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Scorecard

Goa’s win on Sunday left Haryana with no choice but to win against Jammu & Kashmir in Rohtak. Their bowlers provided them a glimmer of hope on the final day by dismissing the visitors, but the hosts, trying to battle the time constraint by scoring at a quick pace, lost wickets in the process and eventually fell short of their target by 45 runs. The win was Jammu & Kashmir’s first of the season.Jammu & Kashmir resumed their second innings at 40 for 2, a lead of 69, and Ian Dev Singh and Ahmed Nizam pushed the score to 74 before Jitender Billa struck for the third time in the innings. Billa got his fourth to make it 86 for 4, and after 23.2 overs in the day, the chances of a win for Haryana seemed bright: Jammu & Kashmir were struggling at 101 for 6. But like in the first innings, Ian Dev held fort at one end. Wicketkeeper Parveez Ganei played out 45 balls for his 6 in a 27-run stand with Ian Dev. Frustratingly for Haryana, the partnership lasted 14.5 overs. It was nine overs more before Ian Dev finally fell for a 165-ball 78. It was the second time he was dismissed in the 70s in the match, and by left-armer Sanjay Budhwar. Haryana could have got more overs for their chase by dismissing the tailenders cheaply, but Amit Baloria, batting at No. 9, thwarted their plans with an unbeaten 53-ball 22. After Ian Dev fell, Haryana took another 8.2 overs to wrap up the innings, with Budhwar taking four of the last five wickets to end with career-best match analysis of 9 for 105.Haryana were chasing 203, but had yet to score when Samiullah Beigh struck two blows in the first over. He got his third, and ninth in the match, by having Sumeet Sharma caught behind for 5. Haryana’s batsman, though, were still undeterred, with nothing to lose if they were defeated. P Sahu, at the other end, hit his way to 38-ball 42, including five fours and a six. When he fell, Haryana were at 69 for 4 off 11.3 overs, but two strikes in successive overs left them at a precarious 94 for 6. Wicketkeeper Nitin Saini chipped in with a run-a-ball 42, and Dhruv Singh and Manav Sharma continued scoring at a brisk rate.However, the two were among the three wickets scalped by left-arm spinner Ahmed Nizam, and medium-pacer Arshad Seikh made it three bowlers with three wickets in the innings with the dismissal of Billa. Haryana’s final score was 158 in 27.3 overs, a run-rate of 5.74.
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The more Jharkhand’s lower order hung on, the higher would have been the chances of them salvaging a draw against Kerala at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur. The last three pairs survived 26.1 overs on the final day, but they could only push the overnight lead of 69 to 137, a target which Kerala chased patiently for the loss of two wickets.The eighth and ninth wickets added 26 and 11 for the hosts, and the final pair of Shankar Rao and Sujit Roy put on 31. Sony Cheruvathur, the Kerala captain, took his fourth wicket to end the innings; he dismissed Roy, whose 31 was the second-best score in Jharkhand’s 212.Kerala’s opening stand was broken on 23, but opener Sambasiva Sarma and Robert Fernandez put their team on course. After Sarma was run out, Fernandez, the first-innings centurion, and Sreekumar Nair steered them to victory.
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There were quite a few similarities between the Chennai Test and the Group B match between Services and Assam in Delhi. Like England, Services had gained a significant first-innings lead but they meandered along during their second innings, eventually declaring with nine wickets down. Both India and Assam were chasing 370-plus targets – although Assam had lesser time for their 371 than India for their 387. Both ended with the chasing sides winning by six wickets, and while India completed the fourth-highest successful chase in Tests, Assam completed the fifth-best chase in the Ranji Trophy.Services had a 300-plus lead at the end of the third day, and if they needed to provide a reason for not declaring and challenging Assam to chase, it was aptly given by their opponents. No. 11 Pankaj Kumar hit a few fours to push to lead from 332 to 370 in five overs, at which point Services declared. Assam then went along at 4.71 runs per over, and reached the target comfortably in 78.4 overs.Kumar struck in the fourth innings to remove opener Palash Jyoti Das quickly, but K Saikia and Tarjinder Singh set the platform with a stand of 90 in 19.1 overs. Singh was out for 80, but captain Rashmi Parida took charge of the chase. He hit only 11 fours, but needed only 160 balls for his 136. Jacob Martin was a bit slower in scoring his 80, staying unbeaten as the visitors clinched a win. Services ended the tournament winless.Parida was pleased that his team ended the Ranji season with a victory. “It’s my best innings of the season because we were chasing 371 on a fifth-day track,” he told the . “I wasn’t enjoying cricket there (Orissa), I got an offer from Assam being a professional player and I decided to come on board.”
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A win could have pushed Madhya Pradesh, already assured of a semi-final spot, to first position in Group B, and they tried to force a result by an early declaration in their second innings.Leading by 148, Madhya Pradesh played out 31 overs to set Tripura a target of 285. Sunil Dholpure, promoted to No. 3, scored 63 off 82 balls, while Himalaya Sagar chipped in with 46. Tripura were wobbling at 79 for 3, but No. 3 Subal Chowdhury shored up the innings with his century. He took them to 216 for 4 with Abhijit Dey, but the overs were running out. Legspinner Yogesh Golwalkar dismissed Chowdhury for 118 – an innings that took 140 balls and included 20 fours. Golwalkar took two more to finish with four in the innings, but the seventh wicket fell in what was the final over of the match.
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Bengal’s bowlers nearly pulled off an improbable win after they eventually crept past Vidarbha’s first-innings total of 403 in Nagpur. Ashok Dinda grabbed five as Vidarbha were reduced to 62 for 7, but Ranjit Paradkar and Shrikant Wagh played out 31.2 overs to secure a draw. The three points from the first-innings lead helped Bengal retain first place in Group B ahead of Madhya Pradesh.Resuming on 371 for 6, Bengal lost their overnight batsmen before taking the lead. Avik Chowdhury and Ritam Kundu were both dismissed for 49, trapped leg-before by Umesh Yadav. Two wickets had fallen in the space of ten balls for five runs, but the Bengal tail did not panic. Sourav Sarkar scored 21 and Dinda an unbeaten 11 to help them to a 23-run lead. Yadav, playing his fourth first-class game, bagged his first five-for.Ranadeb Bose struck twice in the first over of Vidarbha’s second innings, and Dinda then took over to leave them at 28 for 4. By the time he bagged his five-for, Vidarbha were reeling at 62 for 7 in 23.4 overs. Paradkar, though, hung around 139 balls for his 21, while Wagh played 96 for his 34.Bengal will face Goa in the semi-final starting December 18 at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi, while on the same day Madhya Pradesh begin their semi-final against Himachal Pradesh at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur. The two finalists earn a promotion to the Super League for 2009-10, and will also play this season’s Super League quarter-finals.Bengal will be further bolstered by the inclusion of Sourav Ganguly in the 14-member squad for the semi-final. Laxmi Ratan Shukla has been retained as captain for the match.

