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Delhi keep Pune waiting for playoff spot

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:04

Hogg: It was a big choke from Rising Pune Supergiant

Delhi Daredevils have, over the years, perfected the art of the bizarre, and usually that leads them to lose unloseable matches. On Friday, however, they magicked a way to defend a total of 168 even though Steven Smith appeared in top form and Ben Stokes looked like he was one hit away from finishing the game.Rising Pune Supergiant needed 91 off 60 balls with seven wickets in hand. They brought that down to 52 off the last five overs, and then, were just shut down. Only three boundaries came in the slog overs as a disciplined bowling attack led by the street-smart Zaheer Khan secured a memorable victory and left the opposition unsure of their place in the playoffs.A Powerplay of two halvesAt the toss, both captains said they wanted to bat, even though only once in four IPL seasons has that led to a victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Daredevils’ efforts to defy those stats were off to a terrible start. Sanju Samson was run-out in the first over and Shreyas Iyer caught behind in the third. The score was 11 for 2.Rising Pune then turned to Washington Sundar because he has the second-best economy rate (7.35) among the spinners to have bowled at least 50 balls in the Powerplay. But those numbers meant nothing to Karun Nair. All he knew was he was a superb sweeper of the ball and fine leg was up inside the circle. That was the first of nine boundaries in 18 balls.Rishabh Pant, too, received preferential treatment from the bowlers. He had come into the match making 190 of his 321 runs this season on the leg side and that’s exactly where he found 32 of his 36 runs on Sunday, including four fours and two sixes.The squeezeWhile Nair and Pant were together, the lowest a full over went for was nine runs. But once the 74-run partnership was broken, Rising Pune regained control. The new batsman Marlon Samuels could make only three runs in his first 10 balls. He fell top-edging to MS Dhoni, who had to run back, jump up, extend his right hand as far as it could go. Such acrobatics weren’t necessary to stump Corey Anderson; just fast hands and a sixth sense for when the batsman’s back foot lifted up as he toppled over.All the while the set batsman Nair could only watch from the other end. He faced only 11 deliveries in five overs between the 12th and the 16th. He finished 64 off 45. His team-mates 97 off 75.The Supergiant’s supergiantIf Stokes raised eyebrows by becoming the auction’s costliest buy, his performance is making them disappear beyond people’s hairlines. Case in point was the catch he took in the final over. The ball was soaring over his head at midwicket, but he positioned himself on the edge of the boundary, leapt back, caught it in mid-air and threw it back up because he was going over the ropes and then came back to take the rebound.Aside from such remarkable athleticism, there is his power hitting. At 92 for 3, he ran at Daredevils’ fastest bowler Pat Cummins and pummeled a one-bounce four to midwicket, launched Marlon Samuels’ third ball of the match over long-on and nonchalantly flicked Mohammed Shami for a six over deep square leg.Peak DaredevilryIt was amid this carnage that a scorching yorker arrived. So good was it that Stokes, despite putting bat to it, had to worry about not being bowled. The next ball changed the game.Shami ran in looking for the blockhole again. Stokes took a shimmy down the pitch and was surprised by a low full toss. The bat turned in his hand as his loft ended up in long-off’s hands.By the time Dhoni was taking guard for his second delivery the required rate was 12. And before he could get set, he was caught short of his ground by a direct hit. It was only the seventh time in 141 IPL innings that he was run-out.As badly as Rising Pune choked, the Daredevils bowlers were remarkable. They bowled straight, gave no room and nailed the yorkers. The inherent risk in this plan is if the ball doesn’t land where it is supposed to, it can be launched halfway around the world. But the big-hitters were gone, and Manoj Tiwary, as well as he had played for his fifty, wasn’t really a threatening presence.He managed two sixes to start the last over to tempt the Pune fans, but Cummins closed the game out with a slew of 145 kph yorkers.

I know my game a little better now – Mohammed

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A better understanding of his own game and knowledge of coping with specific match situations has helped Jason Mohammed transform his game over the last year, leading to a knock like the unbeaten 91 off 58 balls in the first ODI against Pakistan on Friday. Mohammed’s half-century, his third of the year, was the bedrock of West Indies’ record chase of 309, as they rallied from 158 for 4 in the 34th over to complete a four-wicket win with an over to spare.

