Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has said his team’s batsmen need to prepare better to take on Pakistan’s pace attack

Sa'adi Thawfeeq08-Jun-2012Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has said his team’s batsmen need to prepare better to take on Pakistan’s pace attack. The trio of Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami and Sohail Tanvir have caused the hosts’ top order problems on the tour so far; Gul and Sami shared six wickets in Pakistan’s win in the first ODI in Pallekele. Sri Lanka were restricted to 135 for 8 in a rain-affected game after they had been reduced to 56 for 6 at one stage.”They are wicket-taking bowlers and are creating opportunities,” Jayawardene said after the game. “We discussed it is important we don’t give too many wickets upfront with the new ball especially to those three guys.”Once you expose the middle order, then they get some quality spinners and it’s going to be tough for the rest of the batsmen. That’s something we need to tactically tackle and see how we can combat properly.”Jayawardene said Tanvir, in particular, had improved since the last time Sri Lanka played him and his unusual action together with the swing and movement was a challenge. “We played Tanvir about three to four years ago but he wasn’t accurate at the time. We were getting a lot of loose deliveries. Now he’s got more control and a bit of pace as well.”We need to try and get a good rhythm going with him because he is unusual than the other bowlers, so we need to make sure we tackle that swing first of all and at the same time the variation he has.”Jayawardene defended his decision to bat in conditions that seemed favourable for bowling, given the track had been under the covers and had some moisture in it. “I don’t think batting first was the case,” he said. “It was just that we had to make sure we didn’t lose too many wickets in the first 20-25 overs, especially with the two new balls, and then try to set it up for the last 20 overs.”If we had batted a bit better and got somewhere to 190, it would have been a tougher challenge chasing. Pakistan’s track record in the last six months against us has been pretty good and it was up to us to try and change that but we didn’t play to our potential.”The game in Pallekele was Mohammad Hafeez’s 100th ODI and proved to be a good one for him. He picked up 2 for 20 in 10 overs and made 37. “As an opener and as a senior player my role is just to go there and spend more time on the pitch,” Hafeez said.

Lancashire completed a comfortable seven-wicket win over Middlesex at Old Trafford to round off a miserable night of Clydesdale Bank 40 action for the visitors, who were without Eoin Morgan due to travel problems.

16-Jul-2012
ScorecardLancashire completed a comfortable seven-wicket win over Middlesex at Old Trafford to round off a miserable night of Clydesdale Bank 40 action for the visitors, who were without Eoin Morgan due to travel problems.Glen Chapple’s side dragged themselves back into contention in Group A with their fourth win from six matches after restricting Middlesex to 97 for 8 in a match reduced by rain to 16-overs per side. Lancashire were then left to chase a further revised target of 97 off 15.Lancashire’s left-arm spinner Stephen Parry starred with career best figures of 4 for 21 from four overs before Steven Croft and Karl Brown, with 36 not out, anchored the chase with a third-wicket stand of 79 in 10 overs. Croft top-scored with 45 off 34 balls as the hosts moved to joint second with Middlesex on eight points having played one fewer match.Middlesex’s problems began before they had even taken the field because England one-day batsman Morgan failed to make it to Old Trafford in time for the start of the match after his train from London Euston had been cancelled. He had to take an alternative route via York but Ollie Rayner took his place when the toss was made at 4.20pm.The match was reduced from a 40-over match to 32 to 22 to 18 and then 16 due to numerous rain showers. Having been invited to bat first, Middlesex had reached 4 for 0 from two and a half overs when play, having started at 6pm, was halted approximately 15 minutes later. When play finally resumed two hours later, only opener Dawid Malan adapted to the bowler-friendly conditions as he hit a season’s best 48 off 36 balls, including two sixes off Glen Chapple and Ajmal Shahzad.Parry had Joe Denly stumped by Gareth Cross and Paul Stirling caught behind down the leg-side to leave Middlesex 45 for 2 after nine overs. He returned to bowl the last over of the innings, bowling Rayner and having Jon Simpson caught at long-off before Gareth Berg was run out with the last ball as he went for two. Shahzad, Tom Smith and Gary Keedy also struck as only two batsmen reached double figures.Lancashire made a shaky start to their chase by losing Stephen Moore caught at mid-on off Toby Roland-Jones. Smith was then brilliantly caught one-handed at mid-wicket by Berg off the bowling of Steven Crook.But Croft and Brown batted with caution before putting their foot on the accelerator after further rain accounted for the loss of one over. Both hit sixes over long-on – off Middlesex’s Tom Smith and Berg respectively – as the win was secured with 10 balls to spare.

