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As Michael Clarke enters the home stretch of his plan to return to Australia’s World Cup XI against Bangladesh, allrounder James Faulkner has conceded he is still on the back straight, unsure of when he might turn for the finish line.”I’m no chance,” Faulkner said in Brisbane when asked about his prospects of playing at the Gabba in five days’ time. A side strain incurred during the triangular series means Faulkner is a long way from bowling, and Australia’s abundance of options makes it unlikely he will be considered until he is able to.”Everyone is a little bit unsure but hopefully the rehab I’ve done with the medical staff has kept me in good shape for what’s to come,” Faulkner said.”I haven’t been given any fitness deadline, I’m not sure what their plan is with that. I’ll just do as I’m told with the medical staff and concentrate on that. It’s rehab 24×7 for me and will continue to be until I’m back.”Pressure for spots in Australia’s World Cup team is such that the stand-in captain George Bailey is set to make way for Clarke, while a first-ball duck for Shane Watson at the MCG on Saturday has plenty of critical eyes trained on his spot.”I don’t think we’re actually fighting for the same sort of spot, we’re different players,” Faulkner said of Marsh. “Mitch has always been a batter and his overs have been handy. I know he’s working hard on his bowling and he got some rewards the other day.”I think we can both definitely play in the same team and we have a few games so far, so there’s no reason we can’t continue.”The beauty about the Australian set-up is it’s such a strong squad, it’s going to be hard for spots. That’s a great thing for Australian cricket and a great thing for the whole team, you’ve got to really be on your toes and when given a chance you’ve got to grab it with both hands.”Australia did not train on Monday and will take things easy again on Tuesday, before Clarke gives his repaired hamstring a run out at the Gabba on Wednesday.

As Karnataka dispersed from the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the Mumbai players sat down at Adigas, the famous south Indian eatery in the stadium premises. They were not at all in a mood to celebrate Shardul Thakur becoming the leading wicket-taker of the season. They just wanted to put a shambolic day with the bat behind them. They had been bundled out for 44, Mumbai’s second-lowest total in first-class cricket.As has been the case throughout the season, Mumbai’s batting crumbled under pressure, leaving themselves with too much to do while batting fourth on a difficult wicket. This was, in fact, the seventh batting collapse of the season for Mumbai. And it was the worst of them all. The captain Aditya Tare had no qualms admitting it.”We have had a bad day as you can see. Getting all out in 15 overs is not acceptable by any means, especially at this stage of the tournament. But yeah, we have had off days in the entire season. The best thing is how we come out of it. We have to look up to that first,” Tare said.Tare, however, was also quick to point out the umpiring howlers which he and his team-mates were at the end of. While Robin Uthappa was adjudged not out early in the day by umpire Vineet Kulkarni when he was plumb in front, the same umpire ruled Tare caught behind when the ball didn’t hit anything on the way to wicketkeeper CM Gautam.

Nayar cleared of serious injury

Abhishek Nayar will spend a night in the hospital after falling awkwardly on his head while chasing a ball in his follow-through. Though the bowler is cleared of any special damage, he will be monitored for 24 hours before being released.
During the 52nd over of the innings, Vinay Kumar dabbed Nayar on the off-side and took off for a single. Nayar ran towards the ball and fell on his head while trying to flick it towards the stump. Though he completed the over after receiving medical attention, he was getting blackouts soon after exiting the field. He was then rushed to the hospital for scans.
“The player was admitted to our hospital this afternoon after complaining of headache and vomiting. He has a concussive head injury. The brain and cervical scans are normal, so there is nothing to worry. He is in the ICU for a 24-hour observation,” Ajit Benedict Ryan, the vice president of Hosmat Hospital, said.

