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Brett Lee’s career is on the rocks due to a series of injuries but he has set his sights on continuing till next year’s World Cup in the subcontinent. Lee has not turned out for Australia in more than eight months and retired from Tests earlier this year in a bid to prolong his career.”To me a World Cup in India in 2011, because of my love for India and the stuff I do over there, it would be a great way to finish, I would have thought,” AAP quoted Lee as saying.He missed last year’s Ashes due to a side strain, and had been worried he couldn’t ever bowl again after an elbow surgery last December. Lee also broke his thumb four matches into his comeback during the IPL, before a muscle strain in his forearm forced him to sit out the World Twenty20.Despite the many setbacks and the impressive performances of newcomers like Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris on the international stage, Lee said his career wasn’t over. He said his fitness was at a level that made him consider trying to play in the recent ODI series in England.”I’ve been training hard and I probably could have pushed to go over to England, but I thought I wanted to get a really good base behind me and get some stuff done in the gym and get my fitness up to a level that I’m very happy with,” he said. “Then looking forward to probably the next two to three months to do a comeback and sort of take it from there.”Australia’s next limited-overs assignment is on a tour of India in October.

Holders Australia will play India and South Africa in Bangalore in warm-up matches next February ahead of World Cup 2011, the two fixtures headlining the series of practice games involving all 14 participating teams. The matches – two for each side – will not have official ODI status and will be played in Bangalore, Chennai, Chittagong, Colombo, Dhaka, Nagpur and Pallekele.The tournament proper starts exactly six months from now and ICC president Sharad Pawar was bullish in talking of its prospects. “Let there be no doubt whatsoever that the ICC, along with the three co-hosts, will ensure that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is the best of all the World Cups staged so far,” Pawar said.Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal looked forward to playing in front of home crowds in the World Cup. “This will be my second World Cup but definitely the one I am longing for. In front of our own fans, families and friends we have the opportunity to make the country proud and deep inside every Bangladesh cricketer is a burning desire to excel,” said Tamim, who was instrumental in Bangladesh’s upset win against India in their opening game of the 2007 World Cup. The two teams will square off in the opening match of the 2011 edition, in Dhaka.

Warm-up matches schedule

February 12: New Zealand v Ireland in Nagpur, Zimbabwe v South Africa in Chennai, West Indies v Kenya in Colombo, Sri Lanka v Netherlands in Pallekele, Bangladesh v Canada in ChittagongFebruary 13: India v Australia in BangaloreFebruary 15: Australia v South Africa in Bangalore, Ireland v Zimbabwe in Nagpur, Kenya v Netherlands in Pallekele, Bangladesh v Pakistan in DhakaFebruary 16: India v New Zealand in Chennai, Sri Lanka v West Indies in Colombo, England v Canada in DhakaFebruary 18: England v Pakistan in Dhaka

Match facts

September 12, 2010, Headingley
Start time 10.15am (9.15am GMT)Despite a disappointing summer with the bat, Umar Akmal has the ability to inject life into the one-day series•Getty Images

Big picture

While it seems that nothing could rid the backdrop of spot-fixing allegations from this series, the lingering hope is that a keen contest between these two sides might at least provide a moment of relief. The abject nature of Pakistan’s pair of defeats in the Twenty20 series, played in front of half-empty stands at Cardiff, left a fear that the one-day series could descend into a more unappetising farce than even the seven-match trudge against Australia at the end of last summer. Thankfully, without really threatening England, Pakistan still demonstrated enough spirit and backbone in the first game to keep their fans hoping.The much-hyped introduction of enormous paceman Mohammad Irfan may have failed to match the billing but the veteran Shoaib Akthar sweated through an impressive opening spell and provided enough of a test to keep England’s batsmen hopping. Saeed Ajmal continued to weave the confusion that has hounded England all summer and most significantly, Pakistan’s fielding was smart and at times – such as Umar Akmal’s direct-hit from the outfield to dismiss Tim Bresnan – positively sharp.The batting too was much improved. Kamran Akmal managed his first decent performance of a chastening summer, while his brother Umar flickered with his abundant talent once again and there were spirited contributions throughout the order. It was enough for Andrew Strauss to unleash that most trite of clichés by declaring after the match that “cricket was the winner”. Though It speaks volumes for how low Pakistan had sunk that a comfortable England win was seen as progress, another improvement at Edgbaston could put the teams on more equal footing.England, for their part, are quietly piecing together a team to challenge for the World Cup in February. Their limited-overs cricket has improved beyond recognition since the 6-1 drubbing at the hands of Australia last summer, and the World Twenty20 champions have now won four ODI series in a row and show no signs of stopping.The demand for continual improvement saw Craig Kieswetter dumped out of the team for Steve Davies as the England management set a clear challenge – perform now and book your place for the World Cup. Davies’ response was perfect, striking the ball sweetly to race to 87 from 67 deliveries and both earn the Man-of-the-Match award and high praise from his captain. Alongside him Ravi Bopara’s international rehabilitation continued with a breezy unbeaten 37 to finish the innings. Both still have plenty to prove and that context alone gives England supporters something to follow.