George Bailey, Australia’s Twenty20 captain, has said he expects the 15 men picked for the Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the UAE to be the same 15 who will carry Australia’s hopes in the ICC World Twenty20 next month

Brydon Coverdale14-Aug-2012George Bailey, Australia’s Twenty20 captain, has said he expects the 15 men picked for the Twenty20 series against Pakistan in the UAE to be the same 15 who will carry Australia’s hopes in the ICC World Twenty20 next month. Australia must name their final squad for the World T20 by Saturday and although a provisional 30-man group included surprise choices such as Dirk Nannes and Ben Laughlin, there are unlikely to be any wild-cards in the final squad.That should mean a three-man spin attack including Brad Hogg, Xavier Doherty, and the uncapped Glenn Maxwell, while other exciting T20 performers such as Steven Smith, Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch are likely to miss out. The 15 men who will take on Pakistan have been in Darwin over the past week for a training camp and Bailey said he was pleased with the mix the selectors had brought together ahead of the World T20 in Sri Lanka.”Yeah I’d hope [it will be the same squad], all things being equal. Hopefully that group of guys performs and stays fit and I think that’s the 15 that will be best suited for us to go as far as we can in that tournament,” Bailey told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got all bases covered. If we want to go in with a spin-laden team we can, or with all-rounders, or we’ve got some genuine pace.”I think we’ve got absolutely everything covered for whatever conditions are thrown up in Sri Lanka. Also a lot of the games are played on the same venues, so we’re expecting towards the back end of the tournament perhaps some tired wickets.”That could mean plenty of work for the spinners and accurate seamers such as Clint McKay, although first Australia must get through their group matches against West Indies and Ireland. By the end of the group stage, Bailey will not even have played ten Twenty20 internationals, having been thrust into the captaincy from outside the squad in January.Since then, he has led his country to two wins and two losses from four games: two matches at home against India in February, and two in the West Indies in March. Until they convened in Darwin, his men have not been together for more than four months, with some having played in Australia’s one-day tour of England, others having enjoyed stints in county cricket, and others having spent the winter at home.The three T20s against Pakistan in the UAE early next month will therefore be priceless preparation for Bailey’s side, especially given that last time they played, in the West Indies, the T20 squad was augmented by ODI players due to the distance from Australia and the infeasibility of flying T20 specialists around the world for two games.”The back end of that Dubai tour will be really good,” Bailey said. “It will be the first time we’ve been able to get that squad together for an extended period. Even just the time in Sri Lanka for the warm-up games I think will be really important just to actually start to get a feel for our specific roles and just having the group together continuously. I think that’s been our biggest challenge as a cricket team, Twenty20 wise, has been just finding out about being a team rather than just a group of guys thrown together.”Gelling as a unit will be critical if Australia are to go one better than in the 2010 World T20, when they reached the final but lost to England. Despite that effort Australia are ninth in the ICC’s T20 rankings, with only Ireland and Zimbabwe below them, but Bailey reads little into the rankings and believes the World T20 will be wide open for almost any side to win.”I reckon there’s about nine teams that at this stage could put their hands up and say they can win the tournament,” Bailey said. “We firmly believe we’re one of those. Playing in the subcontinent means all the subcontinent teams will be pretty dangerous. England and South Africa have got great depth and consistency in their teams and the way they play at the moment they’ll be dangerous.”First and foremost our biggest worry is West Indies, who are in our group. They have a team that is absolutely made for T20, great balance of pace, good spin bowlers and some of the best hitters in the world. It’s going to be really tough and it’s going to be very much about gelling our team and getting our heads around the fact that if we can put our best cricket together for two weeks, something very special could be at the other end.”