West Indies were brave in chase – Arthur

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said West Indies’ come-from-behind win in a record chase of 309 was very brave but conceded his team should have been able to defend their total.
“I think we should probably have got 20 more, with the bat,” Arthur said. “But, saying that, we should be defending 308 or whatever it was. But, you know, credit to West Indies; I thought they played really well. They took their time and they chased beautifully, they put us under pressure at the back end and then got over the line.
“I think from about 35 overs – that’s when West Indies put us under serious pressure. I thought they were brave: they took the game on and hit the ball extremely well, put us under pressure in the field took the game away from us. It was disappointing that we couldn’t close it out. Really disappointed we couldn’t execute properly there. Some of our main bowlers fell short of the mark today, and that’s the disappointing thing.”

“Starting from CPL [2016] with Guyana Amazon Warriors, my whole game has changed a lot,” Mohammed said after the match. “I have really gained a lot of confidence and momentum and I did well with the A team as well. I think I just know my game a little better now, in terms of maturity, and knowing how to play certain situations has definitely brought me a long way.”With 287 runs in 12 matches, Mohammed was the second-highest run-getter for Amazon Warriors after Chris Lynn, and played a few key knocks in the side’s successful chases during the tournament. Last month, in the home series against England, he played his first ODI in a year and a half, and was one of the few bright spots in West Indies’ 3-0 defeat, scoring fifties in the first two matches.On Friday, West Indies needed 128 off 13 overs with Mohammed batting on 15. He quickly switched gears, bringing up his fifty off 31 balls, and dominated the 70-run fifth-wicket partnership with Jonathan Carter, which revived the chase. That was followed by an unbroken 50-run partnership with Ashley Nurse for the seventh wicket.Nurse, who took 4 for 62 in Pakistan’s innings, slammed 34 off 15 balls, while Mohammed ended the match with 11 fours and three sixes. Mohammed said he was a momentum player, who needed to settle in before going for the big shots.”It was a very good innings. Coming in to bat early, there was a little bit of pressure in terms of strike rate and stuff but I knew that I had to play myself in and rotate the strike and gain momentum, and take it down to the end as much as possible. That’s exactly what we did as a team.”As I always say, I tend to start off a little bit slower. I am a momentum player and I know that so long as I get my game right, it’s going to come off. Try and work the ball around till I get a start and then I can hit the ball when I get in. That was my plan today and everything worked out excellently.”Nurse was pleased that three of his four wickets came in the last 15 overs of Pakistan’s chase, with the opposition looking for big overs. “My job first and foremost is to bowl and get people out so I was very happy with the wickets,” Nurse said. “I won’t say I was happy with the bowling because I bowled some bad balls in between but it was nice to get the Pakistan wickets when they were really going helter skelter at the back end, and it was nice to come back even in the last 10 overs and get some wickets.”Coming in to bat with West Indies needing 50 off 33 balls, Nurse went after Pakistan’s quick bowlers in the end overs, buoyed by the fact that he had been striking the ball well in the nets.”Jason was hitting the ball really nicely and he came out to rotate the strike,” Nurse said. “I was hitting the ball well in the nets so I knew my form was good and I just kept trying to hit the ball nice and straight and I backed myself to get the ball past the boundary and also give him the strike.”The second ODI will be played in Providence on April 9.