Form guide (last five completed matches)

England WWLWL
Pakistan LWLLLL

Watch out for…

Such is his style, Paul Collingwood’s contributions in England’s middle-order can often be overshadowed by his more flamboyant team-mates. But since England’s triumph against Australia earlier this summer, his returns have dipped noticeably and he is due a score in one-day cricket. Positive starts in the second Twenty20 and first ODI against Pakistan – including a dismissive flick over the square leg boundary after charging Shoaib Akhtar in Cardiff – gave a hint of his enduring ability in limited-overs cricket.Before his inexplicable brainwrong at Chester-le-Street, Umar Akmal had threatened to take the game away from England singlehandedly with an array of attacking cricket shots. There is no doubt that the younger Akmal oozes talent, but if Pakistan are to reverse their slide this summer they will need more than attractive cameos from him. Though he is only 20 years old, the sooner Akmal finds the level-head to take responsibility for the middle order, the better.

Team news

England rung the changes for this series and after starting on a winning note they are likely to stick with the chosen XI to deliver the goods again.England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Steve Davies (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Michael Yardy, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James AndersonPakistan’s improvement was palpable but Umar Gul’s below-par showing at Chester-le-Street could tempt them to recall Abdul Razzaq to bolster the batting as well.Pakistan (possible) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Mohammad Yousuf, 4 Umar Akmal, 5 Shahid Afridi (capt), 6 Fawad Alam, 7 Asad Shafiq, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Mohammad Irfan, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Shoaib Akhtar.

Pitch and conditions

The Headingley wicket is variable, and – particularly when there is cloud cover – aids seam bowling. Recent matches at the ground have shown that there are runs to be had when the sun shines, however, and Alastair Cook cracked an aggressive unbeaten hundred in a seven-wicket win over Yorkshire in the CB 40 last weekend. With a reasonably sunny day expected tomorrow, this could be a game for the batsmen.

Stats and Trivia

• Shahid Afridi hasn’t looked in particularly good nick since returning to Pakistan’s squad for the limited-overs leg of their tour, which may be an indication of how much of an effect outside events have had on team morale. Afridi has scratched together just 37 runs in three international innings since his return without clearing the ropes once, but he’s still international cricket’s leading six-hitter in ODIs this year, and also still tops the lists for highest strike-rate in an innings. After his hundreds against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Dambulla just over two months ago, much more is expected of Pakistan’s captain.
• Jonathan Trott’s fantastic run of form this summer has brought him 942 runs in home internationals in 2010 at the inflated average of 85.63. He has registered two Test hundreds, one in ODIs, and in matches in which England have won he averages a round 100.

Quotes

The two games I played previously, one was when Matty [Prior] was out and the other was just a one-off Twenty20. But I feel this is now my time. It’s a great chance for me.”

“We all want to go home with respect. We are good cricketers and want to maintain our respect and that is gained by playing good cricket. After a victory the respect will come again.”