“Things haven’t gone in our favour as well. Robin [Uthappa] was plumb in front, they would have been 30 for 3 and probably [we would have bowled them out for] 100-150, you never know. I wasn’t out and from there, it completely changed. The momentum completely swung,” Tare said. “And Mumbai have been suffering from bad decisions throughout the last two-three years. But it’s part of the game, we have to accept it. But we still have four more days.”Tare’s Karnataka counterpart, Vinay Kumar, was, as expected, thrilled with the effort of his boys. Vinay, who lead from the front with a six-wicket haul, admitted they hadn’t expected to run through the Mumbai side.”The cracks were a bit open in the morning itself, which is why elected to bat first. Batting fourth would be very difficult on this wicket. [After getting bowled out for 202] we tried to bowl in the right areas, we were planning to get five-six wickets, we were lucky enough to get them all out,” Vinay said.Despite being dejected, Tare stressed on the excellent work of Karnataka’s pace triumvirate of Vinay, Abhimanyu Mithun and S Aravind.”We just wanted play normally, as if we were batting in the first innings. We had no target in our mind. We knew that there are lots of cracks on the pith and obviously, it will do a bit,” he said. “You can’t take away credit from them. They have got three bowlers with 30-plus wickets in the season, so they have a bowling unit which is in tremendous form. You can’t take away credit from them.”While Vinay was thrilled to have bowled Mumbai out for their lowest total against Karnataka, Tare found it difficult to deal with the fact that Mumbai had been bundled out for only their third sub-50 total. “That’s a record I can’t be proud of for sure but obviously we will look to bounce back for sure.”

ScorecardTom Fell repelled the champions, Yorkshire, with a composed century•Getty Images

Perhaps it was only right that champions Yorkshire should have begun the defence of their title at Worcester. This, after all, is where the photographers come when newspapers wish to salute the opening of the English season; New Road was also where the ECB wisely decided to launch the 2015 County Championship; and this ground, lest we ever forget, saw a sweatered Richie Benaud lead out the Australians for the opening match of their tour one gelid April morning 54 years ago. Worcester does not just symbolise English county cricket; its gentle beauties encapsulate it.Yet what made the first day of this game special was not just a sense of occasion and topographical charm. There was hard cricket to be played before a good-sized and appreciative crowd. By the end of business Tom Fell had shown he might have what it takes to prosper in Division One with an assured century, while judgment on others in the top order must be reserved.When poor light prompted the umpires to take the players off 14 overs early, Worcestershire had reached 264 for 8, a decent enough effort, although coach Steve Rhodes may remind his charges that substantial first-innings are not generally achieved when only five of the top seven batsmen reach double figures. Yorkshire’s bowlers, most notably Jack Brooks and Tim Bresnan, will probably be happy with their efforts on what is presently a flat wicket.The home team’s total plainly owed most to 21-year-old Fell, whose crisp, assured strokeplay took him to a third Championship century in 174 balls. During his 118-run third-wicket partnership with Moeen Ali, who was dropped twice in making 62, the home side appeared on course for a score that would have emphatically justified Daryl Mitchell’s decision to bat first on a dry pitch which the skipper’s two spinners might enjoy later in his match.Fell and Moeen’s resistance took up the first half of the day and was all the more welcome given that things had not begun promisingly for the Worcestershire. Indeed, both openers were dismissed by Brooks inside the first eight overs. Richard Oliver edged a slash to Andrew Hodd behind the stumps and Mitchell nicked a lifting ball high to second slip where Jack Leaning took a fine two-handed catch above his head.Matters would have looked even better for Yorkshire had Hodd clung on to a chance offered by Moeen before he had scored, but the keeper’s faint touch merely deflected the ball to the boundary. The unfortunate bowler was Ryan Sidebottom, whose disappointment was as naught compared to his unbearable anguish when Jeff Evans had turned down his lbw appeal against Mitchell in the third over. At such moments King Lear on the heath has nothing on the gory-locked Yorkshire seamer.Maybe the dreadful tragedy of his rejected beseechment prompted an exhortation from Sidebottom that winds should blow and crack their cheeks. Certainly a sudden gust flattened a dozen advertising boards a few moments later, causing a five-minute delay.Fell, though, remained commendably unruffled by both human and climatic outbursts. Driving sweetly through the covers, clipping efficiently to leg and working the ball with professional accomplishment through the slips, Worcestershire’s No 3 was unbeaten on 40 at lunch, when Mitchell’s team were 77 for 2, a position they would have accepted with alacrity 90 minutes earlier, especially as Moeen had been spilled again, this time at short cover by Will Rhodes off Steve Patterson when only 21.The play immediately after lunch saw a flurry of boundaries and the warmest weather of the day. Yet just as it took no more than a cloud in front of the sun to have spectators delving for extra layers, so one felt that the fall of a wicket or two would pose problems for Mitchell’s batsmen against the best seam attack on the circuit.So it proved. Bresnan tempted Moeen into one too many drives and Hodd gratefully pouched the catch; less than half an hour later the same bowler trapped Worcestershire debutant Alex Gidman on the crease for seven; and when Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s unwise pull off Brooks only bottom-edged the ball onto his stumps, Worcestershire were 171 for 5 and a lot of good work had been undone.Fell was unbeaten on 99 at tea, by which interval he and Ben Cox had steered their team to 190 for 5, but wicketkeeper-batsman Cox edged a push off the tormented Sidebottom to Bresnan at third slip five balls after the resumption. Then Fell himself departed six overs later, his authentic leg glance being well caught by a diving Hodd.Worcestershire’s final resistance of the day was led by Gareth Andrew, who celebrated his recovery from a lumbar pedicle fracture with a very competent 42 not out. Playing his first Championship match since last May, Andrew has special reason to welcome this season.But, in truth, so did many others this bright Sunday when the cathedral bells summoned the faithful to New Road and when the grass stains on the fielders’ trousers as the players left the field were a welcome sign of verdant spring and the return of the precious Championship.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:44

