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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMisbah-ul-Haq’s team wasted the advantage gained by winning the toss on a flat pitch•AFP

Ravi Rampaul played a role, but the thoughtlessness of Pakistan’s batting played a bigger one as they limped to 180 for 6 on a rain-affected first day of the second Test in St Kitts. The tourists won the toss and the surface looked blameless; no undue movement, good, even bounce and ahistory of high scores. Yet only Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal realised its true worth, and their half-centuries were sandwiched between two collapses.It was difficult to know which collapse was worse. The second came as Pakistan were recovering, not entirely composed but firmer than they had been. Ali was providing the calm, Akmal the oomph. The pair had come together at 74 for 4, with nearly half the day gone. The impetus was provided by Akmal, who played an attacking shot to every ball he faced initially.There was some beauty – a front foot cut off Rampaul for instance – but it was hidden among skittishness. The innings’ 44th over, from Devendra Bishoo, was typical: Akmal beaten by a legbreak, then slicing an ugly slog, then sweeping fine and almost popping a catch to cover.But tea came 40 minutes early because of rain and it instilled in Akmal some of the calm of Ali. There were still strokes – how can there not be? – such as a lovely, clipped three through midwicket off Darren Sammy, before the shot of the innings, a dancing loft over long-off against Bishoo. But these increasingly became the exception, as he put his head down and, like a recovering amnesiac, remembered how Test innings are built.Ali was as much a contrast as he could be in a 93-run stand, nervous to begin, eventually composed if not ever authoritative. Sammy troubled him, again bringing the ball in off a good length. Ali treated it first as some unfathomable delivery thrown down by a freak concoction of Dennis Lillee,Muttiah Muralitharan and Paul Adams. He fairly crawled to lunch, unsure and jumpy in allowing four of the last six overs to pass as maidens.But Ali’s bubble acquired greater robustness in the shortened afternoon session. He reached out to Bishoo to drive and then, when the legspinner erred short, he cut him through cover. After tea, a back foot punch off Sammy – now much more decipherable – brought a seventh Test fifty, thoughthere was also a sharp chance to slip soon after.Akmal brought up his sixth fifty just before the fourth and longest rain-break of the day and just as all appeared well, he slipped back into his coma. Chasing a Sammy ball wide enough to be wided, he top-edged the slog to third man. Four overs later Ali went, run-out in a careless mix-up with Mohammad Salman; only Asoka de Silva was more careless in not spotting that Salman should’ve been out because he grounded his bat after Ali at the non-striker’s end. Pakistan ended the day with no recognized batsmen left, no total on the board.Those late wickets restored the natural order of the day, of a committed West Indies and thoughtless Pakistan. As good as Rampaul’s figures for the morning looked – 3 for 13 – and as well as he did bowl, it’s difficult to pick out what was exceptional about it. As in the last Test, he ran in precisely with the enthusiasm of a man unable to believe how his career has suddenly soared, racing in so the dream doesn’t suddenly end.The control was exemplary and if the pitch didn’t offer the movement of last week, it offered bounce. Otherwise there looked nothing to suggest anything other than what has gone in two previous Tests here: big runs, forgotten draws.And yet, by the time of a nine-minute rain interruption just after the first drinks break, Pakistan’s top order was done and dusted. It took Rampaul four overs to strike and then he couldn’t stop. Taufeeq Umar went first, gloving one that bounced while trying to leave it; Mohammad Hafeezwent next, edging essentially a straight ball that bounced a fraction more; Asad Shafiq fell the over after, cutting a wide ball straight to point and Pakistan were tottering at 24 for 3.Misbah-ul-Haq helped put on an even fifty with Ali, but when he fell, needlessly swiping Bishoo to mid-on, he did nothing to dispel the day’s most vivid impression: more than just poor batting – much more worrying in fact – maybe Pakistan’s batting is simply not up to it; still or yet, depending on who you’re looking at.

