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N Srinivasan will remain on the sidelines of the BCCI after a meeting of the board’s working committee in Delhi was scrapped on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Aug-2013N Srinivasan will remain on the sidelines of the BCCI after a meeting of the board’s working committee in Delhi was scrapped on Friday. Jagmohan Dalmiya will continue running the BCCI’s affairs in the interim, a continuation of the status quo on a day that could have had Srinivasan resume functioning as board president.The BCCI will also appeal the ruling of the Bombay High Court, which declared the appointment of the independent probe panel “illegal and unconstitutional,” in the Supreme Court of India.A meeting of the IPL governing council had preceded the scrapped working committee meeting in Delhi and Srinivasan had been present for that meeting but had to recuse himself. “It was only after that the meeting started and the decisions were taken,” Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s game development officer, said. “Mr Arun Jaitley explained the important points of the Bombay High Court order. There was a discussion in the committee and the committee decided to file an SLP (Special Leave Petition) in the Supreme Court.”The BCCI said that the probe panel had been appointed in accordance with IPL rules. “As a matter of principle, the members confirmed that it was important that the [IPL] governing council’s actions be and be seen to be both legally and ethically correct,” the BCCI said. “The governing council believes that the probe commission was properly constituted in accordance with the IPL operational rules, and has consequently decided that an appeal should be filed in the Honourable Supreme Court.”This decision having been made, Mr N Srinivasan rejoined the meeting and, in the light of the pending appeal to the Supreme Court, requested Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya to continue discharging his functions at the BCCI for the present.”The cancellation of the working committee meeting, however, was because of a technicality, according to BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel. “Every member knew what the meeting was called for. The meeting was called off as there was a slight mistake in issuing the notice,” he said. “By mistake the word ’emergent’ was not written. A normal working committee meeting requires more time. Unfortunately it was just four days time. To avoid the technicality of it, the meeting was cancelled.”On Wednesday, Srinivasan had declared his intention to attend his first working committee in two months, after the two-man panel cleared the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals of any wrongdoing with regard to the betting and spot-fixing scandal in IPL 2013. However, the Bombay High Court’s ruling on Tuesday that the appointment of the probe panel had been unconstitutional had undermined Srinivasan’s position.The governing council also took the decision to replace Ajay Shirke and Sanjay Jagdale, who had resigned in the wake of the betting scandal, with Patel and treasurer Ravi Sawant on the IPL’s code of behaviour committee.

Bangladesh believed they fell 60 runs short due to the slow outfield at the Premadasa

Mohammad Isam at the Premadasa16-Mar-2013Bangladesh believed they fell 60 runs short due to the slow outfield at the R Premadasa Stadium. The visitors were bowled out for 240 on a wicket that did not hold its reputation as seamer-friendly, as was predicted ahead of the second Test.”The outfield is not good, we couldn’t get around 60 runs,” Mominul Haque said at the press conference. “If the outfield was good, our score could have been 300-320. The outfield is not in our control. It was hard work to run a lot in the heat.”We probably didn’t read the wicket correctly. The ball came normally on to the bat. There wasn’t any extra bounce from the fast bowlers.”ESPNcricinfo understands that match referee David Boon has directed the curator to keep the length of the grass identical for the rest of the Test match. There has not been any official complaint from either team so far.Despite the slow outfield, Mominul top scored with 64 off 98 deliveries so perhaps his view on the wicket would vary from the rest of the batting order. They struggled to put together the same effort as they did in Galle, where they racked up 638, lacking in confidence, as it was certain from the first over itself that boundaries would be hard to come by.Bangladesh were 62 for 2 in the first session but as soon as Rangana Herath settled into a good rhythm, they lost three wickets in the middle session to be 155 for 5 at tea. They scored another 85 runs in the final session but lost their last five wickets.The approach at the beginning was cautious but it somehow translated into a poor second session and ultimately the side getting bowled out on the first day. Mominul said the first hour belonged to the bowlers here but conditions eased out.”The first hour is difficult in any conditions,” he said. “Our plan was to survive the first hour so we tried doing it. The wicket eased up in the second session, and it’s still good. I enjoyed batting out there, the ball was coming nicely on to the bat.”