MS Dhoni, the India captain, has said India have adapted to the change in nature of Sri Lankan pitches better than the hosts on this tour

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2012Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has said he was “disappointed” with his team’s performance in the one-off Twenty20 game against India, that Sri Lanka lost by 39 runs. Sri Lanka’s bowlers managed to restrict India’s batsmen in the death overs to keep the target to a gettable 156, but their batsmen failed to capitalise.”It was very disappointing, the way we lost today,” Jayawardene said. “At the halfway mark, we had a chat. The plan was to consolidate in the middle overs and keep wickets in hand till the 15th or 16th overs. From there on, eight an over was not going to be tough on a good surface on which the ball came on to the bat nicely, so we could have accelerated had we had wickets in hand. But we didn’t execute our game plan well at all.”This loss capped off a poor limited-overs series against India: Sri Lanka lost the ODI series that preceded the Twenty20 game 1-4. However, Jayawardene said the scoreline did not reflect how the team had performed in the one-dayers. “I don’t think we were outplayed in the ODI series, I thought we played some good cricket,” he said. “We had our opportunities but unfortunately, we didn’t take them. Today, yes, we didn’t play to our potential and were well beaten, but while the scoreline will show 4-1 in the ODI series, I think the series was a lot closer than that.”Sri Lanka’s next assignment is the Sri Lanka Premier League that starts later this week. India play New Zealand before they return to Sri Lanka for the World Twenty20 in September and Jayawardene said there were no clear favourites for the tournament. “In Twenty20 cricket, anything can happen,” Jayawardene said. “It all depends on how you perform on the day. In the past, we have seen Ireland and Zimbabwe beat big teams in the World Cup. As far as I am concerned, all 12 teams are in a good position to win the tournament. It all depends on how well you start the tournament, and how well you can maintain the momentum.”The World Twenty20 begins on September 18, with Sri Lanka taking on Zimbabwe in Hambantota.

The board members will sit to discuss and finalise changes to the rules concerning the presidency, and the terms of office bearers

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Sep-2012The BCCI has convened a series of high-level meetings on Saturday that could have long-term implications on the way it is run. The board members from the marketing committee, working committee and the IPL governing council will sit to discuss and finalise changes to the rules concerning the presidency, and the terms of office bearers.The proposed change to the election process of the president was originally mooted by Shashank Manohar to the board members informally. But in the working committee meeting last month, current BCCI president N Srinivasan put it forward formally for discussion. According to the present rule, the person who is nominated for the president’s post should have attended at least two AGMs as a representative from the same zone.”That is being amended now to any person who is proposed and seconded by the zone without the nominee having attended the board’s AGM from that zone,” a working committee member told ESPNcricinfo. “That means if two representatives from the same zone propose and second the candidate from any other zone to be become the president that is acceptable.”There are six members from the east zone, with one vote each. If any two of them propose a name from outside East zone he would eligible to become a president,” the official said.The board presidents have so far been picked on a rotational zonal basis. By that system, it would be the turn of East Zone to recommend a representative to replace Srinivasan, whose tenure comes to end in September 2014. Reportedly, the board was concerned about the capabilities of some of the names doing rounds in the East Zone for the top position. But according to the official, there was another strong reason for push to change the rule. “It is to accommodate Arun Jaitley [the current vice-president from North Zone],” the member said.The second rule change in the constitution being mooted is to allow the office bearers to have an extra term. At the moment every office bearer, barring the five vice-presidents, sit in the office for a single term of three years; the vice-presidents have two terms of three years each. “The proposed change is for the office bearers have an extra term of three years,” the official said. “The main reason is to have the best people work for the board.”

