Jesse Ryder is unlikely to be considered for a central contract or selected for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, according to David White, New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Apr-2012Jesse Ryder, the New Zealand batsman, is unlikely to be considered for a central contract or selected for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, according to David White, New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive. White said that Ryder needs to prove his “commitment to the game” before he could be considered for national selection once again.”No, I don’t think so,” White told , responding to a question on whether Ryder’s IPL form puts him into contention for the summer’s tour to the Caribbean. “It is great that he is playing cricket again but he is a fair way from being considered for New Zealand.”He needs to prove to the selectors and New Zealand Cricket his commitment to the game, and that means on and off the field. He needs to do a lot of work on a lot of things like fitness, attitude … and be exemplary off the park.”Ryder has scored 217 runs in seven games for Pune Warriors so far, with two half-centuries. He had travelled to India for the IPL with a support structure consisting of his manager and clinical psychologist in place, coming off an ‘indefinite break’ from cricket that he had announced in March. That announcement came after Ryder was dropped from the New Zealand squad for the third ODI against South Africa for breaking team protocol and then left out of the Test series as well.When Ryder had announced his participation in the IPL, White had extended his support. “It’s really positive that Jesse has reached the point where here is ready to play competitive cricket again,” he had said. “He has clear expectations from NZC in terms of what is required from him to make a return to international cricket and playing in the IPL is a good first step. We are proud of the progress he has made and we will continue to support him through what has been a tough time.”Ryder has had a history of disciplinary issues, prompting questions about his commitment to New Zealand cricket. Previously, in August 2010, he was fined for “intoxicated and rowdy” behaviour at a hotel during an indoor cricket tournament and he said he had feared for his career while NZC was investigating the incident. The most serious of Ryder’s indiscretions was in 2008, when he put his right hand through a glass window during a late-night session at a Christchurch bar. In January 2009, NZC said Ryder had given up alcohol after another incident, which resulted in him missing an ODI against West Indies.

Suspended CSA chief executive Gerald Majola will know his fate by May 31. That is the timeframe the country’s sports minister, Fikile Mbalula, and CSA have agreed on for completion of Majola’s disciplinary hearing

Firdose Moonda26-Apr-2012Suspended CSA chief executive Gerald Majola will know his fate by May 31. That is the timeframe the country’s sports minister, Fikile Mbalula, and CSA have agreed on for completion of Majola’s disciplinary hearing.The hearing concerns R4.7 million ($671,428) paid in unauthorised bonuses to CSA staff after the hosting of the IPL and Champions Trophy in 2009. Senior council John Myburgh will chair the disciplinary committee and an independent prosecutor will be appointed from the Bar Council for the proceedings.Majola was suspended in March after an independent commission of inquiry, convened on the order of Mbalula and chaired by Judge Chris Nicholson, recommended that Majola undergo a formal disciplinary process. CSA had not previously taken any such action against their chief executive despite internal and external investigations, which found that bonuses were paid without due procedure being followed.Majola was cautioned against violating corporate governance by the internal investigation, chaired by former president AK Khan, and severely reprimanded after an audit by KPMG and subsequent legal advice found that he had breached the Companies Act. The bonuses, which were awarded to 40 CSA staff members, were paid in addition to a payment that had already been made for extra work done during both those events and were not declared to the board.Importantly, Mbalula said all money that was awarded improperly will have to be paid back. “If there is anyone that received bonuses outside the ambit of the law and that was not properly declared, those people will be attended to,” Mbalula said, adding that it would include those who have since resigned from CSA. “Civil processes will be lodged for those who are outside CSA,” he said. “At the end of the day, the bonuses will have to be recovered.”CSA survived the meeting with the minister with its board intact, despite speculation in the local media that Mbalula would ask them to resign en masse. Mbalula revealed that he did not make any such request because the ministry was impressed with the steps the board had taken since the Nicholson report was made public. They suspended Majola and appointed an acting CEO, Jacques Faul. They also had a change of guard in the presidency post as Khan resigned and Willie Basson was appointed acting president.”We didn’t ask the board to resign because we made our own examination of things,” Mbalula said. “They have got an acting CEO and acting chairperson. To ask for the entirety of the board to resign, certain things would not have been done in terms of the Nicholson recommendations. If the board feels they have been part of the mess, they can’t avoid the mess. They must be part of the broomstick that cleans the mess.”The other recommendations Mbalula referred to was the restructuring of CSA’s board, proposed by Nicholson, which called for a smaller board with more independent directors. An eight-person steering committee was appointed in March, consisting of four board members and four outsiders, all of whom have been involved in cricket in some capacity, to discuss the restructure. That committee will now be added to, as members of the ministry and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee will also be party to their meetings.The steering committee will go on a roadshow of the 11 provincial associations with their proposal, before presenting it to the national indaba on governance restructuring ahead of September’s AGM. A new board will be elected in September and Mbalula said it will remain up to CSA whether any of the current board members can stand again.CSA will also launch a transformation fund in May, which will serve the aim of developing the game in previously disadvantaged areas and communities. Basson is passionate about ensuring cricket reaches the majority of the South African population from grassroots level and was previously the transformation chairperson. “CSA has committed itself to the philosophy that transformation has to be advanced on the basis of a natural evolutionary process that will enable us to grow as a sport over the next 20 years,” Mbalula said.