Kumar Sangakkara did it again, dropping himself from the XI after a poor run of scores in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s first five matches

The Report by Abhishek Purohit17-Apr-2013Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAmit Mishra’s third IPL hat-trick gave Sunrisers a close win•BCCIHat-tricks in the IPL

2008
L Balaji for Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders
Amit Mishra for Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers
Makhaya Ntini for Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders
2009
Yuvraj Singh for Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers Bangalore
Rohit Sharma for Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians
Yuvraj Singh for Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers
2010
Praveen Kumar for Royal Challengers Bangalore v Rajasthan Royals
2011
Amit Mishra for Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab
2012
Ajit Chandila for Rajasthan Royals v Pune Warriors
2013
Sunil Narine for Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab
Amit Mishra for Sunrisers Hyderabad v Pune Warriors

Sunrisers Hyderabad had defended 126 in their IPL debut against Pune Warriors in Hyderabad. When the return game started this afternoon in Pune, the giant screen at the Sahara Stadium flashed “Revenge”. Warriors almost exacted it: they restricted Sunrisers to 119 and then needed 19 off 19 in their chase, with six wickets in hand. Sunrisers used up just 13 of those 19 deliveries to take six wickets, four of them falling to Amit Mishra, who took his third IPL hat-trick, as Warriors imploded in spectacularly inept fashion.Four of the last six batsmen, including captain Angelo Mathews, fell swinging wildly, something that could be put down to collective brain-fade instead of the benign asking-rate. Three of those batsmen were allrounders – Mitchell Marsh, Abhishek Nayar and Mathews himself. Marsh wanted to hit Dale Steyn out of the ground, Nayar tried it against Thisara Perera and Mathews against Mishra. All three holed out on a pitch Mathews himself had called ‘up-and-down’ and slow at the toss, suggesting those shots would be mighty difficult to pull off.A stunned Manish Pandey took a single off the third ball of the 19th over, right after Mishra had dismissed Mathews, and watched in increasing horror as Rahul Sharma was bowled after a missed slog while trying to follow the trail blazed by the allrounders. Bhuvneshwar Kumar played for turn to a googly to depart lbw and Mishra completed the hat-trick, and an unbelievable win, with one more googly, as Ashok Dinda too pushed for a legbreak. Mishra’s figures read 4-0-19-4 and came after his 30 off 24 had stretched Sunrisers to 119 for 8 from 44 for 6. Interestingly, Sunrisers had used up all their bowlers except their legspinners until the last two oversWarriors were in the game throughout except for those final moments of madness. Bhuvneshwar Kumar moved it in and out and ran through the Sunrisers top order to leave them gasping at 17 for 4, including the wicket of stand-in captain Cameron White for a golden duck.Biplab Samantray and Karan Sharma were unlikely candidates to fight back. Samantray batted sensibly to make a run-a-ball 37 before holing out to long off. Perera came in after Karan’s wicket and it was expected he would resist, too. But he edged behind for 2, trying to drive almost every ball he faced.It was left to Mishra to make vital runs once more. He came in after Perera was dismissed in the 11th over and hung around till the last, pushing Sunrisers well beyond 100 along with Ashish Reddy. Twenty-six came off the last two overs of the innings bowled by Mathews and Dinda.Robin Uthappa and Aaron Finch came hard at Sunrisers, their opening stand worth 38 in just over four overs. Steyn was taken for 22 in his first two overs, but the way the openers fell was a peek into the way the sand castle would crumble later. Uthappa flicked Perera straight to deep square leg and Finch punched him to backward point off successive deliveries.The size of the target and the pace of the start meant Warriors were always in front until the flood of wickets in the penultimate over. Mishra had been Player of the Match in Hyderabad, too, with 3 for 19.

