Lancashire will have to find another measure of the will to win that has served them so well in their quest for the Championship

31-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Tom Smith continued his good form to help Lancashire’s fightback, but Worcestershire build a valuable lead•PA Photos

Lancashire will have to find another measure of the will to win that has served them so well in their quest for the Championship after Worcestershire demonstrated their determination to preserve their Division One status by establishing what could be the makings of a valuable lead.Bowled out for 161 – failing to win a batting point but at least recovering from 85 for 8 – they reduced Worcestershire to 77 for 5, but could not find a way to halt opener James Cameron’s progress towards a first hundred of the season.Cameron finished unbeaten on 87 after he and wicketkeeper Ben Scott shared a partnership so far unbroken of 90 as Worcestershire claimed their first batting point to extend their lead over Yorkshire from two points to four, having played one game fewer.With only two weeks remaining in the Championship, for this round to throw up three matches in which promotion and relegation are both at stake illustrates what a fascinating run-in lies ahead.Lancashire will keep track anxiously of goings-on at Edgbaston, Hove and Taunton after another collective performance with the bat that some might argue suggests a Championship lacking in quality. They may have won eight matches, which is a commendable effort matched only by Warwickshire, but they have been bowled out for less than 200 in six of their last 11 innings, which is somewhat less meritworthy.Indeed, the morning could not have gone a lot worse for them, eight down by 10 minutes to one, having lost three men without scoring, one for a single and another for three. A few balls kept low and a good few swung but the regular fall of wickets left spectators slightly incredulous nonetheless.Jack Birkenshaw, the ECB’s duty pitch liaison office, has been unable so far to find anything to lead him to question whether the surface is up to scratch and may have concluded, as others might, that a team with Lancashire’s ambitions ought to be able to come through a difficult first morning without falling in a heap. But, then again, who these days can do any better?Lancashire, moreover, had chosen to bat first. Yet they lost their first wicket in the fourth over when veteran seamer Alan Richardson brought one back to have Paul Horton leg before, compounded when Karl Brown shouldered arms to a ball from Kemar Roach in the next and was out in the same way.Roach, the 23-year-old fast bowler from Barbados, is making his Championship debut for Worcestershire, who named left-arm spinner Shaaiq Choudry in their squad but left him out of the XI. Roach, who bowls with a skiddy action, can let slip a seriously quick delivery but he does not buy his wickets cheaply.He found a couple of good balls to dismiss Tom Smith and Sajid Mahmood but both Mahmood and Kyle Hogg dumped him over the fence on the short pavilion side as he conceded 69 in a dozen overs. After Brown had gone, Lancashire twice lost wickets in consecutive balls, Richard Jones bowling Stephen Moore with one that kept a little now and swinging another into Steven Croft’s pads.Gareth Andrew, an unpretentious allrounder who is enjoying his best season with bat and ball, actually took three wickets in four balls, hurrying one through to beat Mark Chilton’s late defensive push, bringing one back to trap Gareth Cross and then bowling skipper Glen Chapple off an inside edge. Roach then squared Smith up a little as he edged to first slip and Lancashire were eight down.After that, Worcestershire will wonder how Lancashire managed almost to double their total. They collected their third batting point three balls after lunch when Roach was too good for Mahmood but not before the former England bowler had smacked 28 off 24 balls, including a square cut six off the West Indian.Mahmood’s counter-attacking mood was picked up by Hogg and again Worcestershire suffered. Hogg went after Richardson and Roach with some success, smearing six off the former before a top-edged pull off the latter carried into the seats in the Graeme Hick Pavilion. By the time he holed out to mid-on he had hit 46 off 43 balls and Lancashire’s last two wickets had added a valuable 76.Worcestershire’s batting looked not a lot less fragile, at least at first. Hogg soon had Daryl Mitchell back in the hut, caught low down at third slip, and Vikram Solanki gave his wicket away with a loose cut straight to gully off Chapple.Smith, the pick of the Lancashire bowlers, produced an excellent delivery, finding some extra bounce, to have Moeen Ali caught at first slip and then bowled Alexei Kervezee, whose run of low scores continued when he played all around one to be bowled for 1.