Dobell: England squandered too many wickets

A popular number during this series has been the days since Alastair Cook scored a hundred, even if only on a small percentage of them could he physically have made a century. The counter can be reset to zero now after he batted into the final over of the opening day in Barbados, holding a faltering England display together, to score his 26th Test hundred and first since May 2013.As the shadows lengthened across Kensington Oval, Cook clipped Shannon Gabriel off his toes from his 259th delivery for a boundary which meant he could acknowledge three figures at international level after almost two years. There was a prolonged standing ovation from the England supporters who had helped fill out the ground and lengthy applause from his team-mates on the balcony.Yet while Cook took the personal honours West Indies ended the happier team, especially when Cook fell to what became the last delivery of the day as he edged a cut against Marlon Samuels to leave England 240 for 7 after deciding to bat first. On a surface that started suggesting some pace, then showed signs of turn, it will be difficult to judge a score until West Indies bat – but the home side are certainly in with a chance of levelling the series.Talk about Cook’s form in Test cricket was well on its way to being quashed before this innings and the pressure on him early in this tour was often imbalanced due to his pre-Christmas difficulties in the one-day game, which led to his axe in that format and various other issues within English cricket. But after the low point of the India Test at Lord’s year – Cook admitted he almost quit the captaincy – he had scored five fifties in eight innings before today, including two in Grenada last week, to show that, even if they were rarely fluent, the hunger remained.A hundred, though, was needed, if only to stop the counting and the discussion. His immense reserves of mental fortitude were on show, playing to his strengths of leaving the ball and latching on to anything short, although the cover drive was making the occasional return even if it did not often find a gap. He did not give a clear life, although may have edged a no-ball from Jerome Taylor on 5 and replays suggested he clipped Veerasammy Permaul to short leg on 22, with Jermaine Blackwood getting fingers under the ball, but as usual the umpires erred on the side of caution.However it was far from the perfect day for Cook. His top order wobbled and he was also the guilty party in the run out of Moeen Ali for 58 who was playing increasingly confidently in a stand of 98 for the fifth wicket, which had lifted England from 91 for 4 when the in-form Joe Root was caught behind.Before play Jason Holder, appearing on his home ground where was honoured by his local club, Wanderers, had sounded slightly foreboding when speaking of a batsman’s surface. What transpired was a dry pitch that already showed signs of turn; West Indies’ two spinners, Permaul, recalled in place of the injured Devendra Bishoo, and Samuels, sent down 46.2 overs between with Samuels, who was introduced for the 11th over, sending down 26.2 of them.Alastair Cook ended his near two-year wait for a Test hundred, but West Indies claimed seven opening-day wickets•Getty Images