Scorecard
Glamorgan’s bid to win promotion to Division One of the County Championship will go down to the final day of the season. The Welsh county will hope they can play out a draw against Derbyshire at Cardiff, and that Worcestershire, nine points behind Glamorgan at the start ofthe final round of matches, do not beat Sussex at New Road.Glamorgan finished the third day 68 runs adrift after Derbyshire made 234 for 8 in their first innings in reply to the home side’s 166 all out. After 151 overs were lost on days one and two because of rain, Glamorgan resumed the third morning on 120 for 6.James Allenby, who passed 50 for the 11th time this season, and James Harris (36) took the score to 154, having put on 88 for the seventh wicket. But Glamorgan lost the prolific Allenby when he was bowled by a full-length delivery by Jon Clare before their remaining wickets fell in the space of seven overs.Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson claimed his 50th first-class victim of the season by bowling Robert Croft before Harris was trapped leg before. Huw Waters became the last man to fall when he was caught by Chris Rogers at slip off Peterson.Harris struck with the fifth ball of the Derbyshire first innings when he trapped Wayne Madsen lbw but Chris Rogers and the impressive Chesney Hughes guided the visiting side through until lunch. Hughes, who had a lifeline on 13 when he was dropped from a sharp chance byGareth Rees at short leg from Croft’s bowling, was eventually bowled by Jamie Dalrymple to leave Derbyshire on 42 for 2.Rogers and Wes Durston put on 56 for the third wicket. Their stand was broken when Croft struck to trap Rogers lbw for 33 to give Glamorgan their first bonus point of the match.Harris returned to claim his 60th wicket of the summer to dismiss Durston for 46 as the visitors were reduced to 116 for 4. That became 126 for 5 when Dan Redfern was caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Mark Wallace off Dean Cosker.After tea, which Derbyshire reached at 127 for 5, Cosker picked up his second wicket when Robin Peterson edged to Allenby at slip. Captain Greg Smith and Clare put on 45 for the seventh wicket before Harris took a wicket in the first over of his spell for the third time when Smith wascaught by Ben Wright at point.Clare was dismissed for 24 when he was bowled by Cosker. But there were no more scares for Derbyshire as the eighth-wicket pair – Steffan Jones and Tom Poynton – added 45 runs for the ninth wicket by the close.

Match Facts

Sunday, October 10, Kimberley
Start time 2:30pm (1230 GMT)Prosper Useya has often opened the bowling for Zimbabwe with his offspinners•AFP

The Big Picture

Zimbabwe showed plenty of promise in the first Twenty20 international against their neighbours, with their batsmen setting up the prospect of a competitive game. But, in the battle of the bats, it was South Africa who came up trumps, and by a comfortable margin, to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.Going into the second and final Twenty20 in Kimberley, South Africa look good to wrap up the series with their superior batting, but they’ll have a couple of factors to be wary of. Their seamers, Wayne Parnell, Rusty Theron and Ryan McLaren, were targeted by Hamilton Masakadza and Chamu Chibhabha to steer Zimbabwe to a challenging score after a cautious start. The fielding left a lot of be desired with dropped catches and misfields enabling the Zimbabwe batsmen to ward off any pressure. And most importantly, South Africa’s attack, already missing Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis who’ve been rested, is weakened further by the absence of Morne Morkel, who bowled just two overs in Blomfontein, and left the field due to an ankle injury. He is certain to miss Sunday’s encounter and remains in doubt for the ODI series that follows.Zimbabwe’s major worry is their bowling. Barring opening seamer Chris Mpofu, all the other bowlers were taken for more than ten an over. While South Africa’s lack of depth in their attack was a reason for its ineffectiveness, the utter ruthlessness of the defeat inflicted upon Zimbabwe’s bowlers leaves them in need of an urgent turnaround.

Form guide

South Africa WWWLL
Zimbabwe LLLLL

Watch out for…

Prosper Utseya had often brought himself on to open the bowling with his offspinners when captain, a strategy that worked for a good part. A change in strategy is what his team needs after the mauling at the hands of South Africa’s batsmen in Bloemfontein and experimenting with Utseya up front is worth an attempt.Colin Ingram‘s last domestic season in South Africa was a hugely successful one, as he topped the 2009/10 MTN40 scoring chart with 600 runs at an average of 60, with one century and five half-centuries, and a strike-rate of 103.62. He followed that up by topping the 2010 Pro20 scoring chart as well, making 283 runs at 47.16 and a strike-rate of 144.38. His team, the Warriors, won both tournaments. He made just 3 in the first Twenty20 while his team-mates cashed in, and the second game hands him an opportunity to make up.