As England lick their wounds and cut back on their Christmas spending after being humiliated in Saturday’s Stanford 20/20 for 20, coach Peter Moores said that his players had “learned a very expensive lesson”.”The players were trying to get in their heads what the game was all about,” he said after the match. “I think that until the game had actually been played, the guys didn’t get into their heads exactly what the tournament has been about. I don’t know if we were absolutely as clear as we could have been”.The players, Moores said, were in doubt over the purpose of the match. “Is it for England? Is it for money? In international top-flight sport you can’t afford to have any grey areas. You’ve got to be very clear as a team and as an individual, and I think we weren’t as clear as we could have been.”Was it okay to say the match was about money or not about money? Every time you play for England it is about playing for England, but those questions were in people’s minds during the week. They had to square it off in their heads. All credit to the lads for that, what they wanted to do was keep their integrity. They didn’t want to be portrayed as not playing for their country but for the cash.”He was also concerned about how the result might affect England’s assignments during winter. “We were playing against a very hungry, disciplined side. And we got nailed. That’s what hurts, we got nailed in an international match. What we didn’t want to compromise at all was our preparation for the winter. It’s been a bit of both, because we’re going to India for a massive series and we’ve been concentrating on getting right for that as well.”However, Moores was optimistic about the chances next time around at the Stanford Super Series. ” I think we will be stronger and wiser for it. Yeah, honestly I think we will. I think we will know what this is about.”But he acknowledged there would be a rethink about whether it would be an England team that took the field for the next Stanford outing or, as mooted, and ECB XI. “It’s going to be reviewed,” he said. “If a change helps people get their heads around why we’re here, fine.”

As the pressure on England’s Test venues to develop or risk losing their status grows, Edgbaston is the latest of the established venues to announce a multi-million pound rebuilding scheme. The news comes in the light of similar ventures by Lord’s, The Oval and Old Trafford, although the timing of the announcement, given the current economic climate, might raise a few eyebrows.The £30 million plan will increase the capacity of Edgbaston to 25,000 – it is currently just over 20,000 – with the building of a new stand which includes state-of-the-art player facilities as well as the additional ubiquitous corporate hospitality areas and a banqueting suite.”We have worked hard with our partners to produce a truly innovative design that will reaffirm Edgbaston’s place as a world class venue,” Phil Macdonald, operations and development director at Warwickshire, told the Birmingham Mail. “The redevelopment of the ground and wider masterplan will benefit the city by creating new jobs and giving Birmingham a stadium to be proud of. This project is a key part of our future plans for the club and our ability to remain competitive when bidding for international matches.”As much as £10 million will be borrowed to fund the project, a move that was approved by the county’s membership earlier this year, before the current credit squeeze.