England will consider resting some of their frontline pace attack for the final Test against West Indies having wrapped up the series with victory at Trent Bridge

Andrew McGlashan29-May-2012England will consider resting some of their frontline pace attack for the final Test against West Indies having wrapped up the series with victory at Trent Bridge. With an eye to the amount of cricket to come Andrew Strauss did not rule out giving James Anderson or Stuart Broad the match off at Edgbaston next week.It was revealed that Anderson had been carrying a minor thigh niggle during the second Test which could make him favourite for some downtime although Broad, who is Twenty20 captain, plays all three formats so finding a space in the calendar to withdraw him for a short period is difficult. Anderson has bowled 111 overs in the first two Tests, Broad 102 and Tim Bresnan 100.Following the conclusion of the Tests against West Indies there is a three-match one-day series and a Twenty20 before Australia arrive for five further ODIs; a controversial series given that the marquee clash of the summer, the Tests against South Africa, has been cut to three matches. Those three Tests will be high intensity, high pressure, affairs where England will need their main attack available.”We’ll definitely think about changes,” Strauss said. “We’ve always viewed resting and rotating as something you have to do on a case-by-case basis so we’ll speak to the seamers, see how they’re feeling and see how we’re looking for the rest of the summer.”You always have to look quite a long way ahead when it comes to potentially resting someone. It’s always a balance to strike because primarily you want to win every Test you play: that’s the starting point. We’ll have a conversation about it in the coming days.”Resting frontline bowlers who are near the top of the world rankings – Anderson is third and Broad is sixth, having dropped three places after this latest Test – will bring debate about whether it is devaluing Test cricket, but Strauss and Andy Flower will have more than one eye on the schedule over the next 18 months which includes tours to India and New Zealand and back-to-back Ashes series.It is not as though England do not have strong reserves waiting in the wings. Steven Finn has expressed his frustration at remaining on the sidelines after a brief return to the team against Sri Lanka in Colombo. He currently sits on 13 Tests, which have brought him a productive 53 wickets, and his returns in one-day cricket over the winter were hugely impressive.Graham Onions from Durham has been the other pace bowler in the squads for this series. He hasn’t played for England since January 2009 against South Africa in Cape Town – where he survived the final over to secure a draw for the second time in three matches – after which he suffered a career-threatening back injury. Consistent performances for Durham put him back in the frame and he has been around a number of squads over the last six months.”It’s a difficult situation and I certainly wouldn’t want to nail my colours to the mast one way or the other,” Strauss said. “At this stage we have to sit down, think it through rationally and decide what the best course of action is, both for the Test match and for the long-term prospects of the team over the summer.”England have set the precedent for resting key players from series. Strauss himself sat out the tour to Bangladesh in early 2010 along with Anderson while in the return contest a few months later on English soil Broad and Paul Collingwood were left out.