Stuart Broad has admitted that he is unlikely to play for England again this year as he recovers from the shoulder injury he picked up against India

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2011Stuart Broad has admitted that he is unlikely to play again this year as he recovers from the shoulder injury he picked up against India, although has been told he won’t require surgery.Broad had already been ruled out of the matches against West Indies and the return one-day series in India, but had been given some hope of playing in the Twenty20 at Kolkata at the end of October. Now, though, that appears unlikely and Broad’s aim is the tour of UAE in January which includes three Tests, four ODIs and three Twenty20s.”The shoulder is still quite sore. It’s a two-month injury so I’m concentrating on making sure I am in the best possible shape for the games against Pakistan in January,” Broad said at the PCA awards dinner where he was named England’s ODI player of the year. “It’s not 100% confirmed I’ll not play in India but I’ll only play if the rehab goes fantastically well.”It’s good news that I don’t need surgery. There is always an extra risk with surgery so that would be a worry. It is a two-month recovery time though so I need to get that right and make sure it is completely over and I don’t have any side effects with it.”Broad’s injury means he loses out furthering his captaincy experience in the Twenty20s against West Indies and Graeme Swann will lead the side in his absence. Missing the match against India next month will leave him only four or five matches before England’s title defence at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka next September.However, the season has ended in a far more positive way for Broad than appeared likely at one stage when his Test place was under threat at the beginning of the series against India. He responded with a Man-of-the-Series display where he took 25 wickets in the 4-0 whitewash, along with vital runs at Lord’s and Trent Bridge, to cement his place in the side.”It was nice to repay the faith in the selectors, the coach and the captain,” he said. “I managed to do that. Winning man of the series showed I can perform at the top level and that will give me a bit of confidence going into the future.”

Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo do not feature in the West Indies Test and ODI squads for West Indies’ upcoming tour of Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2011Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo do not feature in the West Indies Test and ODI squads for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh. Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin has been recalled to both squads, while offspinner Shane Shillingford, who underwent remedial work on an action that was deemed illegal last year, has made the Test side.Gayle has not played for West Indies since the 2011 World Cup, following a breakdown in his relationship with the West Indies board. He chose to participate in the IPL in April, after being left out of a training camp ahead of the home series against Pakistan. In a hard-hitting interview with KLAS Sports, he had questioned his treatment by members of the board, including chief executive Ernest Hilaire, and the coach Ottis Gibson, after he picked up an injury during the World Cup.Since then, Gayle had a series of discussions with the board, including a one-on-one with Hilaire on August 23. Though the discussion was reported to be “frank and excellent”, Gayle recently revealed that the stalemate was set to continue since he had refused to apologise to Gibson for statements made during the radio interview.”The outstanding matter relating to Chris Gayle’s availability and selection remains unresolved,” the board’s release read. “The WICB management will submit a report to the board of directors after which a conclusive statement will be made.”Bravo was not picked though he was considered for selection, while Sarwan was left out due to injury. Sarwan had been recalled for the home series against Pakistan and India, and looked in good touch during the India ODIs. He struggled in the Test series that followed, though, and missed the final match. Shivnarine Chanderpaul retained his spot in the Test side following a match-saving effort in the Basseterre Test.Ramdin’s return meant there was no place for Carlton Baugh in the ODI set-up, though Baugh was included in the Test side. Openers Kieran Powell and Kraigg Brathwaite, who made their Test debuts in the home season, also found places in the touring party, while Barbados allrounder Carlos Brathwaite got a maiden call-up to the ODI side.The tour begins on October 7 with the first of two warm-up matches, followed by a solitary Twenty20, three ODIs and two Tests. Darren Sammy will continue to lead the side.ODI and T20 squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Adrian Barath, Devendra Bishoo, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Danza Hyatt, Anthony Martin, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl SimmonsTest squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh (wk), Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford.

