen the light of day. Watson is yet to be dismissed for less than 50, has made a tournament-leading 234 runs with a strike rate of 164, has hit the most sixes and is the leading wicket-taker to boot.He prospered on the bouncy tracks at the start of the tournament, and has remained as effective when they have slowed down. Oppositions have bowled short to him, whether by plan or mistake, and Watson has been unerringly brutal. Others have tried pitching fuller, but his lofted drives have been no less merciful. He has been as comfortable against Dale Steyn’s swing as he was against Sunil Narine’s offspin. His bowling almost seems an afterthought, given how colossal he has been with the bat, but Pakistan will do well to plan for his steady seamers as well, if they wish to avoid a three-way tie for the second semi-final berth or being knocked out by an Indian victory.”Things are just falling my way at the moment,” Watson said. “Even against South Africa, bowling-wise the wicket of AB de Villiers wasn’t one of the better balls I bowled, especially with the field I had. Batting-wise I knew how important it was to get through the first four or five overs with the quality of quick bowlers South Africa had, and then you sort of hope you can get away. You’ve just got to make the most of it when you can because I know how quickly it can turn and your form can go against you.”Australia arrived at the World Twenty20 barely fending off Ireland for number 9 in the Twenty20 rankings but with four dominant victories, have established themselves as the frontrunners of their Super Eights group. Watson said although Australia had lost the Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the UAE days before arriving in Sri Lanka, that experience has played a significant role in their success at the World Twenty20 so far.”I think we all knew exactly what conditions we were going to have,” he said. “The conditions in Dubai were brilliant practice because what we had there was very similar to what we have here. We know the further the tournament goes, the more it’s going to turn. That’s going to be a big challenge for us, but at the moment, the top three [are] scoring the bulk of the runs, and when that happens you are able to keep your run rate pretty high.”Australia picked left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty ahead of seam-bowling allrounder Daniel Christian for their match against South Africa, on a drier-looking pitch than the surfaces they had encountered previously in Colombo. Doherty took 3 wickets for 20 having opened the bowling, including the scalps of Richard Levi and Jacques Kallis in the first three overs. With pitches expected to become more spin-friendly as the tournament progresses, Australia captain George Bailey said Doherty’s attitude and form was encouraging ahead of their match with Pakistan.”Xavier handled the pressure of taking the new ball really well. It was a really specific role that we wanted him for today and he got the absolute best result that he could have. To have South Africa three wickets down after that first six overs really put them on the backfoot and made it hard for them to gain any momentum through those middle overs.”Bailey said Australia are also wary of the spin threat their opponents pose. Saeed Ajmal was the leading wicket-taker in the UAE series, with six wickets at 8.66 and an economy rate of 4.33, while left arm spinner Raza Hasan and offspinner Mohammad Hafeez took five wickets between them. Bailey said Australia’s batsmen had had trouble reading Ajmal, but that they had learnt from their clashes with him in the UAE and devised new strategies for him.”I don’t know if you can decode Ajmal. He’s going to be a key for the rest of the tournament, and will probably become more dangerous the deeper the tournament goes. We’ve got some thoughts and ideas, but if he comes out and bowls unbelievably, it’s going to be tough for sure.”