'Poor catching, batting cost us, not complacency' – Herath

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Rangana Herath, the Sri Lanka captain, said he was confident of defending 191 in the fourth innings, although they would have liked more runs to work with. Herath has been the central figure in each of Sri Lanka’s five most recent home victories, when they have bowled out visiting sides for 171 (West Indies), 161, 183 and 160 (Australia), as well as dismissing Bangladesh for 197 in Galle.However, though Herath struck early in Bangladesh’s final-day chase at P Sara, removing Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes off consecutive deliveries, he couldn’t sufficiently quell Tamim Iqbal or the Bangladesh middle order.”I really thought that we could defend it, because we have played games with India and Pakistan and defended low scores,” Herath said. “We also had three spinners. When we got two early wickets, I felt the same way, but after lunch they were in an attacking mood and scored some quick runs. That’s where the match slipped from us in the fourth innings.”Herath also pinpointed Sri Lanka’s catching at the end of day two and their collapse on the fourth afternoon as definitive passages of play. Of particular consequence was the dropped catch off Shakib – he was spilled by Upul Tharanga at deep square leg on 11 – with Sri Lanka spurning the chance to have Bangladesh 210 for 6 after the hosts had hit 338. Bangladesh would eventually go on to establish a first-innings lead of 129.”I thought we made too many mistakes while fielding and batting,” Herath said. “We dropped a couple of crucial catches and that was the main reason for us to lose the match. Shakib’s catch was especially bad because he went on to a century. With a team this competitive, we can’t let the little mistakes like that that come into our game.”Though Sri Lanka began the third innings well, pulling into the lead with nine wickets remaining, they had a horror session after lunch on the fourth day. Five top order batsmen were out in the space of 15 overs, to Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib.”If you take the second innings we were batting well. After Upul Tharanga got out, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis were going great. Then Kusal got out and suddenly we lost four more wickets for 40-odd runs. That was the key and that’s what we should have prevented. That was the start of our downfall.”Herath said the loss was “one of” the worst defeats of his career, but was adamant that at no stage did Sri Lanka underestimate Bangladesh. Sri Lanka are 31 points clear of Bangladesh on the Test rankings, but are only two places ahead – seventh, where Bangladesh are ninth.”Before the series started I said that this was a challenging series as both teams were equally matched. We had a good chance in Galle as we got close to 500 runs, and we capitalised. Here we couldn’t do the same.”Bangladesh have certainly improved a lot. Earlier when they got partnerships going, we would put pressure on them, and they wouldn’t be able to handle that. This team tries to stay in the game a lot more, and now they counter our plans. They have been very clever.”

Strauss keeps options open on Stokes captaincy

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Ben Stokes will not necessarily be promoted to lead England’s Test side if Joe Root is obliged to miss a game.Root and Stokes were both appointed last week following the resignation of Alastair Cook. But while describing Stokes as “the perfect man” for the role of vice-captain to Root, Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, clarified on Wednesday “that doesn’t necessarily mean Ben is going to be a shoo-in to be England captain at some stage in the future.”Strauss explained: “The way we’ve approached this is we’ve said: ‘What do we need in a vice-captain? And what will complement Joe as captain as well as possible?'”Ben Stokes is far and away the best candidate to do that. He’s developing fantastically quickly. So as second in charge, he’s the perfect man for that role at the moment.”But just as when Joe was made vice-captain, that doesn’t necessarily mean Ben is going to be a shoo-in to be England captain at some stage in the future. I don’t think it would be right for me to say that, in absolutely every circumstance, Ben would definitely take over from Joe.”Stokes has even less captaincy experience than Root. While Root has led in four first-class games, Stokes had not led in any first-class or limited-overs matches for Durham or England and only has skippered Durham junior sides on three occasions (two for the Academy and one for their U17s). While Strauss suggested opportunities would be given for him to lead in tour matches where possible, he has retained the option of appointing an alternative stand-in for Root if he feels it is appropriate.While such a move might raise questions about the need to appoint a vice-captain in these circumstances, it remains likely that Stokes would be the man to stand in for Root if required. While Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler, if selected, have some captaincy experience – both have captained England in the shorter formats – neither could be considered such an outstanding candidate at this stage that they could expect to step in if Root is indisposed.Instead, the England management will look to find opportunities for Stokes to gain some captaincy experience during tour games with Strauss stating that “the intention” would remain that Stokes was the man to replace Root if he is injured or ill.”It’s not an easy thing to give people leadership experience when they’re in the England team 12 months of the year,” Strauss said. “So of course, we’ll look for opportunities to be able to do that. And I do think that, by and large, there’s no reason why he can’t take over. That’s certainly the intention.”