A round-up of the action from the second match day of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2011Tamil Nadu were off to a convincing start in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2011-12, chasing down 189 against Goa at the TI Cycles Ground in Chennai, with five wickets and eight balls to spare. Goa’s total was set-up by a knock of 66 off 45 balls by opener Swapnil Asnodkar. Asnodkar batted through to the 17th over with an innings that included seven fours and three sixes, while Abhishek Raut, Saurabh Bandekar and Amit Yadav played the support role with cameos that took Goa to 188 for 7. Part-time legspinner Abhinav Mukund, surprisingly, finished with the best figures for Tamil Nadu, picking up 3 for 22. In reply, the hosts were in trouble at 33 for 2 in the sixth over. Then, Dinesh Karthik smacked 60 off 35 balls and put on a 90-run stand with Arun Karthik in 50 balls to get the chase back on course. Following Dinesh’s dismissal, Suresh Kumar sealed the game with 47 off only 17 balls.The pitches at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai were sluggish during the Champions League T20, resulting in low-scoring thrillers. There was more of the same on Monday, as Karnataka defended 129 against Kerala, in a tight match at Chepauk. None of the Karnataka batsmen really got going, with only four of the ten who had an opportunity to bat managing double-digit scores. Off the four, only Bharat Chipli got past 20, hitting 36 at little over a run-a-ball. Kerala’s bowlers shared the wickets around, but Karimuttathu Rakesh was the pick with 3 for 16. Raiphi Gomez and Vasudevan Jagadeesh got the chase off to a solid start with a 75-run partnership, but a spectacular collapse followed, sparked by Kotarangada Appanna – he snagged Gomez with his left-arm spin and caught Jagadeesh off Aniruddha Joshi’s bowling. Joshi went on to claim two more wickets and Abhimanyu Mithun polished off the lower order with a five-for as Kerala folded for 126 in the 19th over.DB Ravi Teja smashed 81 off 55 balls to lead Hyderabad to a 35-run victory against Andhra in Chennai. Ravi Teja added 93 for the third wicket with Arjun Yadav, who scored 40 off 30 balls, and led Hyderabad to 160 for 4 in 20 overs. Andhra struggled in their chase and lost wickets far too frequently to build any sort of momentum. Manoj Sai top scored with 35 and there was little support from anyone else. Pragyan Ojha and Syed Quadri took two wickets apiece to help limit Andhra to 125 for 8.

A half-century from captain Sarel Burger and a constricting spell from Louis van der Westhuizen helped Namibia beat Kenya by 26 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2011A half-century from captain Sarel Burger and a constricting spell from Louis van der Westhuizen helped Namibia beat Kenya by 26 runs in the first Twenty20 game between the two sides at the Windhoek High School in Namibia. Burger came to the crease in the first over, after the hosts had lost van der Westhuizen for a duck, and proceeded to bat through the innings, allowing the likes of Raymond van Schoor (21 from 10 balls) and Gerrie Snyman (23 from 16) to chance their arms . A flurry of wickets fell at the end as Namibia looked to push the pace, but Burger held steady to make an unbeaten 56 from 48 balls and carry his side to 141 for 9.Kenya’s chase got off to a terrible start, with both openers back in the dressing room by the third over. Collins Obuya counterattacked while Irfan Karim attempted to play Burger’s role for his side, but Obuya’s dismissal for 27, caught of the bowling of van der Westhuizen, effectively ended Kenya’s challenge. Karim kept plugging away, but he received no support, with none of the other batsmen managing to reach double figures. He eventually fell for a run-a-ball 40 in the 17th over, as Kenya limped to 115 for 9. van der Westhuizen picked up another two wickets to finish with figures of 3 for 11 from 3 overs.

Darren Sammy and Ravi Rampaul have praised the offspinner Sunil Narine, whose performance on debut helped West Indies win their first match on the tour of India