Team news

The injury to Morkel means Lonwabo Tsotsobe could be drafted into the playing XI.South Africa: 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Loots Bosman, 3 Colin Ingram, 4 JP Duminy, 5 David Miller, 6 Ryan McLaren, 7 Johan Botha (capt), 8 Heino Kuhn (wk), 9 Rusty Theron, 10 Wayne Parnell, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe.Zimbabwe could turn to one of Shingirai Masakadza or Ian Nicolson to alter the fast-bowling department at the expense of Ed Rainsford.Zimbabwe: 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Brendan Taylor, 3 Chamu Chibhabha, 4 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 5 Charles Coventry, 6 Keith Dabengwa, 7 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Andre Cremer, 10 Ian Nicolson/Shingirai Masakadza, 11 Chris Mpofu.

Stats and trivia

• Zimbabwe’s 168 for 4 in the first Twenty20 is their highest total against a Test-playing nation
  

  Quotes

  “If things get tough, he’s always available for me, so as far as I’m concerned it’s a good thing he didn’t just stop and go away.”

Richard Thompson was named on Tuesday as the new chairman of Surrey County Cricket Club. Thompson, 43, becomes the youngest chairman in the country and also the youngest in the club’s history. He replaces the outgoing chairman David Stewart, who led Surrey for seven years.Speaking after his confirmation, Mr. Thompson said: “I am honoured to become chairman of Surrey County Cricket Club. David Stewart will be a tough act to follow and Surrey owes him a great deal of thanks for the contribution he has made in the past seven years as Chairman and further seven as Honorary Treasurer before that.”Surrey is a unique and great club. Despite a period without trophies, I am confident that with the players coming through, the foundations are in place for a period of success in the future. Our members and supporters have been patient and supportive over the past few seasons. I hope with a policy of growing and developing our own talent wherever possible, that any success Surrey CCC may enjoy will be built on firm foundations with Surrey grown talent at the core.”Cricket is going through a period of great change. I will do all I can, to help steer Surrey through those challenges and be a stronger club as a result.”David Stewart added: “It has been most enjoyable and a real privilege to have steered the Club through such exciting and challenging times these last seven years. I am convinced that Richard is the right person to lead the club through the next chapter in its rich history.”

Match Facts

Wednesday, December 1
Start time 14.30 (09.00 GMT)
Daniel Vettori is back. Can he help New Zealand stay in the hunt for the trophy?•AFP

The Big Picture

First the good news: Daniel Vettori, who missed the first ODI, is fit to play the second game. However it’s learnt that Brendon McCullum is a doubtful starter and New Zealand, who are already missing Jesse Ryder, have lost the services of Daryl Tuffey due to a bicep strain.Of late, there seems to be a pattern to New Zealand’s one-day chases. They appear to dawdle initially and allow the required rate to climb, and then lose wickets in a heap in a frantic effort to keep the chase on track. In the absence of three key players, it was always going to be difficult for New Zealand to put up a fight in the first one-dayer.Without McCullum (if he doesn’t get fit in time) and Ryder, much will depend on Ross Taylor. He had a very average Test series but took his first step towards regaining form with 66 in the first match. Martin Guptill provides aggression at the top and Kane Williamson adds stability in the middle. Gareth Hopkins, the wicketkeeper, has however been disappointing so far on this tour.India would have been gladdened by a couple of developments in the first match. Virat Kohli hit his second successive hundred and the way he paced and built his innings stood out. R Ashwin too impressed with his control and composure in the Powerplays, while Munaf Patel caught the eye with a disciplined effort.There were couple of concerns as well. Sreesanth picked up two wickets in the end but struggled with the new ball. His career economy rate is over six and he has struggled with his lengths in the shorter formats. Suresh Raina hit 71 against Australia in his last one-dayer before this series but went 15 games before that without a half-century. MS Dhoni had said he hoped that Raina will get a break after this match, ahead of the South Africa tour, but had added that it would depend on his performance in the first two games.

Form guide

(most recent first)
India: WWLWL
New Zealand: LLLLL

Watch out for…

Kane Williamson looked solid in the Tests and has hit an ODI hundred against Bangladesh’s spinners in his last series. The Jaipur track is reported to play slow and aid turn, and Williamson’s skills will come to the fore.M Vijay impressed with his brief, but skilful, innings in the first game on a wicket that aided the seamers initially. He played his shots and looked good for more before he threw his wicket away. It’s something that we have seen in the past as well: he has been guilty of failing to convert starts. Can he play a big knock tomorrow?