Steven Finn has emerged as a major injury doubt ahead of the fourth Test in Nagpur after suffering a back injury

George Dobell12-Dec-2012Steven Finn has emerged as a major injury doubt ahead of the fourth Test in Nagpur after suffering a back injury. Finn, who missed the first two Tests with a thigh strain, reported some soreness on the final day of the Kolkata Test. A scan has shown a minor disc injury in his lower back and he was unable to take any part in training on Wednesday.While the England team management are not ruling Finn out of the Test, his inclusion would appear to involve them taking an uncharacteristic risk. They are expected to pick just two seamers for the game, so will be loathe to go into it with any injury doubts over one of them.Stuart Broad has been ruled out of the Test after a scan on his left heel showed bruising. He will remain with the squad for now with a decision taken over his availability for the Twenty20 games over the next few days.Tim Bresnan is the likely replacement for Finn. Bresnan was dropped after a disappointing performance in the first Test in Ahmedabad but, with his ability to bat and his experience, is likely to be preferred to Graham Onions, who has struggled for rhythm in his few opportunities on the tour.The England Performance Programme (EPP) squad is currently in Pune, but there are no plans to call-up a substitute for Broad or Finn. Stuart Meaker, who was called up as cover for Finn and Broad earlier in the tour, joined the EPP squad ahead of the Kolkata Test and is not with the Test squad.The news completes a miserable Test tour for Broad. Named vice-captain at the start, he failed to take a wicket in either of the first two Tests, was dropped for the first time since 2008 ahead of Kolkata and has struggled with injuries and illness throughout.”Stuart Broad is out of this Test match,” England’s captain, Alastair Cook, said. “His scan has showed a bruised heel and we’ll assess him over the next day or so to see what happens with the Twenty20. We’ll know a bit more when it settles down.”It’s the nature of sport, isn’t it? Some people have good tours and some people don’t. Unfortunately, more down to niggles and illnesses, Broady hasn’t quite managed to get into the tour. It’s frustrating for him and disappointing for us as a side. But we all know the class of Broady, and he’ll be back.”England are currently leading the four match series 2-1 and looking to complete their first series win in India since 1984-85.