Mahela Jayawardene has praised his bowlers for dismissing Pakistan in tough conditions, and said he did not enforce the follow-on because he wanted to give them a break

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Galle25-Jun-2012Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, has praised his bowlers for dismissing Pakistan in tough conditions in Galle, and said he did not enforce the follow-on despite a 372-run lead because he wanted to give them a break.”You always think that you can take those remaining wickets and finish it off. But they [Pakistan] batted really well,” Jayawardene said after Sri Lanka’s 209-run win. “We had to be patient until we got those opportunities. It was a great effort from the bowlers. Tough conditions but we stuck to our task and executed the plans we set up when the Test match started.”Sri Lanka chose to bat again after Pakistan were dismissed for 100 on the third day and Jayawardene said that was because the pitch was still good for batting. “Our guys had already bowled 60 overs in the first innings. If I had inserted the follow-on, they would have had to bowl another three or four sessions. Whether I would get the same effort was questionable.”Guys like [Nuwan] Kulasekara, who had played five-six ODIs straight, had to be given a break,” Jayawardene said. “We had only played two and half days on that wicket, so it was better for our batsmen to bat again on a wicket easier to bat on, and thereby bat Pakistan out of the game.”The bowlers obliged yesterday evening by picking up three wickets. We knew it was going to be a tough day and we had to think of a lot of things. The easiest thing to do was insert the follow-on but we had to think of a lot of things and all those things came into the equation.”Jayawardene said there were several positives that Sri Lanka could take out of the game for the next Test. “The batting looked much better. We had a good start. [Tillakaratne] Dilshan went onto get a hundred. When he gets hundreds he puts us in good positions because he scores quickly,” he said. “Kumar [Sangakkara] got us a big hundred. [Tharanga] Paranavitana got a start and got out, and that’s another plus. We were struggling to get those starts going.”I thought Suraj [Randiv] bowled much better in this game than he did against England and he has got lot of confidence. Kulasekara [was] coming back into the side, [he] showed what a quality bowler he is.”Looking ahead to the next two Tests, Jayawardene said, “We have to be positive. We have two matches to go. We need to put this match behind and keep improving. We need to focus on that and try and be a lot more consistent with bowling, batting and fielding.”

Graeme Swann’s performances in the one-day series are putting significant pressure on Xavier Doherty and he is feeling the strain

Daniel Brettig at Edgbaston03-Jul-2012Watching Shane Warne’s 1993 Ashes demolition of England from the dressing room, Phil Tufnell is said to have remarked the legspinner’s performances were “ruining my career” by extracting far superior results from the same surfaces. After two matches in which his unfussy left-arm spin has been milked for runs, Xavier Doherty is under a similar level of pressure from his opposite number, Graeme Swann.Both bowlers have one wicket from two matches, but there the parallels end. Swann tied Australia’s middle order in knots at The Oval, and should have taken more than the wicket of Shane Watson, while bowling eight overs for 27 runs. He was principally responsible for the mid-innings torpor the tourists fell into, resulting in a final total England chased with ease.In marked contrast, England have not allowed Doherty to settle into a rhythm, the use of the reverse sweep by Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell encapsulating the comfort with which the hosts have played him. George Bailey, Doherty’s state captain with Tasmania, admitted that Australia’s slow bowler on tour was being set a difficult task, both by the batsmen he opposes and the spinner he is invariably compared to.”They’re not letting him settle, and that’s something we’re talking about with him,” Bailey said ahead of the third ODI at Edgbaston. “The opposite of the way we’ve played Graeme Swann, they’re really challenging Dohey from the moment he comes on, not giving him the chance to get into his rhythm and set the fields he wants.”The way they’re manipulating the field is making it difficult for him to settle, along with probably some pressure of knowing the opposition does have a spinner of the calibre of Swann. He’s probably feeling that pressure a little bit, the comparisons will be there between the two spinners in the game. That’s a challenge for him, but I’ve seen a lot of him, and every time he has been challenged, he normally finds a way to respond.”Just as Doherty must find a way to set the agenda for England’s batsmen rather than reacting to theirs, so Australia’s batsmen need to find a better way around Swann. A greater use of the sweep has been advocated by some, and Bailey said there were plenty of ways to gain greater change from Swann’s bowling than he managed in a halting start to his innings at The Oval.”I was pretty happy with how I played him Lord’s, not so much the other day where I found it a little more difficult,” Bailey said. “I thought he bowled better. That balance of keeping wickets in hand for the final onslaught and to get that total up versus weighing up the risk and reward of putting a bit more pressure on him is something we’ll talk about.”The sweep’s a good shot … there are a myriad of options, changing where you bat, use your feet more, sweep more, you can hit shots you’re trying to hit better. They’re all options and I guess the way he’s trying to bowl is try to limit your opportunities to play those shots.”Bailey is in a curious position in Australian cricket, as captain of the Twenty20 team while still aspiring to a regular place in the 50-over side and a first baggy green cap in Test cricket. He will stay on in England after the conclusion of the ODI series for the Australia A tour, which he said would be as important if not more so than these matches in determining whether he might return for the 2013 Ashes series.”When Test spots have come up over the last few years it’s been a matter of being in the right place at the right time and I don’t think this would be any different,” Bailey said. “I pushed really hard to be on that A tour. There’s a lot of other cricket on around it and after it but it’s something I feel is really important. I just don’t feel this is a time to be missing any form of red-ball cricket.”Proving that you can handle the pressure of international cricket and handle different situations, there’s no doubt it’s transferable from ODI cricket to Tests. But I think to back that up you are going to have to be scoring some long-form runs as well.”