Pitch and conditions

The pitch is expected to play slow, but a bigger worry could be dew in the evening. “Obviously dew is a big factor, they do use the chemical to reduce its effect, but I don’t think it makes much of a difference,” Gautam Gambhir said. “The wicket appears to be on the slower side and it might a spin a bit. We could [play an extra spinner]. Because it looks a little dry, it might spin if we bowl first.”

Teams

Vettori will replace Tuffey and, given the conditions, New Zealand could retain Nathan McCullum as well. They will hope that Brendon McCullum wins the race for fitness.New Zealand (probable): 1 Jamie How, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Kane Williamson, 6 Grant Elliott / James Franklin, 7 Daniel Vettori (capt), 8 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Andy McKay
With Gambhir mulling the possibility of playing an extra spinner, Ravindra Jadeja will fancy his chances of getting a game, coming in for either Sreesanth or Munaf Patel.India (probable): 1 M Vijay, 2 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja , 8 Wriddiman Saha (wk), 9 Ashwin, 10 Sreesanth / Munaf Patel, 11 Ashish Nehra

Stats and trivia

• Sreesanth has the second-worst economy rate in the list of bowlers who have played at least 50 ODIs and taken 50 wickets
• India have played 10 games in Jaipur and lost four. They beat South Africa by one run in the last game played at this venue in February 2010.

Quotes

“I spoke to the curator and he told me that the wicket on which Hyderabad got out for 21 [in the Ranji Trophy] had lots of grass on it and now they have shaved it off. But I don’t think it’s (the nature of the wicket) a concern because we have played on all kinds of wickets. Rather than worrying about the wicket we need to be thinking about what we should do.”

Central Districts marched into the final of the HRV Cup with a demolition of table-toppers Auckland in New Plymouth, chasing down the target of 181 with eight wickets to spare. Peter Ingram (46) and Jamie How (43) blazed away to an opening stand of 74 in seven overs after which Ian Blackwell took over. Blackwell smashed six sixes and four fours in his unbeaten 68 from 33 deliveries as CD cantered to victory in the 17th over.Auckland had got off to a poor start after opting to bat, reaching 58 for 3 in seven overs. They slipped further when Lou Vincent was bowled by Jacob Oram for 46 off 29. Rob Quiney and Colin Munro added 54 in 4.2 overs to take Auckland close to 150. Quiney hit five sixes in his 55 off 29. England left-arm spinner Michael Yardy led the CD bowlers with 2 for 18. The win took CD to second position behind Auckland, and the two will clash in the final on January 2.

Wellington had to wait till the penultimate ball of the match to win a thriller against Otago by three wickets at the Queenstown Events Centre. Chasing 148, Wellington managed to keep the required run-rate under control despite losing wickets at regular intervals. Opener Neal Parlane’s 39, and middle-order contributions from captain Grant Elliott and England import Luke Wright helped their cause. But it was up to No. 7 Marc Calkin and No. 9 Brett Lee, the Australia fast bowler, to finish the game. Calkin got 18 off 13 as Wellington got the 14 runs they needed off the last 11 balls.Otago had kept themselves in the game by chipping away at the wickets. Seamer James McMillan got two early scalps, and then Aaron Redmond sent nerves rushing through the Wellington dressing room, picking up a couple of wickets late in the innings with his legspinners. Redmond’s second scalp left Wellington at 134 for 7, but Brett Lee came in and hit a six to take some of the pressure off his team.Otago had reached their total of 146 largely due to Redmond’s 50 off 37 balls at the top of the order. Captain Craig Cumming got a quick 25 in the middle-order and Iain Robertson added a valuable 20 not out in the end.