Best buys, possible picks and other things to expect at the IPL 2013 auction

Vishal Dikshit02-Feb-2013What: 2013 IPL auction
When: February 3, Sunday, 1100 IST
Where: ChennaiMichael Clarke, who had a prolific 2012, is expected to be chased by franchises who need a big player and captain•AFPWhat to expectThe IPL auction rules could undergo an overhaul from the 2014 edition and the existing contracts for all players will end after the current season. Franchises would therefore view this auction only in terms of filling certain pressing gaps to meet their requirements for this season.Quite a few teams have more than $5 million left of their $12.5 million purse coming into Sunday’s auction, and can be expected to be involved in a tug of war for at least a couple of players. “Some teams are sitting with $6-7 million,” a franchise official said. “So expect franchises to get into a crazy bidding for a player if they think it is fine, as it is just a one-year contract.” This auction, however, may not see as many millions being thrown around as the previous ones.Hot buysOnly two players, Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, have the maximum reserve price this year, of $400,000. While Ponting retired from internationals last year, Clarke, who had a prolific 2012, is expected to be chased by franchises who need a big player and captain. If teams like SunRisers Hyderabad or Pune Warriors need a new captain and are not able to buy Clarke, they will have to go for Ponting who scored 236 runs in the Big Bash League at an average of 39.33 and strike rate of 121, including two half-centuries.Among the seven Indian players is Abhishek Nayar, with a reserve price of $100,000, who scored 966 runs in the Ranji Trophy this season. He would be on the list of several buyers who do not want to spend much on a player for a single season. Nayar, an in-form domestic allrounder, would give RP Singh, who had a poor outing in IPL 2012, a run for his money.T20 specialistDirk Nannes has 37 wickets in domestic T20 tournaments in the last 12 months, at an average of 24.43. Priced at $200,000, he could be the main pick for a franchise looking for an overseas fast bowler with enough money in the bag.Dark horseRilee Rossouw, a 23-year-old uncapped South Africa batsman, priced at only $20,000. With the experience of 36 domestic T20s and 781 runs behind him, Rossouw could offer a franchise what nobody else can for that amount of money.Veteran pickThe oldest player, aged 38 is Herschelle Gibbs. Released by Mumbai Indians recently, Gibbs isn’t the batsman he used to be even though he has played in T20 leagues in South Africa, England, Bangladesh, India and Australia in the last one year.Unlikely buysTwo names that catch the eye in the auction list are Ricardo Powell and Wasim Jaffer. Powell, 34, played two T20s for the International World XI against Pakistan All Star XI in October, scoring 3 and 5. Jaffer has been concentrating on first-class matches, being a part of Mumbai’s victorious Ranji side recently.How the franchises could play itSunRisers Hyderabad have $7 million left to spend on the 2013 squad and can buy eight more Indian and five overseas players. They are expected to go all out for Michael Clarke to ease some pressure off their captain and lead batsman Kumar Sangakkara, who is currently injured. Also on their injured list is JP Duminy, increasing their need for a strong top-order batsman-cum-mentor. Hello Ricky Ponting. They may also need a spinner to assist Amit Mishra and have the options of Rangana Herath ($100,000), Johan Botha ($300,000) and Ajantha Mendis ($50,000) since they have the money.Abhishek Nayar, the in-form domestic allrounder, could be on many shopping lists•FotocorpSince Sachin Tendulkar is Mumbai Indians’ new captain, they can now spend $2.3 million on specialist players instead of a new captain. They would look to beef up their top order, which failed to impress last season. Phillip Hughes, at $100,000, may suit their needs after scoring two ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka but Jesse Ryder has been scoring heavily in New Zealand’s domestic season too. The new Anil Kumble-John Wright combination could throw up some new strategies.Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings coach, said on Friday they would not be targeting overseas players and instead focus on the “seam bowling department, especially local bowlers”. They possess Ben Hilfenhaus, Albie Morkel, Nuwan Kulasekara and Dwayne Bravo – all overseas bowlers. Their local options lie in RP Singh (released by Mumbai Indians), Sudeep Tyagi, Manpreet Gony, Pankaj Singh and Jaydev Unadkat.Delhi Daredevils have the shallowest pockets with only $1.4 million left of their purse. To add to that, their pacers Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Irfan Pathan are all injured. So expect some cheaply priced local bowlers, such as Jaydev Unadkat, going their way. Allrounder Abhishek Nayar could be on their radar as they will lose Kevin Pietersen in the second half of the tournament and will not be able to accommodate Mahela Jayawardene, David Warner and Ross Taylor together.Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, are expected to be less aggressive in their bidding compared to last two years, when they were the fastest off the blocks as soon as the auction bell rang. “We might end up being a spectator,” a Knight Riders official said. They do not have much to improve on from last year, except maybe an allrounder in the form of Abhishek Nayar or Thisara Perera.Rajasthan Royals have $7.7 million to spend and seven Indian and four overseas slots to fill. They have never splurged and having included Samuel Badree after releasing Johan Botha, won’t be too unhappy with their current line-up. Unless Paddy Upton suggests otherwise.Kings XI Punjab may opt for a handy seam bowler to suit the conditions in Mohali. $6.9 million may allow them to opt for Vernon Philander or an RP Singh. A reserve wicketkeeper in Quinton de Kock ($20,000) might be a good try for one season.Pune Warriors will go in for a new captain after releasing Sourav Ganguly, as Yuvraj Singh is unlikely to lead the side. Ricky Ponting would be a similar batsman-cum-mentor, who could revive the fortunes of the franchise.Royal Challengers Bangalore retained their core attack but left out as many as 12 players in November. Uncertainty over Zaheer Khan’s fitness may make them buy a fast bowler to accompany Vinay Kumar.