World cricket must adopt independent commissions in the vein of Australian football in order to stay relevant, the editor Scyld Berry has said.In his editor’s notes for the 2011 edition of the Almanack, Berry observed the growth of Australian Rules to outstrip cricket as Australia’s national game as proof of the need for a change to outdated executive structures. The game’s administrators adopted an independent commission in 1993 and have flourished into near nationwide dominance in the ensuring 18 years.”Now the Victorian Football League is the Australian Football League, thriving nationwide and attracting young elite athletes with its average salary of $A230,000 (about £150,000), twice that of the state cricketer, and with 800 jobs available – eight times as many as in professional cricket,” Berry wrote.”The offspring has taken over the parent, because the constitution of Cricket Australia is the same as in the 19th century. In the same way the constitutions of most Test-playing countries, as well as the ICC’s, are unfit for modern purpose.”Berry’s words arrived at a time when Australian cricket is undergoing two reviews, one into the performance of the national team, chaired by Don Argus, and another into the administration of the game that will involve the corporate governance experts Colin Carter and David Crawford.The governance review could result in a serious shake-up of Cricket Australia’s structure, which includes an unusual arrangement at board level. As founding members, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia each have three votes on the board, but Western Australia and Queensland receive two each, and Tasmania just one.Crawford has a history of instigating major overhauls. Crawford was responsible for a 1992 report that brought about the creation of the AFL Commission, and in 2003 he recommended the formation of the Football Federation of Australia.A more recent Crawford report commissioned by the Australian government suggested a review of the way funding was divided between Olympic and non-Olympic sports, and met strong opposition from the Australian Olympic Committee. Carter is the president of the Geelong Football Club and spent 15 years as an AFL commissioner.”I don’t want to pre-empt what it is going to say,” Jack Clarke, the CA chairman, said when announcing the reviews in February. “The basis on which David Crawford and Colin Carter have been engaged is that they will provide a report to the board. The timing of that is not exact yet, it’s up to the board then to decide which of those issues we do and do not go forward with.”Berry also pointed out the negative influence of incumbent politicians as members of national cricket boards and at the executive table of the International Cricket Council. “At the highest level of administration, politicians are taking over, which cannot be healthy,” Berry wrote.”There may be something to be said for a former politician, such as John Howard, becoming an administrator, as he tried to do in the election for the ICC presidency; but precious little for active politicians. They have too little time for the game and too many vested interests.”Former ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed has expressed similar views about the most effective future governance of the game in his recently released memoirs, .

Match facts

Friday, April 15
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)The legbreaks continue to fizz and turn, irrespective of Shane Warne’s age and lack of practice•AFP

Big picture

Two rounds of the IPL are out of the way, and team strategies are becoming clearer. Shane Warne, the quintessential poker player, has not revealed his entire hand yet, but ‘contain and chase’ seems to be Rajasthan Royals’ template for 2011. Warne has taken it upon himself to control the middle overs, and the bowling unit has revolved around him. Rajasthan’s batting has a little bit of everything – Rahul Dravid’s solidity, Johan Botha’s enterprise, Ashok Menaria’s free-spiritedness, and Ross Taylor’s sheer brutality to top it off. And it’s about to get better for them – Shane Watson is in Jaipur, fresh from his Mirpur mayhem.Kolkata Knight Riders, in contrast, have been slower starters. They began timidly, paying the price for picking only two overseas players against Chennai, a move that cost them in a high-pressure finish. Even in their second game, Eoin Morgan and Ryan ten Doeschate did not get a chance to bat. The arrival of Brett Lee, Brad Haddin and Shakib Al Hasan might force Gautam Gambhir to overcome his reluctance to use foreign talent. Lee, in particular, will be a worthy addition to their seam attack. Despite Kolkata’s reinforcements, Rajasthan’s visible assurance makes them the favourites.

Team talk

Given Watson’s brutal hitting form in Bangladesh, he is likely to open the innings with Dravid. Warne, however, tweeted on Wednesday that he was considering using Watson in the lower middle order. The bigger question will be, who should make way for Watson. Jacob Oram played the first game, but picked up an injury which allowed Shaun Tait to play against Delhi. Despite testing the speed gun and blasting out two huge wickets, Tait bled 40 runs in that game. Watson is around 30 kph slower than Tait, but has the variety to send down four quiet overs.If Lee comes in for Kolkata, ten Doeschate could be benched. Shakib Al Hasan’s all-round abilities might convince Kolkata to give him an IPL debut, in place of either L Balaji or Jaidev Unadkat.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team selector.