The Kandurata Warriors eked out a tense two-run win against Wayamba United to put one foot into the semi-finals of the SLPL

The Report by Andrew Fernando24-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Chris Lynn smashed 80 off 51 balls to help Kandurata Warriors reach a competitive total•Ron Gaunt/SPORTZPICS/SLPL

The Kandurata Warriors eked out a tense two-run win against Wayamba United to put one foot into the semi-finals of the SLPL, defending a total of 149 for 8 that had largely been the work of Australian Chris Lynn. The Warriors lost wickets early, and continued to be pegged back towards the end, but Lynn’s 80 from 51 deliveries carried his side to a competitive total, despite his team-mates managing only 57 from 69 balls between them.Wayamba United were without their captain Mahela Jayawardene and their best bowler Akila Dananjaya, who were both rested with a semi-finals berth secured, and perhaps that was the difference for a team that had looked undefeatable in its first four matches. Abdul Razzak tried valiantly to haul in the Warriors total with a late 18-ball 36, but could not score the 15 runs required from Sohail Tanvir’s final over to extend his side’s winning streak.The Warriors had stumbled to an abysmal start, with Sanath Jayasuriya having run Thilan Samaraweera out before losing his own wicket, before Lynn arrived at the crease at 14 for 3. He rebuilt steadily at first, aggressing only when the bad balls came, as he and Jeevantha Kulatunga set about lifting the Warriors out of the mire. The pair made 64 runs from 49 balls for the fourth wicket, but with the score moving at only around 6.5 runs an over, the Warriors looked set for a mediocre total, particularly when Thisara Perera, their batsman of the tournament so far, fell soon after Kulatunga had departed.Lynn, though, continued to prosper without fuss, plugging away into an outfield slowed by heavy overnight rain, to collect the singles and twos. Having progressed to 41 from 36, he exploded in the 16th over. A six off Milinda Siriwardene over midwicket began the charge, before he hit a straight six and an improvised four to fine leg off Isuru Udana’s next over. Bradd Hogg then disappeared for 16 too, but Lynn finally miscued one in the penultimate over, with his side knocking on a total of 150.Tanvir should have had Kamran Akmal out twice in the first over, but an lbw shout that appeared to be plumb was denied, before Thisara Perera dropped a sitter in the in-field off a leading edge. He eventually got his man, off another leading edge at third man. And thanks to miserly support from John Hastings and Perera from the other end, the Warriors were able to deny Wayamba United the rapid starts they had achieved so far in the SLPL.Kaushal Lokuarachchi’s spell of 3 for 15 in the middle period then ensured the asking rate continued to climb. Mohammad Hafeez was caught in front attempting a reverse-sweep, before Shehan Jayasuriya and Dinesh Chandimal both gave easy catches soon after – though in Chandimal’s case, he had already had two lives before his eventual dismissal.Razzak and Siriwardene made 17 from the penultimate over to set up the first truly tight finish of the tournament. But with six runs required off the last ball to tie the match, Razzak could only manage four.

