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Barrington Rowland produced a massive 283 and led Karnataka to a mammoth 619 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Rowland, unbeaten on 169 overnight, added 229 with his captain, Sujit Somasundar. Rowland, named after the former England batsmen Ken, smashed 29 fours and a six. Somasundar celebrated his elevation to the captaincy with a composed hundred as Karnataka were all but ensured of first-innings points. Madhya Pradesh replied with 120 for 1.
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Andhra Pradesh were reeling at 59 for 5 at the end of the second day at the Wankhede Stadium after Mumbai declared after making an imposing 515 for 9. Ajit Agarkar followed up his lively 52 with two early wickets, including the important one of Venugopal Rao. Earlier, Nishit Shetty and Vinayak Samant had also helped themselves to half-centuries and taken Mumbai past 500.
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Akash Christian and Niraj Patel shared a vital 154-run stand as Gujarat took the upper hand at Siliguri. Bengal added just 28 to their overnight total as Kirat Dhamani, the offspinner, polished off the tail to finish with impressive figures of 4 for 9 from his eight overs. Gujarat then put in a solid batting performance and trialed by just 29 at the end of the second day.
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Delhi fought back at the Jamia Millia Ground as their bowlers reduced Railways to 147 for 5 at the end of the second day’s play. Amit Pagnis made a steady 49 but Railways lost wickets at regular intervals. Delhi had earlier been bowled out for 216 with Ajay Jadeja playing the lone hand with a defiant 87.
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Gagandeep Singh, a medium-pacer, rocked the Baroda innings as Punjab hit back on the second day at Mohali. Gagandeep snapped up 5 for 57 while Vineet Sharma, his opening partner, finished with a four-wicket haul. Despite being bundled out for just 175 yesterday, Punjab managed a 20-run lead, a crucial figure in what may turn out to be a low-scoring battle.
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Maharashtra were shot out for just 83 and were in a deep hole at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad. Having restricted Hyderabad to 231, the powerful Maharashtra batting line-up crumbled in just 32 overs with Narender Pal Singh and Mohammad Ghouse snaring seven wickets between them. Hyderabad extended their lead to 316 before stumps and hold all the aces going into the third day.
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Rudra Prathap Singh’s ten-wicket haul in the match put Uttar Pradesh on the brink of a win against Assam at Kanpur. In a low-scoring tussle, Assam gained a vital 52-run lead in their first innings and had their noses ahead halfway through the day. But they capitulated for just 107 the second time around and left UP a target of 160.

Lynsey Askew and Charlie Russell have become the latest women to be invited onto the MCC Young Cricketers scheme.They join Jenny Halstead, Stephanie Davies and Hannah Burr, all of whom are in their second or third and final year of the scheme. Caroline Atkins and Nicola Shaw have finished their three-year stints with the MCC.Askew, the Kent allrounder, and Russell are both England internationals, with the offspinner Russell making her England debut earlier this year.England’s captain Charlotte Edwards was understandably pleased at the continued recognition of the talent in the women’s game. She said: “The MCC Young Cricketers programme has long been noted as a fantastic development model for some of the most talented players around.”I’m delighted that these five girls will be given the opportunity to concentrate on their game in the best cricket environment in the world.”

Peter Moores, England’s coach, has backed Monty Panesar over Graeme Swann for a place in the Tests against Sri Lanka.”Certainly he is our No. 1 Test match spinner. You would expect him to do well over here,” Moores said. “Monty has proved he is an outstanding Test match bowler, and has been over the last couple of years.”Moores quashed speculation that Swann, the offspinner who was preferred to Panesar in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, might play ahead of Panesar as he is a better batsman and fielder.”Nothing against Graeme, because he has done well in the one-day games, but he still has stuff to do,” Moores said. “He has a great opportunity because he showed in one-day cricket what an aggressive spinner he can be and at times we might play two.”Monty has taken his wickets at 30 [runs] apiece, which is very good. He will be looking at this trip as a chance to keep that progression going. The one thing you can say about Monty is that he has grown a lot as a bowler in the last few Test matches.”Panesar, for his part, is not taking his place for granted and says he is ready for the challenge to his position as first-choice spinner.” I’m used to being in these positions where I don’t know if I’m going to play or not,” he told the Daily Mirror, “but I’ll just keep giving myself the best chance. I remember when I was out for two years, not playing first-class cricket. I could easily have given up … but you just keep persevering, keep staying patient, and you gradually think your chance will come if you keep doing that. That’s the way I try and do things.”England play two three-day warm-up games in Colombo before the first Test starts in Kandy on December 1.