Ehsan Mani, the former ICC chief, feels that though the two matches to be played this weekend will boost Pakistan’s reputation as a viable host for international cricket, they won’t be enough to convince Test teams to play in Pakistan yet

Umar Farooq19-Oct-2012With the arrival of a team led by former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya in Karachi, international cricket of sorts is set to return to Pakistan. Ehsan Mani, the former ICC chief, feels that though the two matches to be played this weekend will boost Pakistan’s reputation as a viable host for international cricket, they won’t be enough to convince Test teams to play in the country yet.The International XI includes South African fast bowlers Andre Nel and Nantie Hayward, and West Indies players Jermaine Lawson and Ricardo Powell. They face a Pakistan All Stars XI team in Twenty20 matches at the National Stadium in Karachi on Saturday and Sunday. There has been no international cricket in Pakistan since March 2009, when the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked.”I do not think that these matches will have an immediate impact in persuading ICC Full Member teams to tour Pakistan but it is a step in the right direction,” Mani told ESPNcricinfo. “The International XI is a small but significant step in the confidence building process to assure overseas players and teams that Pakistan is open for cricket and it is safe for overseas players to come to Pakistan.”Without doubt Pakistan is desperate and in need of international cricket in their backyard; youth development is on hold as no team even at the youth level is ready to tour, the PCB has suffered a budget deficit for years, stadiums are getting rusty, fans are deprived. At a time when Pakistan is a no go-area for major international teams, though a side comprising international players have arrived in the country, the PCB has disassociated itself from the tour.They have stressed that the games are unofficial and are unsanctioned, and have left Sindh sports minister Dr Mohammad Ali Shah to deal with most of the arrangements.”I was disappointed to read that the PCB had disassociated itself from the matches; it appears that PCB is covering itself in case something goes wrong,” Mani said. “This gives totally the wrong message. The PCB should have been very much involved, including assuring itself that adequate security arrangements are in place. It is disgraceful that the initiative to convince players to come to Pakistan is not being led by the PCB but by the Sindh government.”The PCB’s approach to bringing international cricket back to Pakistan is flawed,” Mani said. “It tried to first persuade and then bully Bangladesh to tour Pakistan. The PCB does not seem to understand that before a full international tour can take place, teams such as the International XI should tour Pakistan to provide a degree of comfort to the ICC Member countries.”Pakistan cricket chief Zaka Ashraf, though, has said the revival of international cricket is his top priority but apparently accepted the goal is tough to achieve in the near future. While talking to ESPNcricinfo last month, he called the approach of the cricketing world towards touring Pakistan as ‘rigid’.Mani said the PCB needed to be fully aware of the steps necessary for the return of international tours to the country. “The PCB clearly does not understand the politics of cricket and the pressures on certain countries not to tour Pakistan by others with a different agenda.”The PCB also does not appear to have agreement with the ICC on what assurances the ICC will require before a team and ICC officials consider it safe to come to Pakistan,” he said. “It does not help that no PCB official or member of the security agency mandated to provide security to the Sri Lankan team in 2009 has been made accountable and punished for the disastrous lapse of security which put at risk the lives of players and officials and cost the lives of security personnel and destroyed international cricket in Pakistan.”

A round-up of the first day’s play in the fourth round of Group C matches in the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-2012
ScorecardA five-wicket haul by Andhra fast bowler Syed Sahabuddin helped his team take a stranglehold against Jammu and Kashmir in Jammu. After Andhra bowled the hosts out for 153, middle-order batsmen Amol Muzumdar and B Sumanth put on another century partnership, their third in a row, to rescue Andhra when they had been reduced to 8 for 3. They held the upper hand at 118 for 4 on the first day.Sahabuddin destroyed the J&K top order with the help of another seamer, Paidikalva Vijaikumar, who had taken 6 for 80 last week, and finished with figures of 5 for 53. When Andhra batted, Dayal and Sahil Sharma removed the first three batsmen cheaply, before the repair job. Muzumdar, who had scored two centuries in the previous two innings, remained unbeaten on 60.
ScorecardIn Malappuram, Goa ended the first day in a strong position against Kerala after a century from opener Sagun Kamat, his second in 41 matches, and a half-century from wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla. After choosing to bat, Goa had lost two wickets for 55 runs, but Kamat and Bisla added 146 runs at 4.33 per over to lay the foundation for a strong innings. After losing two more wickets before stumps, Goa were 281 for 4. Bisla’s innings of 74 was his third half-century in four innings.
ScorecardThough Himachal Pradesh were effective as a bowling unit in the early half of the day, Jharkhand’s No. 3 Saurabh Tiwary and middle-order batsman Sunny Gupta put up a slow resistance to take their team to 176 for 5 at stumps.The pair added 120 runs for the sixth wicket at a run rate of 1.94 after seamers Rishi Dhawan and Vikramjeet Malik had reduced Jharkhand to 56 for 5 in the 29th over. Tiwary batted 247 deliveries to score an unbeaten 65, and Gupta took 201 deliveries to score an unbeaten 58.
ScorecardServices were in control of the contest against Assam on the first day as seamer Suraj Yadav’s four wickets helped them bowl Assam out for 182. A seventh-wicket partnership of 37 was the highest Assam could muster.After Yadav dismissed the top order cheaply, the lower-order batsmen put up some resistance when Assam were in trouble at 93 for 6. Though Services batted five overs without losing a wicket, opener Pratik Desai retired hurt in the first over.