In the spotlight

Shane Warne spent most of the last year in casinos, on Twitter and on the front pages of tabloids, yet he turned up at the IPL and got the legbreaks to drift and spin as though he had never been away from the game. At the other end, he has Johan Botha sending down well-calibrated offbreaks with smart variations in pace. Together, they are perhaps the most potent spin duo in IPL 2011.Eoin Morgan‘s unconventional methods could help Kolkata combat Rajasthan’s spinners. Morgan’s footwork is among the quickest in the game, and he has the ability to play shots into unconventional regions. His tussle with Warne and Botha could be the most interesting subplot in the contest.

Prime numbers

• With half-centuries in both games, Jacques Kallis is the second highest run-getter (107) so far this season. Johan Botha, who is yet to be dismissed, is a run behind
• Manoj Tiwary has hit four sixes so far this season, two behind AB de Villiers, who is the tournament’s leading six-hitter. Ashok Menaria has three.
  

  The chatter

  “Iqbal Abdulla can make a difference during the first six overs and the last five overs. The way he has bowled shows that he has a great character. He is a young guy and has a great future ahead of him. Brett Lee is fit and raring to go”

Kumar Sangakkara is not yet sweating over an inconsistent Sri Lankan middle order. Even a dependable batsman like Mahela Jayawardene has stuttered in the World Cup, logging just 134 runs in four completed innings, 100 of which came against Canada. In three innings Angelo Mathews has 39, Thilan Samaraweera 61, Thisara Perera 22 and Chamara Silva has 61 from two innings including a half-century.Except in the rain-abandoned match against Australia, Pakistan are the only strong opponent Sri Lanka have faced so far. Chasing a challenging total of 277, Sri Lanka got off to a good start with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga adding 76, but the hosts lost control immediately as four wickets fell for just 20 runs in seven overs. Sri Lanka have just one match left to repair those mistakes before the quarterfinals.”When the time comes, the guys will step up,” Sangakkara said, shrugging off the idea that the middle order had some work to do. “We had probably one bad game against Pakistan. We looked pretty solid against Australia and the other games, the middle order didn’t have much to do. So the real test will come and the guys are very capable of stepping up in those games for us.”The fact that batsmen in the lower middle order – Mathews, Perera, Silva – have not spent enough time in the middle is not causing any distress for Sangakkara. “If we can win matches with just the top order, I think that is good enough for us. But if the middle order needs to come in, that’s why they are selected because they’re good enough to do the job. Failures do happen. So that’s the way cricket goes. You take those opportunities and do as much as you can. If you cannot be successful, you try and learn and get better.”Sangakkara said it was important the Sri Lanka don’t lose the focus going into the knockouts. “You know, when you play in a World Cup, past doesn’t really matter and it’s exactly what you do when the game comes. For us, it’s going back to the basics and probably we cover all our bases and take the opportunity.”Many captains, including Ross Taylor, Sangakkara’s counterpart for tomorrow’s game, have stressed that a victory in the final group clash would provide the momentum going into the quarterfinals. Sangakkara differs. “Every side likes to build momentum and take it into the really important stages. At the same time sides also might not win in the final first-round game and won’t be too much worried about it. The quarters, semis and the finals are the one that really count. Therefore, what happens just before does not really matter, unless it takes psychological toll on that particular side.”