The statistics – which, whisper it quietly, England were surely aware of – also do not back up the theory of this ground being a road for Tests in recent seasons. In the previous two Tests the highest innings total had been 331 (albeit one of those matches involved Zimbabwe) while since England’s last visit, in 2009, when 600 for 6 played 749 for 9 and everyone went home, only two innings – when Australia faced West Indies – have crossed 400.England, as was always the likeliest route, did not change their XI once Ben Stokes passed a fitness test on his back although the evidence of the opening day, closely witnessed by Cook for more than six hours, ought to have at least made them ponder whether Adil Rashid should have been in this team rather than shortly flying to Ireland for next week’s ODI.But it was pace which did the early damage. Shannon Gabriel was again sharp, delivering a potentially decisive blow to Jonathan Trott’s Test career, although he was sparsely used. This was especially surprising against Moeen, who had his technique worked over by the Indian quicks last summer and, to a lesser extent, at the World Cup. Holder, showing no ill-effects after turning his ankle on the final day in Grenada, claimed two in the morning session which left England 38 for 3.For much of the day, West Indies managed to keep a lid on the scoring rate. On a couple of occasions England threatened to cut loose, firstly when the counter-punching Root was hustling along after lunch and then later when there was a little pressure applied after tea. However, Root edged Permaul as he played off the back foot and for the second time in consecutive innings Moeen, after driving and sweeping strongly in 109-ball fifty, was run out.Although this time most of the blame was attached to Cook, there appeared to be a white-flag from Moeen halfway through the run. The tone of wastefulness continued until the end of the day when Stokes guided a late cut to gully to give Gabriel his second, followed by Cook’s tired cut.However, while Cook ended one talking point another gained a greater head of steam. His fellow opener Trott fell third ball in ugly fashion when he flapped a short ball from Gabriel into the leg side. It was his third nought of the series – the first England batsman to notch that unwanted record in a series of three matches or fewer – but it was the manner of the dismissal, rather than just the scoreless innings, which had a sense of finality about it. Chances of his Test career extending beyond this series now appear slim.After the surfaces in Antigua and Grenada the sight of deliveries skimming with good pace and carry to the keeper with the new ball provided early excitement, although it did not last. To his third ball, Trott began a forward movement to Gabriel, who was already touching 90mph, and was then in a horrid tangle against a well-directed short delivery as he fended it away off the top of the bat into the leg side where Permaul sprinted in from square leg to hold a low catch. Trott’s head went down, and stayed that way back to the dressing room. The future, in the likes of Adam Lyth and Alex Hales, was lurking.He was not the only duck, though, in the morning, with Ian Bell also failing to score when he bunted a return catch to the impressive Holder, which followed his removal of Gary Ballance when he speared a full delivery between bat and pad. From there it could have been better for West Indies and worse for England; by the close the feeling was probably reversed.

ScorecardJack Shantry picked up in-form man Michael Carberry late in the day•Getty Images

Bowlers Joe Leach and Jack Shantry took three late wickets to swing the first day in Worcestershire’s favour at the Ageas Bowl. Hampshire looked in control on 88 for 1, having batted slowly on a rain affected day, but evening scalps dragged the game back into the visitors’ grasp.Shantry found the edge of Hampshire’s most dangerous batsman this season, Michael Carberry, before Leach had Jimmy Adams and nightwatchman James Tomlinson leg before. The day will also stick in the mind of another Worcestershire fast bowler – Ed Barnard – who took his maiden first class wicket on his debut – the scalp of Hampshire opener Liam Dawson.After a washed out morning, play finally got underway for the day at 3pm after Worcestershire had won the toss and decided to field on a green-tinged wicket with rarely-seen blue skies overhead. Before play got under way, Hampshire awarded former Durham batsman Will Smith a county cap, while Worcestershire gave first-class debuts to Barnard and England Under-19 colleague Joe Clarke – and a Championship debut to New Zealander Colin Munro.The two counties were promoted together from Division Two last season but have found life in the top flight more difficult – with just one win between the sides – with both viewing this encounter as a must win.In that spirit, Adams and Dawson carefully watched a dangerous opening spell by Leach and Charlie Morris go by without too many issues. Dawson beautifully timed a drive on the back foot to collect the first boundary of the match as both openers looked to play straight. The first stand went past 50 for the second game in a row but again Adams and Dawson couldn’t reach three figures together – Dawson poking a Barnard delivery to Daryl Mitchell for 39.Carberry joined his captain at the crease and survived a vocal shout for caught behind off Leach – the slip cordon and bowler staring at an unmoved umpire Michael Gough in disbelief. The former Test opener smeared a drive through the covers and pulled heftily in front of square – as the home side moved past 100 in the 44th over.Carberry departed with 4.4 overs left of the day, as he ended his run of three straight half centuries in first-class matches, edging behind to Ben Cox off a lively Shantry delivery. And in the next over Adams departed two short of a fourth half century of the season and Tomlinson went in the same way to the final delivery of the day off of Leach as Hampshire toiled in the late evening sunshine.”There were a few nerves jangling around when I got the nod but at the end of the day it’s just another game,” Worcestershire fast bowler Barnard said. “Jack, Joe and Charlie were giving me advice and they are three experienced bowlers and have done very well this season. To have them next to me was good for me. It was a great last 45 minutes but I think we deserved it after the way we bowled throughout the day.”We were consistent and kept the pressure on them without letting them get away. Joe getting that last one at the end was an extra bonus. I think 250 will be a decent score but own aim will be to keep them under 200. We will want to get a big lead and not have to bat again but we have to see how it goes tomorrow and take the battle from there.”Hampshire first-team coach Dale Benkenstein admitted it was not the best finish to the day, saying: “It wasn’t a good end to the day but we had a good couple of hours before that. We would have had a bowl as well and knowing that if you don’t bowl well you only have 50 overs on the park. I thought our guys did well upfront to the new ball but we have the same problem every game where no batsman takes the game by the scruff of the neck.”It’s not easy when the wicket is giving a bit of assistance to the seamers but we are not helping ourselves. There were times when they weren’t looking threatening but were still not giving us many runs. Credit to them, they made every run we did get hard to get. We should have been good enough to have got through today with maybe just one down, not four down.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMitchell Starc claimed 4 for 28 to ensure Australia faced only a small chase•Getty Images