Dawid Malan scored a career-best 143 and his first Championship hundred ofthe summer to move Middlesex into the driving seat at Lord’s against DivisionTwo rivals Derbyshire

30-Jul-2011ScorecardDawid Malan scored a career-best 143 and his first Championship hundred ofthe summer to move Middlesex into the driving seat at Lord’s against DivisionTwo rivals Derbyshire.The left-hander batted just over five hours in helping thehost side reach 397 for 9 at the mid-point of the game for an overall lead of145, with one first-innings wicket remaining.Poor form and a niggling hamstring injury caused Malan to suffer an horrendousfirst half to the campaign in which he mustered only 234 runs in nine startswith a dismal season’s best of 45. But, in sultry conditions, Malan showed improved levels of patience and composure to crack 18 boundaries in a 262-ball stay which also helped his sidegarner four batting bonus points.Derbyshire used eight bowlers – with Greg Smith and Jonathan Clare the pickwith three wickets apiece – and toiled hard throughout to pick up nine wicketson the day, including that of Malan four overs from the close.Malan featured in a useful stands with Sam Robson, who contributed his thirdscore of 94 of the summer, and Tim Murtagh as the hosts successfully chased downa fourth batting bonus point with six balls to spare. All this came after a disappointing start for the home side who, having posted 119 for the first wicket, began to lose wickets at steady intervals.Opening batsman Scott Newman perished for 59 when his late decision to pad upto a Clare off-cutter saw him go lbw and, eight overs later, Chris Rogers wentfor 11 against his former side when chasing a wide drive – only to edge towicketkeeper Luke Sutton.Soon after lunch Robson, having looked in little or no trouble for 184 balls,went after another wide delivery from Ross Whiteley to slice a drive into thehands of gully. Home skipper Neil Dexter found a leading edge to give Smith a comfortablereturn catch and Jamie Dalrymple clipped a leg-stump half-volley straight tomidwicket to make it 262 for 5.Malan teamed up with John Simpson to post the Middlesex 300 before Simpsonfeathered a good ball from Mark Turner to Sutton, then Tom Smith was cleanbowled after pushing outside the line of namesake Greg’s arm-ball.Malan and Murtagh (19) regrouped but, late in the day, Murtagh chipped backanother return catch to Greg Smith and Malan, having beaten his career-best byone, flat-batted a Clare Long hop straight to Wayne Madsen at backward point anddeparted to a rousing reception.

Hampshire have bolstered their options for the Friends Life t20 by registering Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell

ESPNcricinfo staff30-May-2012Hampshire have bolstered their options for the Friends Life t20 by registering Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell who has been playing club cricket for South Wilts and Hampshire Second XI.The signing of Maxwell, a 23-year-old right-handed batsman and offspinner, provides cover for Hampshire’s two overseas players already signed for the Flt20: Simon Katich – who is with Hampshire for the whole season and played in the first season of T20 in 2003 – and Shahid Afridi, who also played T20 for Hampshire last season, where Hampshire reached finals day and lost to Somerset in the semi-final on a super over.If Maxwell is required he will bring experience from both the IPL, where he played two games for Delhi Daredevils this season, and the Big Bash League with the Melbourne Renegades, for whom he scored 124 runs in six innings. He made his Hampshire Second XI debut against Essex in a Trophy match at the start of May, scoring 66 and taking 1 for 12 in six overs before two blistering T20 innings: 32 from 12 balls against Sussex and 115 against MCC Young Cricketers – his century coming from 31 balls with the last fifty from 11 balls.”I like to say I’m an entertaining cricketer in all facets of the game,” Maxwell said. “So I like to try to entertain the crowds and keep the game pretty interesting. I’ve seen a few of the crowds for the Twenty20s and they’ve been really good. So I’m looking forward to seeing West End packed out and hopefully getting a few runs in front of a big crowd.”We’ve got an amazing squad and a really gifted bunch of young players so I’d be very surprised if we weren’t up the top somewhere in the FLt20.”