Canterbury beat Northern Districts by 60 runs at the Village Green in Christchurch thanks to a blazing half-century by Peter Fulton and an all-round performance from Johan van der Wath. Fulton stuck around as Canterbury lost a few early wickets, including opening partner Rob Nicol in the first over, and then accelerated to reach 64 off 46 balls. van der Wath made sure Canterbury reached 163, smashing four sixes in his 31 off 13 balls.van der Wath then produced the goods with the balls, bowling a tight spell of four overs for 12 runs with three wickets to help bowl ND out for 103 in 18 overs. ND got off to a poor start to their chase as they lost both their openers, Brad Hodge and Daniel Flynn, within the first eight balls of their innings. Herschelle Gibbs followed, out for a duck to seamer Richard Sherlock, who took 3 for 28. ND were soon 37 for 5 after Kane Williamson and Brad Wilson fell without adding too many. BJ Watling tried to hold the innings together with his 20, but wickets fell consistently and ND couldn’t even bat out their overs.

Group A

Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary got his team back into their match against Saurashtra with an unbeaten century•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Two fast bowlers set up what could be a potentially exciting final day between Delhi and Railways at the Roshanara Club. The first two sessions on the third day belonged to Delhi right-arm seamer Sumit Narwal, who ran through the Railways batting line-up to pick up seven wickets, as Railways were dismissed for 166, leaving Delhi 136 runs to get for victory. New-ball bowler Anureet Singh stole the limelight in the final session as he picked up three crucial top-order wickets, to leave Delhi precariously placed on 48 for 4. With the match between Tamil Nadu and Mumbai heading for a draw, a win for Delhi will get them closer to Mumbai at the top of the table and also build a gap between them and Tamil Nadu, who are in third poistion.Railways second innings began disastrously as Narwal struck to dismiss openers Faiz Fazal and first-innings centurion Shreyas Khanolkar for ducks. He then picked up the wickets of Rakesh Mishra and Harshad Rawle in an incisive seven-over spell as Railways looked in deep trouble at 34 for 4. But Sanjay Bangar and Mahesh Rawat stemmed the rot adding 90 runs for the fifth wicket. The partnership was looking threatening for Delhi, until Narwal had Rawat caught behind soon after he reached his half-century. He followed this up with the crucial wicket of Bangar – who was dropped thrice in the slips – to leave Rajasthan at 133 for 6 and Delhi back in control. Rajasthan lost their last four wickets for 33 runs, Narwal finishing with match figures of 9 for 101.Delhi captain Shikhar Dhawan was the first to fall, for 14, after he miscued a pull shot off Anureet Singh. Aditya Jain was the next to go, trapped plumb in front by JP Yadav. Mayank Tehlan fished at an away-going delivery from Anureet to give Railways captain Murli Kartik a simple catch in the slips. Anureet struck again towards the end of the day’s play to pick up the crucial wicket of Unmukt Chand, who had defied the Railways bowlers in the first innings with a century. With the ball doing a fair bit, the pressure will be on Delhi’s middle and lower order on the final day.Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary led from the front as he hit an unbeaten 116 to guide his team to 295 for 5 at the end of the third day’s play against Saurashtra in Rajkot.Resuming the day on 33 for 1, overnight batsman Shreevats Goswami and Dibyendu Chakravarty looked solid as they carried Bengal past 100. The partnership was finally broken when Shitanshu Kotak dismissed Goswami just one short of his half-century. That brought Tiwary to the crease and he and Chakravarty dashed any hope that Saurashtra might have had of picking up another quick wicket. The duo added 127 runs for the third wicket with both batsmen finding the boundary with ease.Rajasthan had some relief when Chakravarty was out for 80, edging a delivery from Saurya Sanandiya to the wicketkeeper. Sanandiya then struck in his next over to removed Anustup Majumdar. But Tiwary held one end firm, as he and No. 6 Writam Porel put on 44 runs before Sanandiya picked up his third wicket of the day, getting Porel caught behind. Tiwary was joined by Laxmi Ratan Shukla and the duo held firm till stumps. Bengal still trail Saurashtra by 128 runs and will be looking towards Tiwary and Shukla to gain the crucial first-innings lead on the final day.The game between Tamil Nadu and Mumbai in Chennai was interestingly poised as Tamil Nadu reached 149 for 4 at the end of the third day, still trailing Mumbai’s first-innings total by 89 runs.Tamil Nadu did well to restrict Mumbai to 238 all out, after the visitors ended the second day on 180 for 4. Lakshmipathy Balaji struck early to pick up the crucial wicket of Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer, who could only add one run to his overnight score of 66. None of the remaining Mumbai batsmen could get going as Balaji and offspinner Suresh Kumar ran through the lower-order to share four wickets apiece, as Mumbai lost their last five wickets for 56 runs.Tamil Nadu started steadily before Iqbal Abdulla removed openers Srikkanth Anirudha and Abhinav Mukund. S Badrinath and Tamil Nadu captain Dinesh Karthik steadied the innings as they carried their team past 100, before Karthik was dismissed. Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh then swung the momentum in Mumbai’s favour, picking up the crucial wicket of the in-form Badrinath soon after the batsman reached a half-century. K Vasudevadas and R Sathish survived close to 10 overs, adding 32 runs and Tamil Nadu’s hopes of picking up the first innings lead rests on this pair.Gujarat ended the third day in control against Assam in Guwahati. The visitors posted a commanding first innings total of 387 all out, propelled by Sunny Patel’s century. Patel made 108 as the Assam bowlers struggled to make inroads in the Gujarat batting line-up. Assam ended the day struggling on 108 for 3, and look in grave danger of conceding the first-innings lead and points to Gujarat.