Several leading players have added their voices to the debate over the involvement of Associate nations in future World Cups, with England offspinner Graeme Swann asking: “Why would you want to take the world out of the World Cup?”Under current ICC proposals the Associate nations could be excluded from future World Cups from 2015, when the tournament could be reduced to just 10 teams, but Swann and a number of other cricketers from Test-playing nations interviewed by disagree with the move. “Yes, of course the emerging nations should stay in it,” added Swann. “Shocks can happen.”While a bloated World Cup schedule and a preponderance of one-sided, uneven games in the early stages of the world tournament have drawn criticism in the past, it appears that the players themselves would not like to see the so-called ‘minnows’ excluded.”There’s no reason why you can’t have those teams in the competition,” added Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait. “To play against the best players and sides in the world is massive and I wouldn’t want to take that away from anyone.”AB de Villiers added that he saw value in the smaller nations’ involvement in major tournaments. “It makes it more colourful and it’s good for the growth of the game,” he said. “Playing on the subcontinent levels things out and they can be harder than the best teams because their bowlers are slower and it makes it tough for batsmen.”Brendon McCullum was not unequivocal in his backing of Associate involvement in the World Cup, but did highlight the potential for smaller nations to inflict embarrassing defeats. “It’s great from their perspective that they’re there,” he said. “Does it diminish the value of the tournament? I’m not entirely sure. They’re in at this stage, so we should respect that. It’s a little bit scary actually. All you think about is playing the knockouts, winning the big games. But to be part of the big moments you’ve got to overcome the banana-skin games.”Indian batsman Suresh Raina added that he believed it was only fair that the Associates play in the World Cup as they don’t take part in big international series and need some way to learn and improve, and veteran Kenya batsman Steve Tikolo strongly echoed his sentiments.”The World Cup offers us the chance to test ourselves against the Test nations which we rarely do nowadays,” said Tikolo, who was part of Kenyan teams that beat West Indies at the 1996 event and reached the Semi Finals in 2003. “If we can do well, then we can really push our case to have more games against the bigger teams. They’re the matches that everyone will judge us by.”The ICC have indicated that they are yet to make a final decision on qualification procedures for the 2015 World Cup and have made the seemingly placatory move of announcing plans to expand the World Twenty20 to 16 teams. “How the 10 members are to be determined is still to be decided,” insisted Dave Richardson, the ICC’s general manager for cricket. “It could be the full members only but it could be not.”

Match Facts

February 3, SSC
Start time 09.30 (04:00 GMT)
West Indies will welcome their return to form•AFP

Big Picture

The spectre of rain looms large on the ongoing ODI series even though it had been rescheduled to the new year to avoid exactly that. The spate of inconclusive contests continued with the first ODI being abandoned due to rain at the SSC but not without the visitors again making a strong impression. West Indies had not played an ODI since the home series against South Africa in May and June last year but two of their players, one who had missed that series and another who had been dropped from the Test series against Sri Lanka, struck form to boost the visitors in the lead-up to the World Cup. Adrian Barath sizzled with a maiden ODI ton while Ramnaresh Sarwan marked his return to the national fold with 75 in a 162-run stand with his centurion partner.Sri Lanka’s batting was untested, thanks to the rain, but Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan, their bowling mainstays, were back into ODI groove. Nuwan Kulasekara served his role of the back-up seamer with an economical spell though Ajantha Mendis went for runs – could it prompt the team to try out Rangana Herath? Left with just two games prior to the World Cup, barring the warm-ups, now is the time for the teams to test out their respective XVs. But beware the rain, for there’s more forecast in Colombo on Thursday.

Form guide

(Last five completed games)
Sri Lanka: LWWWW
West Indies: LLLLL

Players to watch out for …

Carlton Baugh: He reminds you of David Williams with his diminutive stature, and has been picked in the West Indies squad for the World Cup ahead of the more experienced Denesh Ramdin. Despite having made his debut in international cricket more than seven years ago, Baugh has been unable to cement his place as a regular largely due to his inconsistency with the bat. He made a half-century in the Test series against Sri Lanka but an average of 14.86 in ODIs doesn’t really promise much.Chamara Kapugedera: Inconsistency has been his problem, too. His reputation as a big hitter and a potential game-changer down the order has ensured his place in Sri Lanka’s starting XIs for the last three years but his results have been mixed. Kapugedera has shuffled positions in the middle order and has his share of attacking cameos but, ahead of the World Cup, would want a better workout.

Team news

West Indies have opener Devon Smith in their ranks, but he may again have to sit out. Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted at No.6 but his style of play is better suited at the top of the order while Dwayne Bravo, who missed the first game due to a niggle, has to be brought back at some stage. “He has taken part in the training session fully and he has done everything that has been asked of him. He comes into the reckoning for Thursday’s match,” coach Ottis Gibson said of Bravo’s chances.West Indies (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Adrian Barath, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Darren Bravo, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Kieron Pollard, 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Carlton Baugh, 10 Nikita Miller, 11 Kemar Roach.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Mahela Jayawardene, 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

Stats and trivia

• The last time a West Indian spinner bagged a five-for in ODIs was in 2003 – Chris Gayle against Australia at St George’s.
• Adrian Barath’s century was the first by a West Indies batsman against Sri Lanka in ODIs after Brian Lara in 2003.
• The first ODI was the third abandoned 50-over game between Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Quotes

“The partnership was fantastic for us and that is the kind of approach we will need in the future going forward – with our senior players guiding our younger players. It was great to see. In tough situations we need them to get us to match-winning totals and ultimately win matches for us.”