ScorecardFile photo: CM Gautam scored 100 to push Karnataka’s total to 349•KSCA

It was a comical end to a frustrating day for Karnataka after Uttar Pradesh’s ninth-wicket pairing of Parvinder Singh and Ankit Rajpoot had kept the hosts at bay for an hour. Vinay Kumar had used every bowler at his disposal, but the UP pair remained resolute.Such was the captain’s frustration that at one point he was even seen holding his head when Robin Uthappa intercepted a push from Rajpoot at long leg. It was Vinay’s first delivery (of what would be his final over of the day) and he had strayed down the leg side. However, Uthappa stopped the four, and the pair ran a single to bring the more settled Parvinder back on strike.But Uthappa immediately made amends. As soon as Vinay asked Manish Pandey to deliver the final over of the day, Uthappa snatched the ball form his team-mate’s hands and convinced his captain to let him bowl. After bowling two short deliveries, Uthappa surprised Pavinder with wayward movement and bounce, and the thin outside edge was picked up easily by Chidhambaram Gautam behind the wicket.Vinay, who had not even taken a start at short cover, could not believe his luck as he joined Uthappa and his team-mates in a loud chuckle. With only RP Singh left to bat, and sitting on a 127-run lead, Karnataka will be hoping for a far more satisfying day tomorrow.That was the kind of day Karnataka had endured. Having broken UP’s back at 65 for 6, the hosts gradually loosened the noose with their own hands by dropping catches, missing run-out chances and letting the pair of Parvinder and Piyush Chawla help UP claw their way back in to the match.Vinay forced an edge off Mukul Dagar to break the opening combination, but Lokesh Rahul spilled the catch in front his face, only to be saved by an alert Manish Pandey at second slip. Abhimanyu Mithun then took two quick wickets as UP were four down by lunch. Tanmay Shrivastava was adjudged lbw against Vinay even though the ball appeared to be sailing over the stumps. Vinay then easily got rid of Eklavya Dwivedi to raise hopes of Karnataka batting in the final session. But their poor efforts in the field gave UP a number of reprieves.When UP were on 82, Parvinder stepped out against legspinner Shreyas Gopal. The ball turned away from him, but Gautam failed to knock the bails off cleanly in time, allowing Parvinder to turn back to safety. At that point he was on 14.At the other end, Chawla’s batting gave the impression that he was not going to last long, as he swung at every opportunity. A top edge from him had sailed over the wicketkeeper’s head for a four, and he was dropped on 11 by Karun Nair at point and on 31 by Rahul again. Granted those opportunities, Chawla suddenly started to play with an uncharacteristic patience and both batsmen eventually reached their fifties, much to the annoyance of Karnataka.After tea, Mithun started to hit the deck hard and maintained a consistent off-stump line while moving the ball away from Chawla. Having played and missed the ball on at least four occasions, Chawla finally nicked one behind to Gautam. Mithun then uprooted Amit Mishra’s middle stump to hasten UP’s tail and bring Rajpoot to the crease.Rajpoot, however, did not show any urgency as he only tapped and pushed the ball without taking any risks. As Karnataka tried hard to get a breakthrough, it only allowed Parvinder to punish the bad balls which were coming in big numbers. With a pull against a short delivery from Gopal, he entered the 90s, and a deserving century was on the cards untill Uthappa decided to intervene.Karnataka had started the day with a similar sense of frustration, as a poor effort from their lower order meant that they could add just 52 runs to their overnight score after Amit Mishra picked up six wickets, his second five-for this season.After Nair had gotten out in the final over of the first day, it was left to Gautam to direct and carry forward the dominant position Karnataka had regained after their top-order collapse. Gautam did reach his first century of the season, but received no support from the lower order, as Mishra’s probing morning spell did not allow much freedom to any of the players including Gautam, who became the third Karnataka batsman to get out exactly on 100.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Manjrekar: Can’t fault Amla’s reaction

South Africa are not an easy side to defeat as a record of just three Test losses in nearly four years testifies. India are finding that out first hand in Johannesburg, as the home side put up a stubborn resistance on the fourth day. India remain on top, more so after having squeezed out two major wickets, but another day of intense combat awaits them on Sunday.India lost wickets regularly on the fourth day but that didn’t alter the match situation much as Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli had already put the visitors in a dominant position yesterday. By the time India were bowled out midway through the second session, the target had reached never-chased-before proportions of 458.South Africa’s redoubtable batting line-up is stacked with players who have stellar second-innings records, and grinding out five-and-a-half sessions isn’t a task beyond them. It wasn’t Jacques Kallis (second innings avg 56.06) or Hashim Amla (53.51) or even opener Graeme Smith (48.06) who led the resistance early on. Instead, it was Alviro Petersen, possibly playing for his place in the side after a lean run in recent months, who soaked up much of the bowling and led a sprightly start.Graeme Smith was run-out off a direct hit from Ajinkya Rahane•AFP