Cricket Australia has moved to revamp its strength and conditioning structure by appointing Andrew Weller to the newly created position of physical performance manager

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2012Cricket Australia has moved to revamp its strength and conditioning structure by appointing Andrew Weller to the newly created position of physical performance manager. Weller, 48, has spent the past decade working with AFL clubs and has been the high performance manager at the Gold Coast Suns for the past four years.In his new role he will oversee the strength and conditioning programmes across all Australian teams, which will mean working closely with the state associations as well as the national squads. A physical performance coach, who will be responsible for the Australia team when on tour and during their home summer, will be appointed in the coming weeks and will report to Weller.”Andrew has been at the Gold Coast Suns from the beginning and was instrumental in creating their strength and conditioning programme,” Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s general manager, team performance, said. “Previous to this he was the rehabilitation manager at the St Kilda Football Club.”Andrew will be responsible for all strength and conditioning programs across all of the Australian teams, both male and female. He will be a key liaison person between these national programs and their home state programs. Andrew will implement a consistent long term delivery across all of Australian cricket working with the states, the youngest elite players all the way to the national teams.”Weller said: “I’m really looking forward to the challenge of working with Cricket Australia, its high performance squads and the sports science teams within the states. Over the last decade I’ve worked in AFL and I’m sure I can bring innovations from that sport to cricket as we continue to develop the high performance culture around the Australian cricket teams.”Keeping Australia’s young players – especially the fast bowlers – fit and firing will be one of the key challenges of the new physical performance manager and coach.

The second day’s play of the four-day match between Bangladesh A and the West Indies’ Sagicor High Performance Centre has been suspended due to a daylong strike in Dhaka on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2012The second day’s play of the four-day match between Bangladesh A and the West Indies’ Sagicor High Performance Centre has been suspended due to a daylong strike in Dhaka on Sunday. “We have made this decision [to postpone] after discussing with both teams. There is a political programme tomorrow [Sunday], so the local police will not be available for security cover,” BCB’s acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said.The first day’s play ended with the West Indies side on 13 for no loss after they bundled out Bangladesh A for 199 runs in the first innings in Mirpur. Left-arm fast bowler Sheldon Cotterrell was the most successful bowler with four wickets while Mominul Haque was the top-scorer with 50 off 80 balls.

Jacqueline Hey, Cricket Australia’s first-ever female board director, has pledged to do a “damn good job” running the game

Daniel Brettig25-Oct-2012Jacquie Hey, Cricket Australia’s first-ever female board director, has pledged to do a “damn good job” running the game, stating her desire to smooth the path for other women to follow her into what had for 107 years been a pale, stale and male world of cricket governance.Formally sworn in as part of CA’s streamlined board at the AGM on Thursday, Hey joined the Rio Tinto Australia managing director David Peever and the former Colorado Group chief executive Kevin Roberts as fresh sets of eyes in the boardroom. Hey’s background is with Sony Ericsson, while she is currently a director on the boards of Bendigo Bank and SBS.The trio form part of a board that is the result of the Crawford/Carter review of Australian cricket governance, which pushed CA to abandon the tired federal model of a 14-man board that had remained more or less unchanged since 1905.Irrespective of compelling business credentials, it was Hey’s admission as the first female board member that felt most significant, and she acknowledged with some pride that another avenue had now been opened for women.”I’m so proud and privileged and honoured to be given this role,” Hey said. “It’s deep inside me that I really feel how important this is, and how important that I do a damn good job, because I want to make sure that I’m not the first and only, but I’m the first of many women that are involved in administration and board roles in cricket.”There are some at the state level already, which is fantastic. So I’m here, I’m on show and I will do a good job and make sure there are many more women following me.”Hey’s love for the game is deep, fostered by a childhood spent playing beach cricket with her father and brother on the Victorian coast south of Geelong. An avowed lover of Test cricket, she confessed to clearing her schedule at times in order to watch five days of the game’s enduring form, and winced at the memory of Australia’s 2005 Ashes loss when she was working with Ericsson in England – and copping a predictable level of banter.”I think it is important to have the three [formats],” she said. “If I look at myself, I’ve grown up with Test cricket, day one of a Test match, if I’m not at the ground it’s like ‘don’t disturb me, because I’m sitting on my couch and I’m watching’. But I have a son who’s nearly nine, and he doesn’t have the attention span to sit for five days and watch it, but he will love to get involved in T20, the colours and the music and so on. So I think it is really important that we continue to maintain that balance, because there are different cricketing sectors out there who do appreciate different types of the game, and some who appreciate all of them.”The new, nine-person board begins its tenure at a time when CA are negotiating a new round of local media rights. While the incumbent – and cash-strapped – Nine Network has the luxury of an exclusive negotiating period, other suitors may well be found for the Twenty20 Big Bash League. Hey’s background with Ericsson and more recent experience with SBS gives her an insight into the rights issue, especially those in the burgeoning digital field. Previously CA’s digital content was made available through 3 Mobile and Vodafone, but with their sponsorship agreement coming to an end it may be time for a new approach.”I think with sport generally these days, and you can go back a long way, the content has always been the key thing in a digital environment,” Hey said. “So clever companies develop all sorts of websites and all sorts of interactions for ways to deal with customers, but the content has always been at the centre of that.”So I think for CA the challenge, looking at it from the outside in as a technology person, is you own a fabulous amount of content there, so what does CA do with it. They have a large number of options open to them, which I know is something they’re thinking about. They have a fantastic website today which is really engaging, bright and colourful and informative and that’s a good start … there’s a lot more they could do.”As for CA’s stated desire to grow the game’s audience to better reflect the diversity of 21st century Australia, Hey can see enough evidence of strong words being backed by action. Her ascension to the board is but one example, the BBL’s push away from traditional team identities and logos another.”In doing things like voting me onto the board today, they’re not just talking about it, they’re actually doing things about it,” she said. “That’s a fantastic step for females, and they’re also embracing multicultural Australia and recognising there are a lot of people coming to Australia from overseas who come from both cricketing backgrounds, for example Indians, or non-cricketing backgrounds with a lot of the African nations coming in.”But sport has always been that thing that has united people, across different cultures and different boundaries. I think it is fantastic that CA is both strategically and practically making sure they’re part of that embrace of different cultures.”