England captain Andrew Strauss has refused to panic despite his team falling 3-0 behind in the one-day series against Australia, leaving the visitors needing to win all four remaining matches to take the contest. The latest reversal was by four wickets at the SCG after another poor batting display which totalled 214.Strauss insists that post-Ashes malaise isn’t to blame for the decline in form, but it’s hard not to think that the players have found it difficult to raise themselves to the same level that they found for the five Tests when the urn was at stake. Although England began the series with 294 at Melbourne, which still didn’t prove enough, the last two matches have produced a return to the bad old days of their one-day cricket.There is some mitigation in that the bowling attack is missing key personnel with Tim Bresnan the latest to join the list after he was ruled out of the series. But it’s unfortunate timing because over the last 18 months the team have made considerable strides in the 50-over game and have won their last five series against South Africa, Bangladesh home and away, Australia and Pakistan.Those past performances are what gives Strauss faith that the players can turn the series around when it resumes in Adelaide on Wednesday. “It’s not the time to panic,” he said. “There’s obviously a couple of guys who are not in brilliant form at the moment but that can change around very quickly. Now’s the time that you have got to have confidence in players rather than damage them.”You have to give credit to the way Australia have bowled. We haven’t been as smart as we should have been. I don’t know the exact answer to it, all I can say is we need to look forward and improve. There’s no point us crying into our cornflakes tomorrow morning.”While it’s true Australia have bowled well, especially Brett Lee, there have been a range of loose strokes and some poor decisions by the England batsmen. In the latest match the captain was run out in a horrid mix-up, Eoin Morgan pulled a long hop to midwicket and Chris Tremlett produced a schoolboy howler by not grounding his bat.For Strauss it’s the running between the wickets that causes the most frustration and he will continue to back his batsmen to play in a positive manner because he believes risk brings reward.”I hate run outs, I hate seeing run outs because it is needless,” he said. “You have to understand that in one-day cricket you are going to get one or two soft dismissals an innings because you are pushing things pretty hard. What we need to avoid is the four, five or six that we’ve shown so far in this series.”I still want us to play positive, aggressive, attacking cricket. That’s the only way we are going to succeed in Australia or in the World Cup,” he added. “I don’t want too many of our batsmen scratching their heads wondering whether they should play a shot or not. I want them to play with freedom. If we keep doing that and keep believing then I think things will turn around.”However, there is a growing concern about the impact a heavy series defeat here would have on England’s World Cup campaign even though conditions will be very different. Those players heading to the subcontinent only have three days at home, but Strauss won’t hear any talk of weariness. “If fatigue is setting in, then that’s not good enough,” he said. “If we keep believing we’ll turn things around.”

Scorecard
Mumbai will look back on Pankaj Singh’s inspired spell on the first day as a turning point, when he helped Rajasthan dismiss them for a paltry total•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rajasthan halted the run of 39-time champions Mumbai and entered the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy. The result was almost a foregone conclusion at the end of the second day, but they had to wait till the fourth evening to finally celebrate. Forget winning, they hadn’t taken a first-innings lead over Mumbai in 50 years and Aakash Chopra caught the spirit of the moment when he wrote, “It’s not often that you have the champions on the mat and the moment is worth a lot more than just a result going your way.” Rajasthan will now meet Tamil Nadu in Jaipur on January 3.For Rajasthan, the fourth day was all about waiting for play to end so they could start their celebrations.They were given added reason to smile as Ashok Menaria, the former India Under-19s captain who replaced Vaibhav Deshpande this game, completed his maiden first-class century. He hit eight fours and five sixes and was the last man out as Rajasthan batted out two hours at the start of the final day. Mumbai then scored 290 for 1 with Ajinkya Rahane and Sahil Kukrejka hitting hundreds. Rahane, in particular, provided some entertainment with a 69-ball 102 runs with 12 fours and three sixes.