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2011West Indies captain Darren Sammy and fast bowler Ravi Rampaul have praised the offspinner Sunil Narine, whose performance on debut helped his team win its first match on the tour of India. Narine took 2 for 34 in the third ODI in Ahmedabad, where West Indies won by 16 runs to keep the five-match series alive at 2-1.”It was a good fight back from the boys. The way we batted, that spell from Rampaul, [Marlon] Samuels bowled well, and the debutant Narine also. It was a team effort,” Sammy said. “Narine came here [to India] in the CLT20 and bowled in the pressure situations. He’s used to it, it’s a role he has performed for T&T [Trinidad & Tobago].”Narine, 23, began his spell with the new ball during the mandatory Powerplay and also bowled during the bowling and batting Powerplays. He picked up the wickets of Virat Kohli and R Ashwin, after the No. 7 batsman had added 91 runs with Rohit Sharma to bring India back into the chase.”He [Narine] came in and did a very good job for the team. It was a great way to start your international career,” Rampaul said. “He bowled early and got a key wicket and came back at the end, there, to pick up another vital wicket for us. He kept building the pressure on the Indian batsmen and it paid off for us.”Rampaul had struck body blows himself by dismissing Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir with his first two deliveries in the second over of India’s chase. The hosts were 8 for 2 chasing 261 and were set back severely. Rampaul returned to dismiss Suresh Raina and then picked up the final wicket, that of Abhimanyu Mithun, to finish with 4 for 57 in 8.5 overs. Mithun had scored 23 off 16 balls, and before his dismissal, India needed 16 off 20 deliveries with one wicket in hand to win the match and the series.”I would say getting those early breakthroughs proved to be the key point in the match, when we bowled. We got up to a good score thanks to some great batting from Sammy and Russell but we still had a big job to do with the ball,” Rampaul, who was Man of the Match, said. “I am used to bowling on these slow, low wickets as they are similar to what I play on in Trinidad. Also, the experience of playing here [in India] for Trinidad & Tobago in the Champions League as well as in the World Cup has helped me a lot.”My strategy was to bowl wicket to wicket and it was good that I got the ball to swing as well. Finally, we have a win on the tour and it means a lot to us as a team. We came close on quite a few occasions and tonight we got the reward. We will look for more in the coming matches.”Rampaul has 28 wickets at an average of 19 in 14 ODIs in 2011, and Monday’s four-wicket haul came after he had broken the record for the highest score by a No. 10, an unbeaten 86 off 66 balls in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam.That West Indies had a competitive target to defend at Motera was because of a late assault from allrounders Sammy and Andre Russell. Sammy scored 41 off 17 balls and Russell 40 off 18 as 93 runs came off the final seven overs. Sehwag, the India captain, said his bowlers had not executed their plans.”When two big hitters like Russell and Sammy were batting, it was difficult to bowl, they were connecting well,” Sehwag said. “I told my boys to bowl as many yorkers as they could. They tried but couldn’t get perfect yorkers, but the team fought really well.”Sehwag, however, took responsibility for the defeat, saying the top-order collapse, which he was part of, was the most significant problem. “It is very hard to chase when your top order fails. In the last three games, our lower order’s contribution has been more than the top order and we need to look at ourselves. One of the top order batsman has to bat for 30-40 overs.”

England suffered one of their most disastrous batting collapses in Test history as they disintegrated against Pakistan’s spinners to lose the second Test in Abu Dhabi and with it the series

The Report by David Hopps28-Jan-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEngland capitulated to one of the most unsung spinners in the international game•AFP