On Wednesday morning Australia began their defence of the Frank Worrell Trophy. By Friday evening they had retained it. Such is the nature of modern scheduling that a two-Test series was all Australia and West Indies could arrange. Such was the nature of the Roseau conditions that this abbreviated campaign began with an abridged match, won by Australia within three days.The third and final day began with West Indies on 25 for 2 and in danger of capitulating. They needed 145 more to make Australia bat again. Australia’s morning began perfectly when Darren Bravo was taken at mid-off by a diving David Warner off Josh Hazlewood for 5. But then came the complication: Marlon Samuels and debutant Shane Dowrich ground out the highest partnership of the Test.Their 144-run union threatened not only to take the match into a fourth day but to pull it out of Australia’s grasp and back into competitive territory. Only one wicket fell in each of the first two sessions. But then came the collapse. After tea West Indies lost their last six wickets for 27, set Australia a target of 47, and provided the rain and light held out, a three-day finish was on again.David Warner had no intention of coming back on Saturday. He thumped a four and a six off Jerome Taylor’s first over, then another six off Shannon Gabriel in the second over. Warner edged Taylor to slip for 28 with five runs still needed, but Steven Smith joined Shaun Marsh and finished the job within the first five overs of the innings, a nine-wicket win satisfying the Australians ahead of the second Test in Jamaica.In the end it looked clinical, but there were times throughout the match that West Indies were in the contest. When they reduced Australia to 126 for 6 on the second day, they sent some nervous moments through the Australian camp. But the unbeaten 130 from debutant Adam Voges was the big difference, his work with the tail giving Australia a comfortable first-innings buffer.While Dowrich and Samuels were together there were also slivers of hope for West Indies. Both men were steady in the morning session before becoming more expansive after lunch. Within the space of three balls, Samuels lifted Nathan Lyon over mid-on for a four and a six, and his half-century came from his 115th delivery.Dowrich also cleared mid-on for a six off Lyon and brought up his fifty from his 153rd delivery with a pull for four off Mitchell Johnson. Soon, West Indies were back into the lead. If Dowrich and Samuels could bat on, if they could set up a chase of 150 or 200 runs, who knows what might have happened. But it was not to be. Dowrich drove Hazlewood to a catching short mid-on for 70, and it signalled the beginning of the end.After tea, the wickets began to tumble. Jermaine Blackwood advanced, missed a low full toss from Lyon and was stumped by Brad Haddin, who failed to take the ball cleanly but kept his head well enough to complete the job. In the next over, Samuels top-edged a pull off Johnson to Hazlewood at fine leg for 74, and it was all down to the wicketkeeper and bowlers.Denesh Ramdin chopped on off Lyon, Jerome Taylor was lbw for a golden duck to a Mitchell Starc inswinger, and a few overs later Starc finished the job by bowling Devendra Bishoo and Gabriel from consecutive deliveries. Jason Holder was left not out on 12, and Australia were left with the task of beating the cloud and bad light if they wanted an extra day off between matches.Warner made sure they did just that. All that was left was a Man-of-the-Match presentation for Voges on debut, and a reworking of weekend plans for the Dominican fans, who reasonably would have expected cricket in their country on Saturday and Sunday. By collapsing before tea on the first day having chosen to bat, West Indies set themselves behind from the start of this game. And it was an advantage Australia were never likely to give up.