The BCCI is looking to establish a “prime season” for the Indian cricket team at home much like it is in England and Australia, thus reducing the team’s touring commitments in the winter

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2012The BCCI is looking to establish a “prime season” for the Indian cricket team at home much like it is in England and Australia, thus reducing the team’s touring commitments in the winter.BCCI president N Srinivasan said: “We are starting to look at and define our prime season, and during your prime season you should be playing at home.” Speaking exclusively to ESPNcricinfo, Srinivasan said formalising the Indian season would mean a structured calendar of teams touring India. “We want to have possibly one or two visiting teams during our domestic season, starting in September all the way up to March, and we’ll see the extent to which we don’t tour outside. Given the FTP that is there, we are going to see how we can adjust.”Domestic cricket would also be rescheduled to make home Tests the centre piece of the season, and encourage more international players to take part in the Ranji Trophy. Srinivasan said: “This year we also encouraged our big players and stars to play domestic cricket. This is a change from the last several years.” The Ranji format has been changed to three groups of nine teams each, the BCCI had been told by first-class players, that they wanted to play more cricket.The BCCI’s measures over the last few years, Srinivasan said, had sought to improve the quality of cricket particularly of the longer form of the game. “That is where the emphasis is. An uncapped player who has not played for India cannot play in the IPL unless he plays 60% of the Ranji Trophy games. So in more ways than one, we are pushing a player to the longer version.”In a wide-ranging interview, which will appear in full on ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday, Srinivasan spoke about issues concerning Indian cricket, the BCCI’s financial power in world cricket, its refusal to accept the mandatory application of the umpire’s Decision Review System (DRS), and the IPL’s growing influence on players all over the world and the longer form of the game.Srinivasan denied that the BCCI had taken an ‘obstructionist’ approach to the DRS. “We have not taken an obstructionist policy. We don’t believe in it, so after discussion members have agreed it should be bilateral. I don’t want to dictate to other people… our position has been clear from start. We don’t believe the technology is good enough.”He said the ICC’s statement that the DRS technology had “improved further” was in a way “acceptance that it was not good enough then” referring to the India tour of England last year. “But it was touted as being good at that point in time. Our problem is that when they say it is all right, then they say it’ll get better tomorrow, or an improved version now. So we concede the fact that there was less than adequate perfection. Which is our point, if you want to use technology it must be perfect.”Srinivasan also said that restricting the DRS to two referrals was in some ways a contradiction in itself. “If you don’t have faith in the umpire, which itself is a contradiction as in cricket the umpire’s verdict is final, if a player shows dissent you fine him. But now you’re saying that I have two attempts to question your decision. So the reconciliation between that is difficult. So if you take it to the end point of it, then you have two lampposts with coloured lights red, yellow and green, you don’t need an umpire at all, as you refer every decision, so let an automatic reply come from there after a review and you say red or green.”India’s unwillingness to use the DRS means that there are two officiating systems at work in world cricket, to which Srinivasan said: “It doesn’t bother me at all because, apart from all this, there is a cost to DRS and there are only one or two people involved. It’s a monopoly-area situation, which I am not going in to here. It doesn’t bother me if two other countries use DRS, they are happy, that’s okay.”The ICC he said had the right to use DRS in its own events, but the BCCI was very clear in its stand on its usage in any bilateral series featuring India. “We are clear in our mind, but I hope, slowly, people will see our point of view.”The IPL, the BCCI’s “showcase event” did not, he said, have a negative bearing on international cricket and the BCCI’s refusal to ask for a window for the event, was based on the acceptance of the overseas players’ packed international calendars. “The IPL management, the BCCI, franchise owners are aware that all the players won’t be available all the time, and we’ve sort of settled down with that.”The IPL he said was not putting “a strain” on other boards. The event’s popularity amongst overseas players were a reflection that, “it’s a free world. People and players make their choices and we can’t compel a person… I don’t think that it is all-consuming.” While the IPL attracts cricketers from all over the world, he said, “there are only so many players who can play in the IPL, because we have a cap on the number of players in the team. And from what I have seen, players may not be happy to sit out as we have a cap on foreign players. So squad size and the number of franchises have a limiting effect.”The BCCI he said was aware that there was “no real window” available on the international calendar for the IPL. “The BCCI has recognised that today you have ten Full Members, they play each other home and away once in four years. The number of ICC events has increased from ten years ago, so there’s a lot of clutter. So the BCCI accepts the fact that there is no real window and that whoever is available plays.”The BCCI’s reputation as a bully on the ICC board he said, was “not fair” – and denied that other boards would be wary of going against the BCCI’s wishes. “That is not a fact. In the ICC all members are sovereign. The ten full members are sovereign.”Despite India’s 8-0 defeats in England and Australia, Srinivasan said it was not fair to say that India got exposed when travelling abroad. “It’s not that we get exposed when we go abroad. Every country is used to its own conditions, whether it is England, South Africa, Australia, so they tend to play better in home conditions, which is what we also do.”He said the media in the other teams did not end up “berating their players for not doing well [abroad]” and that there had to be an acceptance and recognition of the “advantage of home conditions… So I don’t think we should run down our players by saying we did not do well abroad. Other teams don’t do well when they come to India. In the past, we have had teams that have done well both here and abroad, when players were possibly younger.”