England suffered one of their most disastrous batting collapses in Test history as they disintegrated against Pakistan’s spinners to lose the second Test in Abu Dhabi and with it the series. Pakistan went 2-0 up with one to play as Abdur Rehman, their left-arm spinner, took most of the plaudits with a Test-best 6 for 25.England had only lost on four occasions in Test history when presented with a victory target of 145 or fewer, evoking memories of when they were run ragged by Richard Hadlee and made 64 against New Zealand in Wellington.They did not even get halfway, dismissed for 72 in only 36.1 overs, their lowest total since the debacle against West Indies in Kingston three years ago which became the catalyst for their transformation under the stewardship of the coach, Andy Flower, and captain, Andrew Strauss.England were never in the hunt at the Sheikh Zayed stadium after Monty Panesar’s triumphant return to Test cricket – 6 for 62, the second best figures of his Test career — left them chasing only 145 for victory. The pitch offered prodigious turn at times but it was England’s inability to read the length of Pakistan’s spinners that cost them just as dearly.Rehman fell to his knees and kissed the turf after taking five wickets in a Test innings for the first time. England had come to Dubai fearing Saeed Ajmal’s devilish mix of offspinners and doosras and they had fallen instead to one of the most unsung spinners in the international game.Not that Ajmal could be entirely excluded. He became the quickest Pakistan player to reach 100 Test wickets when Matt Prior became the ninth England batsman to fall, and his serene presence was a counterpoint to the excitability all around him.For a Pakistan side that was so recently embroiled in controversy after three players were jailed for their part in the spot-fixing scandal, this was a striking restatement of their talent. The captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, has brought stability where too often there has been near anarchy and more and more people will look upon Mohsin Khan’s position as interim coach and wonder why the word “interim” still remains.England’s horrors in Asia go on, their status as the No. 1 team in the Test rankings already under threat. Another calamitous top-order collapse saw them lose four wickets for 16 runs in 37 balls as what little confidence they had was shaken by a debilitating stomach bug for Jonathan Trott, the bedrock of their batting, who came in at No. 7.England, as if shaken by Trott’s illness, crawled to 21 in nearly 15 overs before Alastair Cook tried to work Mohammad Hafeez into the legside against the spin and chipped a gentle return catch off a leading edge. It was the least that Pakistan deserved because he should have been out leg before three balls earlier. Only Adnan Akmal, the wicketkeeper, was convinced that it was out and by then his incessant appealing had started to wash over everybody, his team-mates included.Ian Bell’s woes against Ajmal’s doosra have wrecked his series. This time he got out to a trick shot, trying to dead bat a doosra but contriving to pop it through his own legs onto the stumps. He left looking to the heavens, an accomplished batsman suddenly Little Boy Lost again.Aficionados of Kevin Pietersen’s supposed fallibility against left-arm spin of any quality will find fresh evidence in the way he played outside Rehman’s arm ball. Pietersen’s recourse to DRS was overturned, the ball shown to be clipping the top of middle, and he trudged off with the air of a man about to fashion an excuse first and a technique later.That left Eoin Morgan, reputedly one of England’s best players of spin, a reputation that owes everything to adventurous innings in one-day cricket. The pressure of Test cricket demanded a reassessment as he edged onto the back foot as Rehman turned one back slightly and was bowled past a horribly angled blade.England’s plight could have been worse if Strauss had been given out caught off bat and pad at short leg by Azhar Ali off Rehman. Strauss, on 16, was blessed as the umpires turned to the third umpire, Billy Bowden, to check if the ball had carried and Bowden, in a pernickety decision that defied common sense, responded that he could not be certain. It was impossible to see where his doubt had arisen.But Strauss was unable to organise prolonged resistance. He made 32, more than half England’s runs, produced virtually England’s only moment of authority when he swept Rehman for four and then fell to the next ball as he was lbw, caught on the back foot. England challenged the decision and lost their second review.If Trott had produced heroics, the Test would have forever been dubbed Trott’s Trots. Perhaps it was just as well he did not. He might have been run out on nought when he angled Rehman to backward point and was late setting off for a run and soon fell to one from Rehman that straightened, another England batsman pinned on the back foot.Rehman bowled Broad through the gate two balls later to quell thoughts that he might repeat his first-innings adventure and the mopping up of the England tail was a formality.Panesar had promised so much more. He has watched Graeme Swann’s reputation grow apace in his two-and-a-half year absence but England’s decision to field both of them for the first time since they faced Australia in Cardiff in the 2009 Ashes series has brought his Test career out of hibernation in style.He took three wickets on the fourth day as Pakistan, who resumed on 125 for 4, were dismissed 25 minutes into the afternoon session. Asad Shafiq, who had resisted so determinedly alongside Azhar on the previous day, was well caught low at first slip by James Anderson as Panesar found sharp turn. He completed the job after lunch, Ajmal edging another turning ball to slip and Junaid Khan slogging recklessly. Panesar’s 6 for 62 was outdone only by his 6 for 37 against New Zealand at Old Trafford three years ago.
Azhar fell to the second new ball, failing to withdraw from a lifting delivery from Anderson. His 68 had spanned four-and-a-quarter hours and had served Pakistan proud.A cool and misty morning in Abu Dhabi was more akin to Manchester in October and, although such climatic conditions are not universally hailed as salubrious, they perked up England’s bowlers. But for England’s batsmen the demands of Asia were soon all too apparent.

ESPNcricinfo previews the Ranji Trophy final for the 2011-12 season, between Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan to be played in Chennai

Nagraj Gollapudi in Chennai18-Jan-2012

Match facts

Thursday, January 19-23, Chennai
Start time 0930 (0400 GMT)

Big Picture

Rajasthan have Robin Bist, the highest run-maker this season. Tamil Nadu have Abhinav Mukund, the second highest run-getter. Rajasthan have three fast men, including the cunning Pankaj Singh, who is this year’s third-highest wicket-taker. TN also have three fast men, with each one of them taking at least twenty wickets. Rajasthan’s leading spinner, Vivek Yadav, has 17 wickets. TN have Aushik Srinivas with 20 victims. Both teams are lead by men who usually prefer to stay quiet, but are extremely determined leaders.So there is not much that separates the Ranji finalists, at least on paper. If there is one thing that favours TN, more than the home advantage, then it is experience.Not only do they have five international players among the ranks, but most of the TN squad has played a lot of league cricket in Chennai before graduating to the first-class level. In contrast most of the Rajasthan squad are yet to cut their teeth properly on the domestic circuit. The experience can tilt the balance only because TN have players who can handle pressure situations well, as Ramaswamy Prasanna showed against Mumbai in the semi-finals.But unlike TN, who are making their first final in eight years and won their last Ranji Trophy in 1989, Rajasthan have nothing to prove. Following up from their historic run to the crown last year, the Rajasthan team management and their professional players have ensured that the team effectively deploys the various strategies and processes. They didn’t lose their head despite having only five points in the pocket after the first five rounds of the group stage.If they continue to hold their nerve, Rajasthan will join a select band of teams to have won the Ranji Trophy in successive years. Apart from Mumbai, only Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka have achieved this feat.