ScorecardVictoria were well on the way to first-innings points at stumps on the first day after Shane Harwood led a fast-bowling demolition of Tasmania. Harwood collected 4 for 53 as the Tigers were bundled out for 168, justifying the decision by Victoria’s stand-in captain David Hussey to send Tasmania in.At the close the Bushrangers had eased to 1 for 111, trailing by 57 runs with Rob Quiney on 55 and Michael Klinger on 4. If Victoria overtake the Tigers’ score it will be the sixth time from as many games this season that Tasmania have been behind on the first innings.The competition’s leading wicket-taker Gerard Denton (ankle) was missing from Victoria’s line-up but Harwood and Peter Siddle proved just as dangerous. Harwood bowled Michael Di Venuto with the third ball of the innings and Siddle, who was returning from a shoulder injury, removed Michael Dighton and Travis Birt in his first spell.Tasmania were 6 for 85 shortly after lunch when Harwood picked up Luke Butterworth and Tim Paine in one over, and only George Bailey’s 40 and a late 27 from Chris Duval nudged the Tigers past the embarrassment level. Dirk Nannes took 2 for 45 and Siddle grabbed 3 for 33, meaning he has more wickets from his two games this summer than the Australian-contracted Ben Hilfenhaus has from five outings.Hilfenhaus was tidy with 0 for 26 from 13 overs, however Quiney and Nick Jewell were reliable for Victoria, adding 100 for the first wicket. Jewell was lbw to Jason Krejza late in the day for 42 but Tasmania need a dramatic turnaround on the second day to put their title defence back on track.

South Africa have retained the same 12-man squad from the two-Test series against New Zealand for the first two matches against West Indies.Graeme Smith, who missed the Makhaya Ntini benefit match and the Twenty20 international against the visitors, has been included in the team.The side thrashed New Zealand 2-0 in the Tests, but veteran Shaun Pollock was continued to be left of the playing XI in favour of Dale Steyn.Steyn is likely to feature in the upcoming series as well, having wrecked New Zealand with ten-wicket hauls in both games.Morne Morkel, whose injury paved the entry of Dale Steyn into the XI during South Africa’s tour of Pakistan, will join the team in Port Elizabeth to continue his rehabilitation. However, he won’t be considered for either of the Tests.The Test series between South Africa and West Indies gets underway with the first starting December 26 at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, while Cape Town will host the second Test from January 2-6.Squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Ashwell Prince, Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini.

Bermuda have announced their squad for the Under-19 World Cup which kicks off in Malaysia in February. Fifteen players will have further training in India at the end of January, while one extra, Kevon Fubler, will remain on the island on standby.Rodney Trott will captain a side which includes Malachi Jones, who played for the national team in last year’s World Cup. Jones is vice-captain. Another member of the World Cup squad, Stefan Kelly, is also in the 16 for Malaysia.Squad Rodney Trott (capt), Malachi Jones, Chris Douglas,Kyle Hodsoll, Stefan Kelly, Tamuari Tucker, Regino Smith, Jordan DeSilva,Gregory Maybury, Jr, Lamar Richardson, Deunte Darrell, Dennico Hollis,Pierre Smith, Tre Govia, Terryn Fray. Standby: Kevon Fubler.

Worcestershire have revealed that last summer’s devastating floods cost the club in excess of £1million in lost revenue, clear-up costs and replacement of damaged assets.New Road, the county’s home ground, wasn’t fit to host any Twenty20 Cup matches in what is a highly lucrative tournament, and no cricket was played at the ground after June 21. Consequently, and in spite of an insurance pay-out of £300,000 and an ECB grant of £75,000, the club made a pre-tax loss of £693,211.”The impact of the floods last summer is well documented and these figures show how big an impact they have had on the finances of the club,” Mark Newton, Worcestershire’s chief executive, said. “For the previous four years we posted a surplus and we have a strong balance sheet. This, together with help from many sources including our bankers at Clydesdale Bank and the Inland Revenue, ensured the club survived such a devastating year.”I would go so far as to say it was probably the worst disaster to ever hit a county cricket club as a result of an act of God, and our players deserve full credit for achieving what they did.”Our recovery plan is well advanced and we have received significant help from many individuals and a number of organisations since September which will be reflected in next year’s accounts,” Newton said. “We expect it will take two years for us to fully recover financially but we are sending out the positive message our cricket budget will remain ring-fenced and we intend to raise considerable funds ourselves during 2008 and 2009.”The club’s AGM takes place on Monday February 18 and, worryingly for the members, New Road was again under water as recently as last week, swamping the newly-laid outfield.