Chris Martin has taken a measured view of why he was able to trouble a highly-rated South Africa batting line-up, yet again

Firdose Moonda in Dunedin07-Mar-2012After a day in which he extended his already impressive record against South Africa, rocking them with a post-tea burst that claimed arguably their three best batsmen, Chris Martin would be expected to be quite elated. Or, at least, show signs of being somewhat pleased with his performance on a day when New Zealand needed a hero. He did not.Instead, he took a measured view of why he was able to trouble a highly-rated batting line-up, yet again. “Certain [batsmen’s] techniques suit certain bowling and, over the years, the way I bowl has troubled these guys. It [success against South Africa] has been reasonably consistent,” Martin said. “It brings an added feeling of calmness, which I don’t always have against all opposition. I certainly enjoyed myself today.”Martin has taken more wickets against South Africa than any other Test team – 47 in 11 matches, including this one, at 23.74 – and he has dismissed Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis more times than any other batsmen in Tests: seven and six, respectively.When he sees either of Smith and Kallis standing 22 yards away, Martin said, that statistic does not register. “It may be going through their minds,” he suggested. “I do know I’ve bowled well to them in the past though. Exactly what I do is probably a little bit difficult for him [Smith] at times, but there were also some pretty good wicket-taking balls in there [today].” The one that rose up off a length and had Kallis awkwardly edging, for example, or the delivery trapped AB de Villiers lbw after coming back into the right-hand batsman – impeccable pieces of bowling, both.With three-wickets in four balls, Martin singlehandedly brought New Zealand back into a day that seemed headed decidedly South Africa’s way. Had the visitors been allowed to continue piling on the runs, Ross Taylor’s decision to bowl first and the incisiveness of the attack would have been questioned, and it’s likely New Zealand would have been written off even more than they have already been, by their own media.Martin said that that opinion has not affected the team, because they have made a concerted effort to stay away from it. “A lot of the things written and said aren’t coming out of our camp,” he said. “As far as putting up a fight and competing to the best of our abilities, that’s more the focus. If the results come, that’s because we’ve stayed tight and haven’t listened to the naysayers. The camp is quite good at shielding us from that, especially the younger guys. As long as the older guys can keep everyone together [it’s fine] … that’s kind of how we operate.”One of those senior players is Martin himself and he understands his responsibility in acting as a barrier and making contributions that will change perceptions. Today, he feels he succeeded in doing both. “The good vibes you get from putting in a spell like that can carry over into the rest of series, that’s definitely how you’ve got to approach it over what will be a long, tough series,” he said. “With a top order as strong as theirs, once you get a run on, the team definitely lifts.”Although he made the main incisions, Martin had praise for his team-mates, particularly Doug Bracewell, who would have had two wickets to his name had his lbw appeal to Jacques Rudolph not come off a no-ball. “He realises that he is pretty tight [close to a no-ball] sometimes, so it’s something that he needs to work on throughout his career,” Martin said. “If he bowls this way throughout the series [though], he will get rewarded a lot more.”Martin’s pragmatic approach extends to his own career as well. He has acknowledged that at 37-years-old time is not on his side so he wants to make the most of what is left of his international career. “It gets to a point when you are close to the end, when you are trying to enjoy every game and every series because you know there is a limit to how long you can go,” he said. “It’s a difficult thing to do when you are younger and trying to keep your place in the team, but when you are performing and you’ve only got a certain amount of series left in you, it pays to enjoy it.”Edited by Nikita Bastian

Misbah-ul-Haq has raised concerns over Pakistan’s batting woes as the team lost its last six wickets for 38 runs during the first ODI against Australia in Sharjah