O'Keefe, Smith set up famous Australia victory

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:54

Chappell: India should have used feet against O’Keefe

Fortress India has been sacked. Or should that be SOKed? Not since 2012 had India lost a Test at home, and rarely in that stretch of 20 matches had they even been held to a draw. Last time Australia toured India for Tests they were crushed 4-0. They entered this match having lost their past nine Tests in Asia. Not since 2004 and the days of Gilchrist, McGrath and Warne had Australia won a Test in India. Not even Nostradamus could have seen this result coming.Australia not only beat India, they thrashed them. Humiliated them. On a dry, turning pitch that should have suited India’s spinners, Steven Smith scored the only hundred of the match and Steve O’Keefe took as many wickets as R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja combined. So many, in fact, that his 12 for 70 were the best figures ever by a visiting spinner in a Test on Indian soil. India were humbled for 105 and 107; never had they scored so few in a home Test loss.The match was over inside three days, Australia the victors by 333 runs. The series is still alive, of course, but India have much to ponder over the next week, ahead of the Bangalore Test. It would be easy to look at the pitch and suggest the toss played a significant role, but that would be unfair to Australia, who outplayed India in all facets of the game, and more than doubled their totals in both innings. In any case, Australia had won all four tosses back in 2013.No, this a was a victory based on outstanding left-arm spin from O’Keefe, whose accuracy and ability to turn some deliveries but not others made him a constant threat; on a remarkable 109 from Smith in the second innings, which some observers said was the best hundred they had seen; on fielding that was not quite flawless but not far off it. And, yes, on what looked from the outside like a mental capitulation from India’s batsmen in both innings.This was the 10th home Test of India’s summer. It would be natural that they might show signs of fatigue, but there are three more Tests in this series. They must find a way to perk up quickly. If they are searching for positives, at least they have two extra days of recuperation ahead of the second Test. They can take little else from this result, their first loss in a home Test since England prevailed in Kolkata in December 2012.That too was a win that featured a defining hundred from the visiting captain, on that occasion Alastair Cook. In Pune, Smith’s 109 – more than the entire India team scored in either of their innings – helped to ensure Australia’s victory. It was his 18th Test hundred, his fifth in consecutive Tests against India, and his first on Indian soil. And, given the pitch and the quality of India’s bowlers, surely his best.He made the most of his luck – dropped three times on the second day – and resumed on the third morning on 59, with Australia’s lead already standing at 298. Already enough, the way India batted. But Smith made sure of it, scored freely on both sides of the wicket, using his feet to India’s spinners, and forging partnerships of consequence with several men in the middle and lower order. When he was finally lbw trying to pull Jadeja, his job was done.Some late slogging from Mitchell Starc, who hit three sixes in his 30 off 31 balls, helped lift Australia to 285 and set India 441 for victory. They would have to break the all-time record for the highest successful chase in Test history in order to keep their unbeaten home streak alive. They never looked like getting close. Within six overs they had lost both their openers and both their reviews, and all of their hope.O’Keefe broke through in his first over when he skidded one on to trap Vijay lbw, and in the next over Nathan Lyon spun one in to strike KL Rahul in line and another lbw was given. Both openers asked for reviews, but neither were successful. It mattered little, for the procession of wickets that followed were all straightforward enough that no reviews would have saved India.The wicket of Virat Kohli embodied India’s uncertainty against O’Keefe: he shouldered arms, confident that the ball would turn away from him, and failed to detect that this one was going on with the arm. Kohli lost his off stump. Ajinkya Rahane followed by driving a catch to cover off O’Keefe, and Ashwin was lbw on review when he pressed forward to O’Keefe and the ball struck pad fractionally before bat.Wriddhiman Saha came and went, also lbw to an O’Keefe skidder, and straight after tea the last remaining top-six batsman, Cheteshwar Pujara, fell in more or less the same way. India kept playing for turn, O’Keefe kept rapping them in front with straight balls. Of course, that is oversimplifying things: he turned enough deliveries to varying degrees that the straight ones became the danger, when the batsmen expected turn that didn’t come.By this stage, O’Keefe had 12 wickets for the match and a realistic chance of overtaking Ian Botham’s 13 as the best bowling by any visiting player in India. Instead, Lyon ran through the remaining three wickets: Jadeja was bowled trying to cut, Ishant Sharma was caught at leg gully, and Jayant Yadav gloved a catch to Matthew Wade to make the result official. A result that nobody saw coming three days earlier.