Led by Parvinder Awana, Delhi bundled out Karnataka for 192 and ended the day in front despite losing two wickets as the shadows lengthened in Bangalore

Kanishkaa Balachandran at the Chinnaswamy Stadium08-Dec-2012
ScorecardFile photo: Parvinder Awana picked up his eighth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

On a pitch that resembled a lawn, with the only patches of white near the rough on either side, Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar chose to give his batsmen first use of the pitch, despite their batting struggles all season. While it might be perceived as a brave decision, it backfired on the hosts. Karnataka were still searching for their first outright win, and they were presented with what looked like a result-oriented wicket. Delhi weren’t complaining though. Their seamers, led by Parvinder Awana, bundled out the hosts for 192 and ended the day in front despite losing two wickets as the shadows lengthened in Bangalore.There were only seven overs of spin among the 65 bowled by Delhi, rare by Indian standards and current trends in the subcontinent where it’s common to see a spinner bowling with the new ball. Ashish Nehra’s return gave Delhi the extra firepower on paper, but the momentum was with Awana, who took his second consecutive five-wicket haul.It didn’t take long for Delhi to strike, though Nehra could count himself lucky. Robin Uthappa went a long way across and the ball struck his pads, and after a bit of thought, the umpire ruled in favour of the bowler. Nehra didn’t get the ball to move as much as the other seamers, and preferred bowling shorter.A number of Delhi’s bowling manoeuvers brought immediate results, starting with Sumit Narwal replacing Awana from the Pavilion End. Like Nehra, Narwal struck in the first over of his spell when he pitched one up to Ganesh Satish who drove and edged it to the wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht, who took the first of his five catches. Awana too changed ends and the move worked when he beat KL Rahul for movement and sent his off stump for a spin.It was an opportunity for Manish Pandey to take on a leadership role with the debutant Kunal Kapoor, but he too didn’t last long, edging Narwal to Bisht who took a low catch falling forward. Another bowling change brought another wicket, when Rajat Bhatia replaced Narwal from the Pavilion End and had Kapoor edging to Bisht, who came up to the stumps. At lunch, Karnataka had lost five and thoughts went back to their decision at the toss.The only batsman who looked like taking on the Delhi bowlers was Stuart Binny. Post lunch, he batted positively, pulling a short ball to fine leg and driving crisply down the ground. A stable batsman at the other end would have helped Binny build, but the pressure increased when the last-recognised batsman in the line-up, CM Gautam, fell to a loose shot. He was let off by Mithun Manhas at first slip, but it didn’t cost Delhi anything when Gautam slashed and edged Awana to Bisht.Binny motored along to his fifty by whipping Nehra towards deep midwicket for two boundaries. He went on to make 61 before edging Awana to Bisht, who took his fifth catch. By setting attacking fields, Delhi never let the game drift. Karnataka would have expected the pitch to ease for batting after lunch, but the seamers kept the ball up, got it to swing and induced mistakes.Awana picked up his fourth when he trapped Abhimanyu Mithun in front of the stumps with a full ball and later rounded off the innings when he sent KP Appanna’s middle stump back by a few yards. Speaking after the day’s play, Awana said he had been working on an away swinging delivery, in particular the one that beat Rahul’s