Given their recent struggles, any victory for Bangladesh is significant, but the seven-wicket win over New Zealand in Mirpur was even more special as it was a first major win (if you exclude the Twenty20 victory over West Indies in 2007) for both their captain and coach. Mohammad Ashraful and Jamie Siddons have come under scrutiny recently, but this win, in the face of the ICL crisis, will have come as reassurance for fans and administrators alike.”I am happy we played as a unit,” Ashraful said. “I am elated that its the first win against New Zealand and first against a major country under my captaincy.”It was a comprehensive team performance from Bangladesh after Ashraful got lucky at the toss. Mashrafe Mortaza struck vital blows in his first spell, which was backed up by some economical bowling by the spinners Abdur Razzak, Shakib Al Hasan and debutant Naeem Islam.”The toss was very important,” Ashraful told TigerCricket.com. “With the overnight rain and the cloud cover we needed the bowlers to have a go first. I want to compliment everyone – Mashrafe, [Syed] Rasel, Shahadat [Hossain], Shakib, Razzak, Naeem … they set up the win for us with some wonderful bowling.”The fielding too was good,” Ashraful said. “I have said this before, if we do well in all three departments then we stand a good chance of being competitive. Today was proof of that.”Mortaza, one of the heroes of Bangladesh’s famous World Cup upset over India in 2007, put New Zealand on the back foot with figures of 8-3-19-3 in his first spell. He took some punishment in his final two overs to end with 4 for 44, but was unlucky a dropped catch in the 50th over denied him a five-for.Mortaza was playing with braces on both knees – having had operations on them in the past – but hit the right line and length, troubling the batsmen with movement off the seam. “He does that for us day in and day out.” Siddons said. “He doesn’t always get the results because opposing teams tend to see him off and then attack the others, but today was his day.”At one stage, New Zealand were down to 79 for 6, and perhaps the only gripe in Bangladesh’s performance would be that they let New Zealand escape to 201 for 9.

However, Bangladesh’s batsmen, criticised for their failures against Australia, stood up to the task with Ashraful himself scoring a brisk unbeaten 60. The star of the day , though, was Junaid Siddique, whose patient 85 easily eclipsed the 62 he had managed in his eight previous ODI innings. “I needed this innings to get my confidence back,” Siddique said. “My one-day record has been quite ordinary and it was about time I got some runs.”We just executed the team plan today and we won. We always try to play according to plan but had difficulty in implementing them in recent times. Everything however fell into place today.”Siddique also paid tribute to Khaled Mashud, the former Bangladesh captain and wicketkeeper, who was given a farewell by both teams during the innings break. Mashud recently announced his retirement from international cricket, and has been Siddique’s domestic captain at Rajshahi.”He has been an idol,” Siddique said. “We grew up knowing only two international stars from Rajshahi, Mashud and Mushfiqur Rahman. He has been an inspiration for so many players and he has been the hardest working cricketer I have seen. I dream of emulating him someday.”Mashud was confident this team would be able to achieve further glories for Bangladesh. “What a super way to sign off. The Bangladesh team has given me a present I will cherish for ever. These are lads who are going to take us to the next level. Mark my words. I just feel privileged to be here saying goodbye today.”One man entrusted with that job is Siddons, who hoped the team would have learnt how to approach matches after this victory. The ICL exodus meant Bangladesh named three new players in the squad, and Siddons was pleased with Naeem’s effort on debut. “Well the one debutant, Naeem, did a great job with the ball [10-0-34-0] and was probably our best fielder today. Losing players from the group is never good and I hope that doesn’t happen again, but the team looked good out there.”As Siddons has said in the past, he’s keen on building a team that performs consistently and not one which pulls off a rare win for fans to clutch on to. Siddique echoed his coach’s sentiments this time around. “We have a lot of work left in this series. This is only a good start and we can’t lose focus. The series is still open.”

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Upul Tharanga’s big hundred outweighed Gulam Bodi’s century to give Sri Lanka A a 26-run victory and a 2-1 lead after the third ODI against South Africa A in East London.Upul Tharanga smashed a career-best 173 as he carried his bat on a placid track. He laid the ideal platform with Tharanga Paranavitana by adding 91 at a run-a-ball for the first wicket. He was involved in three other substantial partnerships, including 95 off 70 balls for the second wicket with Dilruwan Perera.Faced with a target of 336, Bodi began with an assault on Sri Lankan fast bowler Suranga Lakmal, who leaked 36 runs in his first three overs. The opening stand of 87 with captain Alviro Petersen provided a solid start but with six of the South African batsmen managing only single-digit scores, Bodi was left with too much to do.Wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn and Vaughn van Jaarsveld provided some support but fast bowler Ishara Amerasinghe sliced through the middle order to dampen South Africa’s chances. The hosts’ troubles were compounded when Bodi was bowled by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, the most successful of the Sri Lankan bowlers with four wickets, soon after bringing up his 150 with a six. Bodi was the eighth man out, by when the asking-rate had climbed to almost 12, a rate the tailenders were unable to keep up with.The two remaining matches in the series will be played on Friday and Sunday.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details