Concussed Renshaw withdrawn from Test

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Australia have withdrawn their opening batsman Matt Renshaw from the remainder of the Sydney Test due to concussion.Renshaw suffered two blows to the helmet during the first three days of the Test. On day one, while batting on the score of 91, Renshaw was hit on the grille when he failed to evade a bouncer from Mohammad Amir, although he was cleared at the time by team doctor Peter Brukner and batted on to complete his maiden Test century.On the third day, Renshaw was fielding at short leg when Pakistan batsman Sarfraz Ahmed attacked a delivery from spinner Steve O’Keefe, and Renshaw was again hit on the helmet. Although he stayed on the field until the end of the next over, Renshaw then headed to Australia’s rooms for assessment and reported that he was suffering from a headache.”Matthew Renshaw was struck on the helmet fielding close-in on Thursday afternoon and came off complaining of a headache,” Brukner said on the fourth morning. “He rested in the dressing room and then, when we returned to the hotel, we performed concussion tests and his cognitive, balance, co-ordination and reaction times were all within normal limits.”However, on Friday morning he was still symptomatic and so we have taken the decision to withdraw him from the match as he is suffering from concussion. We will continue to monitor him over the coming days and work with him to produce a gradual return to play.”As a long-form specialist at this stage of his career, Renshaw is not currently signed to a BBL team and after this Test would have had a quiet period anyway ahead of the tour of India next month.

Latham, bowlers star in Canterbury's close win

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ScorecardTom Latham built Canterbury’s innings with 82 opening the innings that set up their narrow win•Getty Images

Canterbury’s bowlers hunted in a pack to bowl their team to a nine-run win over Northern Districts in their Super Smash clash at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Northern Districts were restricted to 152 for 7 in 20 overs. That, after Canterbury put up 161 for 7 after electing to bat, riding on opening batsman Tom Latham’s 57-ball 82.The win left Canterbury tied second with Auckland on 20 points. Their hopes of qualifying for the preliminary final rest on the match between Otago and Wellington (on 16 points) on Tuesday. If Otago win, Canterbury will be through, while a Wellington victory could result in the net run rate deciding the progress of teams.It would have been a much more comfortable win for Canterbury but for a sixth-wicket stand of 61 between Daryl Mitchell (33) and Scott Kuggeleijn. The duo’s 37-ball stay lifted Northern Districts from 73 for 5 – 64 of which had been scored by BJ Watling (37) and Tim Seifert (27) – in the 13th over. When Mitchell fell in the third ball of the 19th over, Northern Districts needed 28 off nine balls. Kuggeleijn fought hard, but despite his best efforts, Northern Districts could only score 18 more . Kuggeleijn stayed unbeaten on 38 off 21 balls that had come with the help of two fours and as many sixes.Canterbury’s bowlers shared the wickets around. Kyle Jamieson and Tim Johnston took two wickets each, while Ed Nuttall, Andrew Ellis and Todd Astle finished with a wicket apeice.When Canterbury batted, Latham carried them through almost the entire innings, staying at the crease for 19.1 overs of the side’s innings. He found support from Peter Fulton (36 off 31) with whom he added 77 for the third wicket that helped them recover from 27 for 2. None of the other batsmen made any noteworthy contribution, but Latham pinged seven fours and two sixes ensuring Canterbury maintained a decent run rate.All of Northern Districts’ bowlers, with the exception of left-arm spinner Ronnie Hira, who opened the bowling, found themselves among the wickets, with medium pacer Nick Winter (2 for 30) leading the way.