India’s bowlers didn’t get alarming movement with the new ball and though there were edges and beatens aplenty, the only chance that came their way was a tough overhead catch for Virat Kohli on the first ball Smith faced off Zaheer Khan. It came off the middle of the bat, and though Kohli managed to get a hand on the ball, he couldn’t hold on and it popped too far for him to get a second chance.South Africa’s openers were never really at home – the leading edge or the ball that squared them up was never too far – but they went for their strokes and the runs came along briskly. Petersen played a gorgeous straight drive early on, and accumulated the bulk of his runs through whips towards midwicket. Smith, as usual, specialised in survival, besides muscling the ball frequently to the leg side.It was only when the openers have been together for nearly two hours that Smith seemed to be getting fluent, and the openers put together their first 100-run stand in more than a year.India desperately needed something to go their way, and it did. Smith has never been the nimblest runner between the wickets, and in 196 previous Test innings he had been run out only twice. Today, with his team still needing an enormous effort to save the game, he was caught short attempting a sharp, needless single. The throw from the mid-on fielder, Ajinkya Rahane, arrowed in on the base of the non-striker’s stump to catch Smith short. Perhaps Smith was convinced into going for the run as he played the shot from well outside his crease, but for a man who prides himself on his ability to thrive in high-pressure situations, this was a tame way to go.When India won the Durban Test on their previous tour, the defining delivery was the one from Sreesanth that leapt at Kallis’ throat and led to his dismissal. If India do go on to complete a famous win tomorrow, the defining deliveries could well be the ones to dismiss Amla in each innings. Opponents will consider Amla getting bowled without offering a stroke once as a bonus, but twice in a match is a bonus of the size investment bankers dream of.While Amla shouldering arms to a typical incoming Ishant Sharma delivery in the first innings was inexplicable, he was less culpable in the second innings. He saw Mohammed Shami drop it short and ducked, but the ball stayed low, so low that it crashed into the top of off. Amla had said after the first innings, “there are two types of leaves – a good leave and a bad leave.” You can’t classify this as a bad leave, but it cost Amla his wicket, and he trudged off after staring at where the ball bounced.While there has been plenty of intensity right through this game, there was also time for MS Dhoni to bowl a couple of overs when the light was fading towards close, making this the first time both teams’ wicketkeepers have bowled in a Test.India will hope they can take the remaining eight wickets tomorrow morning with the haste with which South Africa got them today. Pujara went on to his fourth 150-plus score of his short Test career before nicking behind off Kallis. Kohliclosing in on joining greats Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid as the only Indians to make a century in each innings of a Test. He couldn’t get there though, edging JP Duminy to the keeper on 96.Dhoni holed out for a typically busy 29, but it wasn’t as action-packed as Zaheer Khan’s cameo – french cuts and wild heaves were mixed in with a couple of cleanly struck sixes, all of which had the Indian dressing room laughing gleefully. Zaheer’s hitting meant India added 37 for the final two wickets, and pushed the target beyond 450.0:00

Manjrekar: Indian attack out-thought SA bowlers

ScorecardBhargav Merai nearly scored his maiden double-hundred, Venugopal Rao made 111 and No. 10 Rujul Bhatt batted with an injury to earn three points for Gujarat who got five more than Haryana’s first-innings score.Resuming on 314 for 4 with Merai on 115 and Rao on 64, Gujarat eased past 400 as Merai crossed 150 and Rao scored his 14th first-class hundred. But their massive 256-run stand ended when Rao was trapped lbw for 111. Manpreet Juneja didn’t survive for too long as he also fell to offspinner Jayant Yadav, leaving the score at 437 for 6, still 136 behind. Akshar Patel steadied the innings as Merai headed towards his double-ton, but fell short by two runs when he was bowled by Amit Mishra.Akshar and Rakesh Dhurv then took Gujarat past 500 but Mishra halted their charge by getting rid of Dhurv for 17. Bhatt, who had injured himself while fielding on the second day and had not taken the field since, joined Akshar with two fractured fingers. He battled for more than an hour, faced 56 deliveries and scored a vital 26 runs which took Gujarat past Haryana’s 573 after which Bhatt retired hurt. Akshar stayed unbeaten on 69 off 98, which featured nine fours.Bhatt has been advised five weeks’ rest and will miss the next few matches but might play this season again if Gujarat qualify for the knockouts.Read the full report of Mumbai v Odisha here: Natraj ton robs Odisha of winRead the full report of Karnataka v Punjab here: Karnataka win despite Gurkeerat 157