The ECB has taken a hard line against unofficial tournaments with a clear message that anyone participating in or hosting them will in effect be ostracised.In a non-nonsense statement, the board said no member, or venue receiving any funding from it, would be allowed to host such events. That was a clear message to the Indian Cricket League which had mentioned the possibility of playing games outside India.The move was “in order to protect the genuine interests in the development of grassroots and county cricket and protecting anti-doping and anti corruption measures”.The ECB, which was acting with the backing of the first-class counties, also in effect barred overseas players who had signed with the ICL as they would be not be granted the required “no objection certificates” from their home boards. This raises the prospect of a number of high-profile players who had signed with counties not being able to fulfill their commitments.With regards to English players who have signed, the ECB reaffirmed the policy “clearly demonstrates a preference towards players and officials who do not participate in unofficial events”. Australia and New Zealand have announced guidelines that any players in the ICL will be banned from duties with their national and provincial teams.

The Indian Premier League’s Mumbai-based franchise has been named their team ‘Mumbai Indians’. Sachin Tendulkar, the team’s icon player, will captain the side, which also includes Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock.”Mumbai Indians is a nice combination of senior players and youngsters, so I think we all will be looking forward to go out there, put up a perfect unit and perform well,” Tendulkar said after unveiling the team’s logo at a promotional event in Mumbai. “Twenty20 cricket is hugely popular everywhere and I have no doubt the IPL will be a hit.”Tendulkar said he was looking forward to open the batting with Jayasuriya: the last time he did so was back in 1998, while playing for the Rest of the World XI against MCC at Lord’s in a charity match held in memory of Princess Diana.The team logo for the Mumbai Indians has the Sudarshan Chakra with the team’s name engraved in it. The team’s colour – blue – is the same as that of the Indian national side.The franchise, owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, was bought for US$ 111.9 million, making it the most expensive of the eight franchises. The team has three Sri Lankans in Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando, while Pollock and Loots Bosman are the other overseas recruits. Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh are the other India nationals in the side, which has promising local players in Abhishek Nayar and Ajinkya Rahane.

ScorecardAn unbroken 73-run stand between Jimmy Maher and Stuart Binny saw the Hyderabad Heroes clinch an unlikely win at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium.Strikes from Sujay Tarafdar and Nantie Hayward had reduced the Heroes, chasing 166, to 28 for 3, before a 54-run stand between Justin Kemp and opener Jimmy Maher. Tarafdar’s wicket of Kemp triggered another collapse and at 95 for 6, the Heroes were staring down the barrel.However, then came the whirlwind 73-run stand off just 6.1 overs, with which the Heroes sealed the game with four balls and four wickets to spare. Stuart Binny, the son of former India allrounder Roger Binny, was the chief architect of the chase, smashing 44 off just 19 at No. 8. Maher stayed right till the end; his 59-ball 65 anchored the innings, but even his Man-of-the-Match effort would have been in vain had it not been for Binny’s heroic knock.In all, Binny hit five four and two sixes, and finished his innings with a strike-rate of 231.57. Both Andre Adams and Lance Klusener went at more than ten an over.At the toss, the Heroes’ Chris Harris choose to field, and the move didn’t seeming to be working when Klusener blazed away. He biffed his way to 73 off 42 balls, with seven fours and five sixes. Twenty-one runs were taken of a Syed Sahabuddin over.Harris struck twice for the Heroes, also removing Klusener during his 3-0-16-2. Once Klusener fell in the 15th over, the Tigers were unable to keep up the momentum and they scored 165 for 5, at least 10-15 runs short of they would have expected in the first place, and what perhaps was the key difference in the final equation.