Pakistan build big lead after Yasir's four-for

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Stumps
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsYasir took two quick wickets with the second new ball•Getty Images

Yasir Shah’s four wickets led Pakistan’s slow but clinical strangulation of West Indies, before their openers stretched a 228-run first-innings lead to 342, leaving them in a dominant position in the Abu Dhabi Test by stumps on the third day. While Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali did not go out of their way to score quickly, the ease with which they milked the bowling contrasted with West Indies’ struggles in the first two sessions of the day.Aslam departed for 50 late in the day, when third umpire Paul Reiffel made the dubious decision to overturn a not-out decision on a caught-behind appeal. Shannon Gabriel had angled the ball into Aslam’s pads and West Indies believed he got a faint edge as it went down leg to the wicketkeeper. DRS provided only slow-motion replays and the evidence to overturn looked scant, but it was enough to convince Reiffel.That ended a 93-run opening partnership that had steadily taken the match further and further from West Indies’ reach. Asad Shafiq joined Azhar to take Pakistan to 114 for 1 by the close, a position that looked nigh on impregnable with two days left in the match.It was an indictment of the ineffectiveness of West Indies’ frontline bowlers that Kraigg Brathwaite, bowling first-change, was the only one who came close to taking a wicket in the first two hours of the innings. In the tenth over, Brathwaite fired in a delivery at 95 kph to beat Azhar’s sweep and induce umpire Michael Gough to raise his finger. But Azhar reviewed immediately and replays indicated the ball had brushed the batsman’s glove. In Brathwaite’s next over, another fired-in delivery thudded into the pads, but not before Sami Aslam had got an inside edge. Umpire Gough raised his finger and West Indies’ hopes, only for Aslam to review successfully.In the 18th over, Brathwaite was denied yet again, this time by his team-mate. Azhar edged a cut to Jermaine Blackwood at first slip, but the fielder did not even manage to a get a hand on it. He moved to his right, the ball struck his left thigh and a clear chance went down. It was ultimately Gabriel who made the breakthrough, but only after Pakistan’s lead had swelled beyond 300.Sami Aslam’s fifty helped Pakistan build on their 228-run first-innings lead•Getty Images

Having lost two wickets in the last seven balls on the previous day, West Indies began the third day well behind the game, trailing by 346 in the first innings with four wickets down. Nightwatchman Bishoo might understandably have been carrying a few scars from the second evening, having been involved – and arguably culpable – in the run-out of Kraigg Brathwaite in the last over of the day. But he shrugged all of that off to occupy the crease for a gutsy 66-ball knock that, while not always convincing, helped West Indies repel many of Pakistan’s early efforts.Bishoo’s overnight partner, Blackwood, departed about half an hour into the session with only 15 runs having been added to the overnight score of 106 for 4. Blackwood took a couple of steps down the track, before playing a loose, half-hearted drive to a Rahat delivery moving away from him; Sarfraz Ahmed collected a good, low catch to his right.Bishoo struggled against Rahat’s outswing, repeatedly playing and missing outside off stump with no footwork. He got off the mark in his 20th ball with a cross-batted swipe through midwicket off Yasir. His first boundary came off his 50th ball with a similar shot, this time off Zulfiqar Babar. By that stage, Bishoo’s stubborn knock was vexing Pakistan. In Babar’s next over, the bowler went up for a big lbw appeal after Bishoo missed a sweep; Pakistan reviewed the not-out decision, only to find that the impact was just outside off. That exhausted Pakistan’s reviews.But Bishoo did not last too much longer. He had his off stump floored by Sohail who angled the ball away from the left-hander to beat his outside edge and give Pakistan their second wicket of the morning. Roston Chase and Shai Hope then added 7 off the 49 balls leading into lunch, and added a further 18 after lunch before both fell to Yasir in the space of three overs.Yasir struck with the first delivery of the second new ball, finding the outside edge of an extravagant drive from Chase with Shafiq completing a sharp catch at second slip. In his next over, Yasir bowled Hope when the batsman missed an attempted pull off a short ball that kept low.He could have had a third when Jason Holder played an inside-out drive in the air to long-off, where Mohammad Nawaz dropped the catch. Instead, it was Sohail who broke the 19-run ninth-wicket partnership, when he angled a ball across Miguel Cummins to beat the bat and hit off stump, much as he had done to Bishoo earlier in the day. Holder and Gabriel then chipped in with a few lusty blows, before Gabriel holed out to mid-on as West Indies were bowled out for 224.West Indies had added 118 for 6 over the course of 49.4 overs of attritional cricket, till they were bowled out at the stroke of tea. Pakistan’s solid start in their second innings left West Indies in need of a far better effort when they bat again.