Form guide

Tamil Nadu DDDDW (Most recent first)
Rajasthan WDWWD

Players to watch

Abhinav Mukund stands to gain a lot by performing at his home ground where he already has a double-century against Haryana, and a 95 in the quarter-final against Maharashtra. He needs 129 more runs to become the third TN player (after WV Raman and Sridharan Sriram) to achieve 1000 runs in a Ranji season. But the main motivation would be to perform against the best domestic seam bowling attack.Abhinav could face his biggest hurdle in Pankaj Singh, who has been the best seamer of the Ranji season. With a sturdy run-up and healthy experience, Pankaj has stuck to a discipline approach this year to create the openings for his mates Rituraj Singh and Sumit Mathur.

Team news

Considering the wicket may play slow, Rajasthan may toy with the idea, even if briefly, of breaking their three-pronged fast-bowling attack in favour of a two-two combination. But with Vivek Yadav, the legspinner, being inconsistent, they might fall back on the attack that succeeded in the semi-final. They will also be reluctant to meddle with the combination of Pankaj, Rituraj and Mathur who are riding high on confidence after a series of match-winning spells.Rajasthan (probable): 1 Aakash Chopra, 2 Vineet Saxena, 3 Hrishikesh Kaniktar (capt), 4 Robin Bist, 5 Rashmi Parida, 6 Puneet Yadav, 7 Dishant Yagnik (wk), 8 Rituraj Singh, 9 Gajendra Singh, 10 Pankaj Singh, 11 Sumit MathurOn their part, TN are likely to retain the side that played the semi-finals against Mumbai.Tamil Nadu (probable): 1 Abhinav Mukund, 2 Murali Vijay, 3 S Badrinath, 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 K Vasudevadas, 6 Ramaswamy Prasanna, 7 Yo Mahesh, 8 Sunny Gupta, 9 Lakshmipathy Balaji (capt), 10 Jagannathan Kaushik, 11 Aushik Srinivas

Pitch and conditions

The Chepauk pitch has a faint green cover but the grass is dry and there is a bald patch at one end. Also, it is understood that the pitch has not been rolled well so the bounce is likely to be low. The pitch behaviour is not expected to be any different from what was witnessed during the quarter-finals where the spinners got decent purchase. If anything, the surface is likely to be weary since this will be the third match to be played on it within a month. As for the conditions, the days are pleasant with the mercury climbing towards the 30 degree mark.

Stats and trivia

• Rituraj Singh has 22 wickets at 14.31 with three five-wicket hauls. He has the second highest five-wicket hauls this season, though he’s played only three matches
• Rajasthan have 13 century stands with a highest of 398 between Robin Bist and Ashok Menaria against Railways. TN have only seven century stands with a highest of 223 against Gujarat
• TN have made the highest score in the season (698 v Gujarat) and conceded over 500 just once. Rajasthan have conceded 500-plus totals on four occasions while scoring 500-plus on three occasions themselves
• These teams have clashed four times in Ranji Trophy history, and the head-to-head is one-all with two drawn games

Quotes

“In the past there was over-dependence on one or two individuals. That is no more the case. If we are pushed in to a corner, everyone knows his role, everyone stands up and helps us come out of a tough situation.”

“Experience will count but finally it will be more important who will be more hungry.”