defense. Awana, who had taken a five-for in the previous match against Haryana in seamer-friendly Lahli, said the pitch in Bangalore had more bounce.Shikhar Dhawan led Delhi’s reply with some crisp cover drives off the front foot and put away HS Sharath for boundaries over the off side as soon as the bowler was introduced first change. Sharath, though, quickly shook off that wayward beginning when he trapped a watchful Unmukt Chand lbw, before having Mohit Sharma caught down the leg side. It was smart field placement that led to that wicket. A short fine leg was in place, the ball was directed at the batsman’s body from round the wicket and Mohit could only fend it straight to the fielder.

Dean Brownlie, a New Zealand batsman trying to make a name for himself, must have reached a maiden Test century like this one in his dreams

The Report by David Hopps04-Jan-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
New Zealand have not only shown determination, in Dean Brownlie’s case they have shown improvement•Getty Images

New Zealand have a maiden Test hundred from Dean Brownlie to provide some consolation at
the end of a Test which they will want to forget, but although they could slow the South African
juggernaut they were not about to escape its inevitable destination. Victory fell to South Africa by
an innings and 27 runs with tea approaching on the third day at Newlands and, if New Zealand’s humiliation was no longer quite as stark, they were comprehensively outplayed.Brownlie’s mix of ability and spirit was a suitable reminder that New Zealand need players
possessing not just one of those qualities in abundance, but both as they seek to remedy one of the most challenging periods in their recent history. They are unlikely to compete in the second Test in Port Elizabeth – it is Nos. 1 v 8 in the Test rankings and a weakened squad is not about to disguise that – but they will be desperate to regroup in time for a home Test series against England in March.Vernon Philander needed only 26 deliveries to take five New Zealand wickets first time around as South Africa inflicted the lowest score on a Test side for 39 years, an explosive start to the Test that deservedly won him the man-of-the-match award. In contrast, it took him 22 overs to take a wicket in the second innings, which said something about New Zealand’s response to adversity, and his exertions were not without their concerns as he left the field near the end for treatment on the hamstring strain that almost ruled him out of the Test.After pulverising their opponents on the opening day, the only question for South Africa was exactly when an overwhelming victory would be completed. In removing BJ Watling, the last recognised batsman, Philander immediately pronounced that the end was near. New Zealand’s last six wickets brought another 106 on the third day, but the last five wickets fell in ten overs and it was all rounded off by a comical run out of Chris Martin, whose inability at No, 11 has been well chronicled, but who could bat blindfolded with a banana and it would not begin to justify such a farcical conclusion.South Africa can take much pride in such a triumphant restatement of their power in their first home Test for a year. It was far better for New Zealand to reflect merely upon Brownlie. Here was a batsman trying to make a name for himself, reaching a maiden Test century in a manner that was the stuff of dreams. He skipped down the pitch without a care in the world to the left-arm spin of Robin Peterson and deposited him over long-on for six. The catch was held in the crowd by a small boy who watched himself on the big screen and will probably cherish the moment just as long.