Group B

Karnataka finished the third day in a commanding position against Baroda at the Gangothri Glades Cricket Ground in Mysore. The hosts are 390 runs ahead with six wickets in hand and have a chance to declare and push for a win on Saturday. A win would make their place in the semi-final almost certain, while a loss for Baroda will mean they will still be one point behind Uttar Pradesh, with both teams having played five games. Karnataka, though, didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get some quick runs and put pressure on Baroda on Friday. They scored at 2.9 runs an over and finished the day at 302 for 4. Allrounder Stuart Binny, who scored a century in Karnataka’s last match, scored 60, while Amit Verma and Ganesh Satish also got half-centuries.Sachin Rana’s century helped Haryana avoid the follow-on, but Punjab ended day three still in command in Rohtak. Haryana ended the second day more than 100 runs adrift of the follow-on target with just three wickets in hand but Rana defied the Punjab bowlers on the third day. He added a crucial 83 runs with Dhruv Singh, who made 30, before he was dismissed for 102. Dhruv and Sanjay Budhwar then helped Haryana sneak past the follow-on target before Haryana were dismissed for 270.Punjab’s second innings started badly when they lost Inder Singh and Karan Goel cheaply, but Mandeep Singh made 73 and Uday Kaul scored 31, and carried Punjab to 144 for 3 at stumps, with an overall lead of 289.Rain continued to interrupt the match between Orissa and Himachal Pradesh at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, but the 27.4 overs that were played on the third day was enough for the hosts to bowl out Himachal for 163. Starting the day at 85 for 6, Himachal captain Paras Dogra and seamer Rishi Dhawan continued their overnight partnership and extended it to 72 runs. Dogra got his half-century, but Himachal lost their last four wickets for 13 runs as seamer Basanth Mohanty completed his four-wicket haul.