Umar Farooq29-Aug-2012Misbah-ul-Haq has raised concerns over Pakistan’s batting woes as the team lost its last six wickets for 38 runs during the first ODI against Australia in Sharjah. Pakistan played seven batsmen followed by allrounder Shahid Afridi at No. 8 but a late collapse during the second batting Powerplay dashed Pakistan’s hopes of achieving 230 on a sluggish pitch.”Our lower order is not contributing,” Misbah said. “Had anyone scored 30-40 in the lower order we would have scored much more. We are losing matches because we are not scoring runs in the lower order and that is why we had Shahid [Afridi] and Kamran.”Kamran, who made a comeback to the side after more than a year, scored four off 14 balls while Afridi edged his first ball to the slips. Afridi has been in poor form in ODIs recently – 0, 9, 0, 17 and 0* being his last five scores.”We have experienced players in the lower order,” Misbah said. “The only need is to bat the full 50 overs, because if we score 230-240, our bowling is so good that we can defend that.””We struggled in our batting against England and then in Sri Lanka, and that is why we played seven batsmen but we couldn’t score much,” Misbah said after the match. “We were sure about the target today but we lost the way. We committed mistakes, mistakes we have been repeating in the last two or three series but we can’t win matches if we continue to do that.”Misbah conceded that Pakistan were 30 runs short of a competitive total. Fast bowler Mitchell Starc was the chief destroyer as he accounted for well-set batsmen Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal and then the big wickets of Kamran Akmal and Afridi.He also gave full credit to Australia’s batsmen for the way they handled Pakistan’s spinners. The spinners had given Pakistan the upper hand as they reduced Australia to 121-5 at one stage – Saeed Ajmal taking 3-30 and Mohammad Hafeez, 2-29. But George Bailey (57) and Glenn Maxwell (38) added an invaluable 63 for the sixth wicket to all but close the match.”We tried everything, kept attacking fields, but credit must be given to them,” Misbah said. “The way Bailey and Glenn Maxwell batted, it showed maturity although they were playing [their] third or fourth match.”

Michael Clarke believes Australia will have done well if they can scrape to 250 on the second day in Cape Town

Brydon Coverdale at Newlands09-Nov-2011Michael Clarke believes Australia will have done well if they can scrape to 250 on the second day in Cape Town. When bad light and rain forced an early end to a day that had also started late, the Australians were 214 for 8, with Clarke still at the crease on 107 and Peter Siddle yet to score.Australia had been sent in by Graeme Smith, who expected moisture in the pitch to give his fast men some assistance and despite Clarke’s hundred, the South Africans finished the opening day on top. However, Clarke said he would have batted had he won the toss, so keen was he to stay positive.”I would have batted,” Clarke said. “I think it is good attitude wise. I am a batsman and it would have shown good intent from the team. We knew it would be hard for the first couple of hours to lunch but if the sun came out it would have got easier but unfortunately it didn’t come out for as long as we liked. I thought 300 would have been a good day.”After being sent in I would have liked 300, but the wicket changed. When the sun was out the wicket was better to bat on, when it was overcast there was a little bit of swing and seam all day. It was pretty similar to English conditions today. If we can scratch 250 plus we have done a pretty good job.”Clarke and Shaun Marsh were the only two of Australia’s batsmen who seemed comfortable in the difficult conditions after the top order stumbled to 38 for 3. Marsh was calm and assured until he missed a Dale Steyn inswinger and was lbw for 44 and Clarke played a chanceless innings after some early heat from Steyn, who attacked him with bouncers.But despite Australia’s slightly under-par score, batting is unlikely to get significantly easier as the Test wears on. Clarke said he was confident that Australia were still in the match if his bowlers could extract similar sting from the pitch as the South Africans did.”You can see cracks already on day one,” he said. “I think if the sun comes out you will see more balls shoot along the ground as the game goes on, but if it stays over cast I think it is going to swing and seam for five days.”It is going to be tough to start your batting on while it is overcast. We have got to hit the right areas with the ball and hang on to our catches and I am not too disappointed with how we’ve gone.”