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) may appoint an interim coach between the 2014 World Twenty20 and the 2015 World Cup, as it awaits the retirement of three senior batsmen. The committee appointed to nominate the next coach proposed this measure, among others, because there is a train of thought that while assistant coach Marvan Atapattu is capable of coaching the side in the long term, he may not have full control of the team as long as Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan are in it.This is largely believed to be because the senior players had played alongside Atapattu for a considerable portion of his career, with Jayawardene having captained him from 2006 until his retirement in 2008. There is still a chance that Atapattu, or indeed Mark Davis, will take the reins immediately after Graham Ford’s departure in late January, but the coach-nomination committee felt the need to present the board’s executive committee with a number of options, given the lack of a pre-eminent candidate.If an interim coach is appointed, he will take Sri Lanka through full tours of England and New Zealand, as well as the World Cup, in roughly one year. If SLC feels it does not have time to find an interim coach before February, Atapattu will likely step into the head coach role for Sri Lanka’s ten-week stint in Bangladesh, where they will play a full tour, the Asia Cup and the World Twenty20.This option is one of the plans the SLC’s executive committee will vote on in its next meeting, scheduled for the first week of December.The executive committee is also likely to review the present salary structure offered to foreign coaches, which compared to other countries is measly. A foreign coach is offered approximately US$ 12,000-15,000 a month in Sri Lanka, but the current market rate of a high profile coach is around US$ 25,000-30,000 or more. Last week, Australia assistant coach Steve Rixon said the pay attached to Sri Lanka’s national coaching job was “embarrassing”.”The executive committee is expected to make a final call on whether to appoint a full-time head coach at the moment, or to look further than that,” said SLC acting CEO Ashley de Silva. “We have given some recommendations and it is up to them to make a final decision.”Atapattu has been Sri Lanka’s batting coach since 2011, and became assistant coach earlier this year. Mark Davis is part of the coaching staff at Sussex, and though he has never coached a county, or a national side, he is the highest qualified of the candidates who have applied for the job. Davis has a Level 4 certificate and he is also a graduate in sports psychology.Appointing Atapattu until the first week of April would give SLC time to take a decision on whether they should look beyond the two candidates to find a credible foreign coach till the end of the 2015 World Cup at least. The next coach would then take over from the tour of England, which starts in mid-May next year.Although 11 candidates responded to SLC’s advertisement for a head coach, none of them had credentials to compare with past and present coaches, who had held that post and performed creditably. The sacking of former Australian cricketer and coach Geoff Marsh, and the subsequent payment of US$ 125,000 as out of court settlement following a lawsuit filed by Marsh, made other coaches wary of applying for the job.

ICC Test match playing conditions

If the umpires together agree that the deterioration of the ball is inconsistent with the use it has received, they shall consider that there has been a contravention of this law. They shall then decide together whether they can identify the player(s) responsible for such conduct.
42.1.1 if it is possible to do identify the player(s) responsible:
a) change the ball forthwith. The batsman at the wicket shall choose the replacement ball from a selection of six other balls of various degrees of usage (including a new ball) and of the same brand as the ball in use prior to the contravention.
Additionally the bowler’s end umpire shall:
b) award 5 penalty runs to the batting side.
c) Inform the captain of the fielding side of the reason for the action taken.
d) Inform the captain of the batting side as soon as practicable of what has occurred.
e) Together with the other umpire report the incident to the ICC Match Referee who shall take action as is appropriate against the player(s) responsible for the conduct under the ICC Code of Conduct.
42.1.2 If it is not possible to do identify the player(s) responsible:
a) change the ball forthwith. The umpires shall choose the replacement ball for one of similar wear and of the same brand as the ball in use prior to the contravention.
b) the bowler’s end umpire shall issue the captain with a first and final warning, and
c) advise him that should there be any further incident by that team during the remainder of the match, steps 42.1.1 a) to e) above will be adopted, with the captain deemed under e) to be the player responsible.