United States of America got their Division Three campaign off to a winning start, a dominant batting performance sealing a seven-wicket win over hosts Hong Kong at Kowloon Cricket Club.USA captain Steve Massiah was the chief architect of their win, contributing to his team’s efforts at crucial times. His first success was to call correctly at the toss on a cold, grey morning. Seamer Kevin Darlington struck twice in his opening spell, removing Courtney Kruger and Hussain Butt inside the first 10 overs.After a brief rally, 16-year-old Mark Chapman and Irfan Ahmed departed to leave Hong Kong tottering at 59 for 4 before opener Roy Lamsam and Nizakat Khan repaired the damage with a 99-run stand. Enter Massiah, swooping to run Lamsam out for 83. Despite a flurry of wickets, Hong Kong captain Najeeb Amar defied the Americans with a no-holds-barred 63 that included six sixes and carried his side to a competitive 256 for 9.Massiah and wicketkeeper Carl Wright weathered the loss of Orlando Baker early in USA’s chase to put together a decisive 109-run partnership in quick time. Massiah was content to play the anchor role in their stand, with Wright thrashing seven fours and six sixes in his 82 before offering legspinner Khan a caught-and-bowled chance in the 32nd over.Massiah then stepped up the tempo significantly with Sushil Nadkarni his partner at the crease. With Nadkarni adding 38 at better than a-run-a-ball before he was dismissed, Massiah’s well-paced innings couldn’t quite reach three figures as he finished on 97 not out when victory was reached with an over and a half to spare.”It’s fantastic to start the tournament off with a victory and we had some solid batting performances today with Carl Wright and myself contributing to our victory,” said Massiah, who was named Man of the Match. “However good it feels to start with a win we definitely cannot rest on our laurels. Tomorrow we’re playing Denmark and they’ll be looking for a win after losing to Italy today, we can’t afford to lose focus.”Italy’s batting performance against Denmark was similarly impressive, Peter Petricola putting in a match-winning all-round performance to set up a seven-wicket win for the Italians at Hong Kong Cricket Club.Alessandro Bonora’s side limited Denmark to 227, Petricola effecting a run out and picking up two wickets with his medium pace. Rizwan Mahmood’s half-century formed the backbone of Denmark’s innings, and although four of the top seven batsmen got starts none were able to really push on as Dilan Fernando’s seamers also resulted in three wickets.With the sun slowly beginning to break through a heavy bank of cloud as Italy began their chase, openers Andy Northcote and Damien Fernando combined to make 87 runs at a steady pace before Fernando was trapped in front of his stumps for 45. Denmark chipped away to reduce Italy to 130 for 3 but Petricola and Damien Crowley fought back in impressive style, both reaching unbeaten half-centuries to seal the result in the 45th over.”It’s obviously great to win on the opening day of the event and carry on the good form I had in Italy last summer,” said Petricola. “We were a little bit scratchy to begin with but we stepped up to the plate with a few good performances to get us over the line but today was by no means a complete performance by us.”The Danes are a solid side and are very competitive while also playing with good spirit. They definitely challenged us as a side. They were good but at the end of the day we gave a good enough performance to walk away with the important winning points on day one.”In the third game of the day, at Mission Road, Rarva Dikana’s Papua New Guinea opened their tournament with a 39-run win over Oman despite a hard-fought century from Omani captain Hemal Mehta. His innings was not enough to help his side recover after Hitolo Areni knocked the stuffing out of their top order with an early hat-trick.PNG had Chris Kent and Kila Pala to thank after their half-centuries prompted a recovery after a top-order collapse had reduced the side to 27 for 4, Hemin Desai’s seamers doing the bulk of the damage as he ripped out three of the top four and eventually finished with figures of 4 for 50. Kent struck 68 before being caught and bowled by Mehta while Pala struck a run-a-ball 77 as PNG reached 248 for 9.With a competitive total set, PNG set about dismissing the Omanis in style with Areni leading the way with a stellar performance. The 30-year-old fast bowler started by dismissing Deep Trivedi, with wicketkeeper Jack Vare snaffling a catch behind the stumps, while the second two wickets of Adnan Ilyas and Sultan Ahmed came from some nifty fielding at first slip by Dikana.Mehta made a valiant effort in an attempt to save his side from defeat, striking the first century of the tournament, but his hard work was in vain as the side fell short of the target by 39 runs and PNG’s bowlers cleaned up the tail.”I’m really pleased to have taken a hat-trick today and to help my side to our first win of the tournament,” said Areni. I’ve recently broken back into the national side and it feels good to see my hard work paying off today but it was very much a team effort today.”We’ve another game tomorrow and we can’t rest on today’s win, we need make sure we carry this through and hopefully I can continue to contribute to help us win.””We had a great start against PNG and then we dropped two catches in a span of three overs which made the difference in the first innings where they managed to get a long partnership in place,” explained Mehta”I have to say our bowlers did work hard today to try and limit the runs, with Desai and Ranpura our seamers taking four wickets to dismiss most of the top order. But we let things slip to allow them to set up their major partnership and wickets only began to fall again after our spinner Khalid Rashid stepped in.”The partnership myself and Vaibhav Wategaonkar built was decent and if we’d had another two players contribute 30-odd runs each alongside myself things may have turned out differently. Areni put us on the back foot when he took three key wickets and unfortunately I couldn’t steady the ship on my own.”The tournament continues on Sunday, with Oman playing Hong Kong at KCC, Italy facing PNG at HKCC and USA taking on Denmark at Mission Road.