A wrap of the third day of the third round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group A

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Nov-2012
Scorecard
Manoj Tiwary’s occasional legbreaks got the crucial wicket of Parthiv Patel just before stumps•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bengal closed in on their first outright win of the season through a nine-over burst between their declaration and stumps to remove all three Patels. Both their opening bowlers struck once each, their captain Manoj Tiwary celebrated his 191 earlier in the day with the scalp of his opposite number, and Gujarat’s last six were left to erase the deficit of 248 runs to avoid an innings defeat.Tiwary began the day at 102 not out, and Bengal were 40 runs behind Gujarat’s 260. With Anustup Majumdar, Tiwary took Bengal into lead, and with Laxmi Shukla he piled on the misery for Gujarat. Shukla scored 113 off 117 to give Bengal a total they would feel safe with.Given nine overs to survive before stumps, Gujarat faltered. Priyank Panchal was run out in the second over, Niraj Patel fell to Ashok Dinda in the third, and Smit Patel was bowled by Sourav Sarkar in the fourth. Just before stumps, Tiwary accounted for the most important Patel, Parthiv, getting him to edge to Wriddhiman Saha.
Scorecard
The highlight of a shortened day in Bhubaneswar was that Railways managed to get Uday Kaul out for the first time this season. Otherwise, Punjab, who had taken a lead on day two, couldn’t find a way through Railways’ batting a second time around, and the match headed towards a draw.Uday added four to his overnight 96 before he fell to Sanjay Bangar, but Punjab managed a lead of 109. Amit Paunikar responded with an unbeaten century, but that only took the match towards a draw. However, if Railways manage the draw, they will take away one point from the game.The concern for Punjab was that Manpreet Gony bowled only 3.5 overs.
Scorecard
Saurashtra, who had taken a lead on day two, surprised observers by not asking Hyderabad to bat for what could have been a tricky period before stumps. Saurashtra already had a lead of 344, and Hyderabad, a fragile line-up, are missing VVS Laxman in this match.Their approach on the third day, though, was surprising. They batted out the whole 90 overs for just 270 runs. Sagar Jogiyani scored 69 off 195. While wanting to secure the match might have been behind their go-slow in the morning, it was hard to find reasons for not declaring, especially after Jaydev Shah’s 55 off 67 balls had provided them momentum.
Scorecard
In another match headed towards a draw, Madhya Pradesh’s Naman Ojha struck a century after Ishwar Pandey finished his second five-for. However, Rajasthan all but ensured three points despite a solid second-innings response from MP.Rajasthan began the day at 306 for 6, and batted 26.4 overs for just 73 runs. When they were eventually bowled out for a lead of 123 runs, the only possibility of a result was if Rajasthan could bowl MP out. That didn’t happen, and the teams were headed towards a drab final day.