South Africa were penalised five runs for ball-tampering on the third day of the second Test against Pakistan in Dubai. Faf du Plessis was the player in the centre of the controversy and the ICC said its ruling on the incident will be announced tomorrow.The ICC confirmed that the five-run penalty and the change of ball after 30 overs was due to ball-tampering. “As per 42.1 of the ICC playing conditions, the umpires replaced the ball and fined South Africa team five penalty runs for ball-tampering,” an ICC spokesperson said.The incident took place at the start of the 31st over of Pakistan’s innings, two overs after tea, when umpires Ian Gould and Rod Tucker called South African captain Graeme Smith for a chat. The fourth umpire, Shozab Raza, brought a box of balls onto the field and a new one was selected for use.No individual player has been charged yet but television images showed du Plessis rubbing the ball allegedly on the zipper of his trouser pocket.The playing conditions (see sidebar) dealing with ball-tampering were changed recently, coming into effect only from October 1. Any player found guilty of ball-tampering, which is a Level Two offence, will be fined 50 to 100% of his match fee and/or get a ban of one Test or two ODIs or two Twenty20s, whichever come first.South Africa were well in control of the Test, having taken a commanding 418-run first-innings lead, when the incident occurred.The only other time a team was handed a five-run penalty for ball-tampering was in the infamous Oval Test in 2006, in which Pakistan refused to take the field after the umpires deemed that the seam on the ball had been raised.

George Bailey’s side may be no match for the great Australian teams of recent vintage but Rohit Sharma feels India cannot afford to take them lightly during the seven-match ODI series, given the visitors’ experience of playing in Indian conditions.”They are a very competitive side with most of their players having featured in the IPL and the Champions League,” Rohit told . “They know the Indian conditions well. We can’t get complacent against them. Australia on a given day are a very dangerous side.”Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson are the only two players in the Australia squad to have featured in more than 100 ODIs but Rohit refused to read too much into the relative inexperience of the others. “They are still a very competitive side,” Rohit said. “Their batters are match-winners. We have to be at our best against them.”However, Rohit admitted that Australia would miss their regular captain and most experienced player Michael Clarke, whose chronic back problem has ruled him out of the series.Following years of largely underwhelming performances in the middle order, Rohit has enjoyed success after being promoted to open the batting this year, and averages 41.42 in 16 ODIs since. However, his strike-rate in those matches dropped to 68.63 compared to a career figure of 75.61. With two new balls being used in ODIs now, Rohit said an opener had to be watchful initially.”You need to be cautious with the new ball upfront. You have to plan your strategy accordingly. The shot selection becomes important for you as an opener, like what shots you have to play, which areas you have to go after. The new rules are more helpful to bowlers.”

ScorecardSamit Patel’s hundred turned the match around for Notts•Getty Images

Riding on an accomplished century, Samit Patel took the opportunity to hit out at the England selectors at being overlooked for international duty since February.After play ended following Patel’s fourth century of the season, he expressed his satisfaction with his form throughout the summer and said he was “shocked and disappointed” to have been overlooked by England since the second T20 against New Zealand in Hamilton.Patel said that he had been told by national selector Geoff Miller to be more consistent, which he thought was “harsh”, and believes that his statistics since then have been compelling.”All I can do is get hundreds here,” he said. “Actually I’m very disappointed that England haven’t been in contact in any format of the game. I’m very shocked and surprised but I think that’s the way it goes. My stats at the end of the year should get me back in that team.”I just got told I wasn’t consistent enough, which I thought was very wrong, very harsh. Geoff said I wasn’t consistent, which I wasn’t happy about. It’s unfair but you’ve just got to get on with it. Hopefully with my stats in white-ball cricket this year, I don’t think they can ignore that for too much longer.”Patel is a curious case. He’s played 59 games for England across all the formats, and his statistics stack up well, but sadly he is perhaps best known for doubts about his fitness. But there were no doubts about his fitness here or, indeed, throughout 2013. During his innings on day two he passed 1,000 first class runs for the season for the second time, and while Michael Lumb and James Taylor have marginally better batting averages for Nottinghamshire, neither can match his weight of runs. His 25 wickets have not hurt Nottinghamshire either.Patel is aware that a high profile YB40 semi-final against Somerset next Monday at Trent Bridge is a big opportunity to put himself back in the England frame. “I need another crack at playing one-day cricket for England, that’s for sure,” he said. “I thought I had a great chance to be in the one day squad against Australia but they’ve only picked one spinner and that’s just the way the selectors go I suppose.”Here, he led the way in putting Nottinghamshire into the strong position which the previous evening had been Warwickshire’s. Nottinghamshire loss of three wickets at the tail end of the first day appeared to have them on the back foot, albeit that one of them was nightwatchman Luke Fletcher. But Patel was there when the day ended and pushed on through day two.Patel and Steven Mullaney started the day with a job to do after the damage that Warwickshire had inflicted on the first evening. They needed to dig in, and that’s what they did. They stayed together for 100 minutes and 68 runs before Mullaney slashed a short ball outside the off stump from Steffan Piolet and was caught at third man.The other significant contributions to Nottinghamshire’s score came from Riki Wessels and Andre Adams, who has had an outstanding game so far with both bat and ball. Wessels hit 12 boundaries in his 77 before being run out by a direct hit from Chris Woakes while attempting a quick single, and Adams scored 46 batting at No. 10.Maurice Chambers, an intimidatingly large and quick bowler, was Warwickshire’s principal weapon, and he became the third man in the match to take four wickets in an innings after Luke Fletcher and Andre Adams on the first day.Warwickshire took a deficit of 61 runs into their second innings and found themselves in a similar situation to that which faced Nottinghamshire an evening earlier. They had 14 overs to negotiate with fresh bowlers running in at them.Andre Adams and Luke Fletcher, the outstanding bowlers in Warwickshire’s first innings, did the damage. First Fletcher made a ball rear up onto Ian Westwood’s forearm and onto the stumps, then Adams trapped Varun Chopra lbw. Warwickshire have catching up to do, but this is still anyone’s game.