Smart stats

• Since losing their first Test against New Zealand after readmission, South Africa have won 13 and lost just one of the next 21 Tests. Their last loss came in Auckland in 2004.

• Since the beginning of 1995, South Africa have a win-loss ratio of 12 against New Zealand. Excluding Tests featuring Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, only Australia’s record against New Zealand (14-1) is more lopsided during this period.

• South Africa continued their excellent record in Cape Town since their readmission. Since 1991, they have won 17 and lost just three of the 25 matches played at the venue. Their win-loss ratio of 5.66 is the second-best for a team at a particular venue in the same period (min 15 Tests).

• DeanBrownlie became the eighth New Zealand batsman to score a century against South Africa in Tests since 1990. He is also the third to do so in Tests in Cape Town.

• Since the beginning of 2012, New Zealand’s No. 4 batsmen have averaged 61.70 in Tests, with five hundreds in 21 innings. Their No. 4 batsmen have scored 22% of all runs scored by the batsmen. Their other top-order batsmen (Nos. 1-7) have averaged 24.90.

• Chris Martin scored his 36th duck in Tests. Only Courtney Walsh, with 43 ducks has more.

That was the dream sequence; with the second new ball came the wake-up call. Brownlie and
Watling had whittled down South Africa’s commanding first-innings lead of 302 on an obdurate morning and Graeme Smith summoned the new ball with an air of impatience with the lunch interval only minutes away. His decision came up trumps as Morne Morkel banged the fourth
delivery in short of a length, Brownlie went for the cut as he had so often, but the extra bounce
deceived him and he holed out to Peterson, stationed for that very eventuality at deep-backward
point.It felt like a naïve dismissal, brought about by good captaincy, but Brownlie deserved only good
memories. The confident manner in which he achieved that maiden Test century brought a
celebratory dash to a mettlesome innings which had sent New Zealand’s mood soaring.Brownlie preferred to combat Peterson’s left-arm spin on the back foot and even on a pitch offering little turn it got him into a tangle on occasions, but Steyn and Morkel’s natural length was too short to take advantage of the uneven bounce available on a fullish length and Philander was also seen off with relative comfort. The pitch had lost the zip that exposed New Zealand on the first morning and Brownlie, comfortable on the back foot, rarely erred.His first Test hundred, in his eighth Test was a characterful one – a dashing start as he peppered the boundary square on the off side, dropped twice on 23, a more cautious outlook against the old ball as he resumed on 69, with lots of swaying and leaving on the back foot, and finally a leap through the 90s with two sixes in consecutive overs against Peterson – the first of them a long hop that he hauled over midwicket.Philander’s chance with the new ball came after lunch so he could have a session on the physio’s bench before bowling. He had only two overs before he was switched to the Kelvin Grove End for the first time and in the match and his threat grew as a result. In successive overs, he had James Franklin dropped at gully, a low chance for Alviro Petersen, Watling’s resistance for three-and-a-half hours in making 42 ended at first slip, and Doug Bracewell went for nought, squared up for another slip catch, this time at third.New Zealand were still 50 runs away from making South Africa bat a second time and it became apparent that they were hopelessly equipped for the task. Jeetan Patel, at No. 9, lacked the technique or courage to deal with Steyn (neither attribute comes easily, as many can testify) and he had been struck on the body and backed away to square leg several times before he chopped Steyn onto his stumps as he retreated some more.Steyn was not about to abandon a short-ball policy at this juncture. Franklin, like Watling, had
become New Zealand’s second batting verruca – painful, unsightly and taking some shifting – but he went across his stumps to try to turn him behind square and dragged the ball onto his stumps. Finally, farcically, came the run out of Martin, run out for nought without facing a ball, sent back after attempting an impossible second to Steyn at fine leg to stay off strike.