Harbhajan Singh, the injured India offspinner who has found himself out of national contention recently, has said he is fit to return to competitive cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Feb-2012Harbhajan Singh, the injured India offspinner who has been out of the national side, has said he is fit to return to competitive cricket. Harbhajan had missed most of the Ranji Trophy because of a shin injury. He will be using the domestic one-day competition, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he said, to stake his claim for a spot in the national side.”I am fully fit and ready for competitive cricket,” Harbhajan Singh told . “I will be making a comeback during the zonal one-dayers, where I will be leading the Punjab side.”I have been bowling regularly at the National Cricket Academy [in Bangalore] and haven’t encountered any problems. My fight to make a comeback into the national team will start with the zonal one-dayers and hopefully I will be able to perform to the best of my abilities.”The preliminary round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy is contested by the states at a zonal level, with the top teams proceeding to the inter-zonal knockout rounds. Punjab’s first game in the North Zone group is against Haryana on February 20.Harbhajan missed out on India’s Test and one-day series at home against West Indies in 2011, as well as the ongoing Australia tour, following a run of poor form. Against England in July, he picked up only two wickets before an abdominal muscle injury forced him to return home. He hasn’t represented India since.Harbhajan also said he was considering a stint in county cricket to force his way back into the national setup. “For me, it’s about performing and making a comeback to the Indian team as soon possible. Playing county cricket is certainly not a bad idea. I can only take a call once the Indian Premier League is over, but it also depends on whether the BCCI will allow me to go and play a few matches in county cricket.”

A wound on the toe did not stop Mark Gillespie from bagging a six-wicket haul in Wellington which may lose itself in the mass that was the South African innings

Firdose Moonda at Basin Reserve25-Mar-2012Mark Gillespie has a “mouth” on his left big toe. “And it doesn’t talk either,” he said, with a grin across his face.It’s impressive to hear Gillespie joke about it, considering how painful it is. A cut, wide in the middle and thinning out on the sides (in the shape of a mouth), has planted itself way onto his toe, causing so much pain that he only slept for three hours on Saturday night. On Sunday, he took five wickets, so it can’t be that bad.Gillespie spoke about bowling through pain after his five-for in the Hamilton Test and how his idol said all fast bowlers do it. He has since confirmed that the idol he referred to was Allan Donald and his words have never rung truer, because pain has just kept coming. “My toe was just throbbing and yes, it’s a lot of pain but it deflects every other pain that you’ve got because it’s just banging away,” Gillespie said. “So it’s quite good in that regard but just when you’re bowling it’s not that much fun.”The cut did not stop Gillespie from bagging a six-wicket haul in Wellington which may lose itself in the mass that was the South African innings but was crucial for ending it as soon as possible. After a tough two truncated days of cricket, in which all of New Zealand’s bowlers underperformed, Gillespie returned the strongest on day three.He got the ball to move in to JP Duminy from around the wicket and consistently found good lines and lengths. “If you bowl on any deck in the right areas for long enough then things will happen,” he said. “Obviously day one was a disappointing day for all us bowlers, but I don’t think it was so much about not exploiting the conditions, we didn’t really hit consistent areas.”Gillespie’s consistency was spiced up by his aggression. He did not allow any let up, even though he was tired, had bowled long spells and had that mouth talking to him from his toe.One feeling that may have doused out the pain was the satisfaction of another impressive haul at Test level. “To get off the park was more important and put my feet up but to get six wickets was a pretty good feeling,” he admitted. “On a really flat Basin pitch, you just have to keep running in and bending your back and can get rewards out of it but it’s such a flat wicket, it’s pretty tough.”Local knowledge, especially of the effort required to take wickets, served Gillespie well as the Basin is his home ground. Before his Test call-up, he took eight wickets on the ground in two first-class matches and said conditions had not really changed from then. “It’s a similar deck to the one two weeks ago, it just sort of flirts. You think it’s going to offer you something at the start, it doesn’t really,” he said.Two weeks ago, Test cricket was not on Gillespie’s mind at all. Although he was the third top wicket-taker in the Plunket Shield, he did not anticipate being called up to the New Zealand side. “I was getting ready for the season to end and then get my body right over the winter and find a job, find something to do, earn some money. Two weeks ago I was actually going to have to find a job,” Gillespie said. “And yeah, now things might be a little bit different.”Instead of a long winter, Gillespie may have to get ready for tours to the West Indies and India. The first step in his recovery is for the mouth to close and his toe to heal. While that happens, he seems to be enjoying his return to Test cricket, which became even more successful in Wellington and enjoyed by most of his family. “In Hamilton, I had my parents and one of my brothers, he heard four of the wickets on the way up in the car and then I got [Mark] Boucher out and he thought it was going to end pretty quickly so he turned around and drove all the way back,” Gillespie said.Luckily, his brother did not miss out this time. “Today I had my wife, my parents, my brothers and their families were here. To do it on my home ground in front of them was pretty special.”