Scorecard
R Sathish hit a fine hundred to ensure Tamil Nadu prevailed over Haryana to enter the semi-finals by virtue of a better run-rate in the match at the Bansi Lal Stadium in Lahli. Haryana will be disappointed that they had to end on the losing side despite dominating most of the game. In another fog-hit day when only 55 overs were possible, Sathish revived Tamil Nadu from 91 for 4 to finish on 285 for 6. He found great support in Dinesh Karthik, who had had a horror season before this game, and added 91 runs for the fifth wicket.The equation was simple at the start of the day: if a minimum of thirty overs were bowled in Tamil Nadu’s first innings, the team with the higher net run-rate in this game would advance to the semis. If the fog didn’t allow that many overs to be completed, the net run-rate from the league stage would have applied and Tamil Nadu would have gone through.

Ranji Trophy 2010-11 semi-finals line-up

• Rajasthan v Tamil Nadu in Jaipur, January 3-6, 2011

• Baroda v Karnataka in Vadodara, January 3-6, 2011

Haryana began promisingly as Joginder Sharma and Sanjay Budhawar knocked out the in-form batsmen Abhinav Mukund and K Vasudevadas to leave Tamil Nadu wobbling at 91 for 4 in the 34th over. However, Sathish revived Tamil Nadu with a refreshing knock; he played his shots from the start and went after Sachin Rana in particular. Haryana were further handicapped as their captain Amit Mishra had a lacklustre day with the ball (0 for 53 in 12 overs). Though Karthik fell, lbw to Budhawar, Sathish found an able ally in C Ganapathy (17* in 100 minutes) and added 95 runs for the seventh wicket. Sathish finally fell but Ganapathy played out the final 3.5 overs in the company of R Ashwin to take Tamil Nadu to the semis
Scorecard
Baroda staved off a tough fight from Railways and qualified for the semi-finals on the basis of their first-innings lead. Railways fought bravely in the second innings but it was always going to be a tough ask for them to clinch an outright win after yielding a 168-run lead.Railways’ plan was simple on the final day: get some quick runs, declare and hope for a minor miracle from the bowlers. Prashant Awasthi was run out after completing his hundred and Dhiran Salvi made a quick 40 as they set Baroda a target of 199. There was to be no miracle, though, as Baroda reached 136 for the loss of just three wickets to ensure their progress to the semis. Connor Williams and the first-innings centurion Kedar Devdhar hit fifties to settle Baroda’s nerves after opener Jaikishan Kolsawala was trapped lbw by Jai Prakash Yadav. Though Devdhar and Rakesh Solanki fell, Williams remained unbeaten to ensure Railways went out of the competition.

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Group A

Left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati was the wrecker-in-chief as Goa beat Jharkhand by an innings and 127 runs in Porvorim. Jakati made the initial breakthrough, bowling Manish Vardhan for 23 after the openers had added 46. Amit Yadav chipped in with two of the next three wickets, while India batsman Saurabh Tiwary failed for the second time in the match, falling to Robin D’Souza for 12. Jakati then sliced through the middle and lower order to finish with 6 for 55, which along with his 4 for 77 from the first innings, gave him his second career ten-wicket haul. Goa now have 8 points, one behind joint-group leaders Rajasthan, Hyderabad and Madhya Pradesh.Rajasthan and Madhya Pradhesh played out a high-scoring draw at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The highlight of MP’s innings of 419 for 5 was a 201-run partnership between Devendra Bundela and Abbas Ali for the fourth wicket. Bundela ended the day unbeaten on 106, while Ali was bowled by Madhur Khatri for 115. Opener Jalaj Saxena narrowly missed out on giving the visitors a third centurion, falling to Deepak Chahar for a well made 96 that included 19 fours. Chahar finished with 1 for 136 from 31 overs. No points were awarded in the game as neither side were able to establish a first-innings lead (MP were not bowled out). The result means Hyderabad joins them at the top of the table having beaten Tripura yesterday.