Al-Amin Hossain took 6 for 16 as Abahani Limited rolled over Cricket Coaching School for a paltry 35 to record a 212-run win in the Dhaka Premier League.CCS now hold the second-lowest List A score in Bangladesh’s domestic history after Chittagong Division were all out for 30 runs, more than a decade ago. This was also the second-biggest victory margin in the country, after Bangladesh’s 233-run loss to Pakistan in the 2000 Asia Cup in Dhaka.Al-Amin, a 23-year-old pace bowler, was in the forefront of all the carnage as he picked up all of the top five batsman inside the first 11 overs. Left-arm spinner Nabil Samad finished things off, picking up four wickets for only four runs in his 6.2 overs.Earlier, Abahani were all out for 247 in 49.4 overs with the help of a half-century from Sri Lankan veteran Indika de Saram. Opener Nazimuddin chipped in with 41 while Mosaddek Hossain struck 39. CCS did have something to celebrate however as left-arm spinner Bishawnath Halder took 5 for 38.Afghanistan allrounder Mohammad Nabi smashed 146 off 90 balls for Mohammedan Sporting Club as they beat Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club by 34 runs in Bogra.After winning the toss, Mohammedan put up 307 for 8, despite an ordinary start from Tillakaratne Dilshan, who had plodded to 25 off 34 balls, and Upul Tharanga falling early.Nabi led the recovery, adding 76 runs for the fifth wicket with Shamsur Rahman, before launching into the bowling attack. He reached his fifty off 49 balls, and took only a further 27 balls to convert it into a century. He blasted six sixes off his last 14 balls to go with three previous hits out of the park and 13 boundaries. Wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh gave good company as the sixth-wicket partnership amounted to 129 runs.In reply, Doleshwar recovered from an early loss with Mehedy Maruf and Tillekaratne Sampath adding 112 for the second wicket. Sampath made 68 but once the partnership broke, Mohammedan’s strong bowling line-up took over. Murad Khan and Dilshan took three wickets each while captain Mashrafe Mortaza picked up two wickets.In Rajshahi, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club edged out Kalabagan Krira Chakra in a tight game by 16 runs.Chasing 263, Kalabagan looked comfortable until the final 10 overs. Chamara Kapugedera, having made 46 off 31 balls, was bowled by Elias Sunny. Naeem Islam, standing in as captain for the injured Shakib Al Hasan, kept the score ticking over with a sedate half-century but the other end became a source of regular wickets as Dhanmondi’s experienced bowling line-up held sway. Shafiul Islam took three wickets while Sunny and Dilshan Munaweera picked up two each.Junaid Siddique’s 95 former the basis of Dhanmondi’s total, with the captain Mushfiqur Rahim chipping in with 43. The duo put on 90 for the third wicket to set up a strong target. Kalabagan’s other Sri Lankan recruit Jehan Mubarak took five wickets, his third five-for in List A cricket.