Group B

Opener Amit Deshpande, who batted for six hours to make 68, and no. 8 Ravi Jangid, who made an unbeaten 28 from 309 balls, giving him a strike rate of 17.07, enabled Vidarbha to cling on for the unlikeliest of draws against Kerala in Malappuram. When the visitors had slumped to 49 for 6, with four of the top seven batsmen failing to score, a crushing defeat seemed the only possible outcome. Deshpande and Jangid, however, defied the bowlers for the next 51.2 overs, adding 83 runs in the process. By the time Sony Cheruvathur trapped Deshpande leg before, Vidarbha only needed to survive a further seven overs. They lost Azhar Sheikh, caught behind off Prasanth Parameswaran in the next over to set the nerves jangling again, but Shrikant Wagh stuck it out alongside Jangid to foil Kerala’s bid to pick up their first win of the season.Services picked up their first win of the season, thumping Jammu & Kashmir by an innings and 127 runs at the Harbax Singh Stadium in Delhi. Resuming on their overnight score of 57 for 2, the visitors soon lost Asif Jeelani, leg before to Suraj Yadav, for 18, before a triple-strike left them reeling at 77 for 6. First, Nishan Singh trapped Dhruv Mahajan (1) in front in the 36th over. In the next over, Majid Dhar was run out without scoring by Soomik Chatarjee, and then Nishan returned to bowl Samiullah Beigh for a duck. No. 10 Raman Dutta threw his bat around to make 49 from 38, with seven fours, and added 58 with Hardeep Singh to prolong the innings. Hardeep was eventually run out by Tahir Khan for 40, and Arnav Kush wrapped up the game when he had Dutta caught one short of his half-century. Services moved up to third in the points table, trailing Maharashtra and Kerala.Satyakumar Verma’s highest first-class score helped Andhra Pradesh pick up three points for taking a first-innings lead over Maharashtra in Vishakapatnam. Verma batted for seven hours to make 117, adding 235 with opener Hemal Watekar, who was unlucky to miss out on a hundred of his own, falling to Samad Fallah two runs short of the landmark after facing 330 balls and batting for seven hours and 39 minutes. Shrikant Mundhe took 5 for 74 for the visitors, but it wasn’t enough to prevent AP from compiling 380 for 7, 12 more than Maharashtra managed in their first innings.

West Indies’ tour of Sri Lanka got off to a disappointing start when the tourists were bundled out for 176 by seam and spin on the first day of their three-day match against Sri Lanka President’s XI at the SSC. Only middle-order batsmen Brendan Nash and Shivnarine Chanderpaul got useful practice out in the middle ahead of next Monday’s first Test in Galle.The pair rescued West Indies from 29 for 3 with a partnership of 81 before spinners Ajantha Mendis and Malinga Bandara wrapped up the lower order. Nash who scored 62 off 107 balls said, “We would have liked to have batted some more overs and got used to the conditions over here. The wicket was quite good although it played a few little tricks. Maybe it was just one of those things where we started the tour a little slowly today.”Shiv and I batted together for a while and a few of the other guys showed signs of hanging there for a little bit. We were a little disappointed by the way we batted but we were surprised by the wicket being quite easy to bat on. Maybe that took us a little bit by surprise and we didn’t adjust as well as we should have.”Describing his maiden half-century in the subcontinent, Nash said, “I was a little scratchy in patches for my first innings in this part of the world. Personally I am pleased with it – the mental and physical side of things.”I was interested with the pace of the wicket, it was two-paced. Just when you thought you were sort of going quite easy something would happen to keep you on your toes. Although it was a nice wicket to bat on, every now and then it reminded you that something can happen out there.”Nash said that West Indies should take a good look at their batting today and establish how they were going to move on from there. “We got this out of our system and had a bit of a knock in the middle, so we got to know the conditions and what they are going to be like. We can learn from today. We have to move forward and keep going.”Nash expressed surprise in the way the home team approached their batting. “The top four batsmen who came out played real shots. They obviously had a plan to come out quite hard and score runs quickly. We sort of pegged them back towards the end by taking a few wickets.”It’s a three-day match and there is plenty of time. The wicket might break up a little bit more so it would be another test for our batsmen and bowlers to use those conditions,” he said.