SL strike after Tharanga ton gives them 537

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsUpul Tharanga anchored Sri Lanka’s innings with an unbeaten 110•AFP

For a brief period on the second morning, Zimbabwe made run-scoring look strenuous. For the rest of the day, Sri Lanka’s batsmen enjoyed a placid Harare surface and a tiring bowling attack to pile on 537. Upul Tharanga, displaying admirable patience, reaped the most rewards on the second day to score to his second Test ton, an unbeaten 110.Tharanga milked the bowling for the majority of his innings, capitalising on anything short with cuts and dabs behind square on the off side. With legspinner Graeme Cremer blocking that option by bowling a fuller length, Tharanga chose to sweep, a lofted heave over midwicket bringing up his fifty. Once he was set, the drives came out and their timing was excellent.Tharanga was assisted by debutant Asela Gunaratne, who auditioned for a regular spot in the Test squad with 54 off 102 balls, compiled with a compact technique and an ability to manoeuvre the field. A tight channel just outside off didn’t work against him: he often opened the face to steer boundaries either side of gully.But, soon after becoming the 18th Sri Lankan batsman to score a fifty on his Test debut, Gunaratne misjudged the length of a short delivery from left-arm spinner Sean Williams. A leading edge off an attempted pull was taken at midwicket.Zimbabwe were sloppy in the field again: Peter Moor missed a stumping and dropped two more catches, in addition to his two spills on the first day. Tharanga was given a life when he checked a drive off Donald Tiripano, but Tino Mawoyo at cover could not hold on to a catch low to his left. It was a disheartening spell of play, especially considering how well Zimbabwe had bowled in the morning.Seamers Chris Mpofu and Mumba kept the ball well outside the off stump and asking overnight batsmen Tharanga and Dhananjaya de Silva to play away from their body if they wanted runs. The batsmen were content in seeing off their opening spell though and only occasionally wafted at the bowlers’ invitingly wide deliveries.In their recent Test series against New Zealand, Zimbabwe’s bowlers displayed competence in consistency but weren’t able to ‘bore’ batsmen for long enough. Newly-appointed coach Heath Streak may have already turned that around. Barring the sporadic overpitched delivery, the bowlers repeatedly hit the same lines and lengths which meant Zimbabwe conceded only 50 runs in the first 24 overs of the morning. And that led to De Silva, on 15 runs in 55 balls, to step out to Cremer. He failed to get to the pitch of the ball, went through with the stroke and ended up skewing a catch long-off.Zimbabwe had another good spell of play towards the end of the day. There were 23 overs to go for stumps but the batsmen – despite a massive deficit – were positive from the outset, shimmying down the track or sweeping hard even if they weren’t to the pitch of the ball, particularly against Rangana Herath. They finished the second day at 88 for 1, trailing by 449 runs.There wasn’t much turn for the spinners; most deliveries skidded on with the arm. One such delivery from Herath rapped opener Brian Chari on the pad in front of leg stump. Umpire Simon Fry raised the finger but it seemed the ball may have been sliding down with the angle. Sri Lanka could have added another wicket in the next over, with Suranga Lakmal inducing Hamilton Masakadza into an expansive drive. The resulting outside edge, though, was dropped by Dimuth Karunaratne at first slip. Masakadza, with 33 off 50 balls and Tino Mawoyo, with 41 off 74 balls and, took Zimbabwe to stumps.

McCullum's surge puts Kent out of game

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ScorecardBrendon McCullum became the latest Middlesex T20 batsman to punish Kent•Getty Images

Middlesex star Brendon McCullum became his county’s latest overseas batsman to put Kent to the sword after hitting an unbeaten 87 that helped down Kent Spitfires by 40 runs in a one-sided NatWest T20 Blast clash in Canterbury.Following in the footsteps of Adam Gilchrist (2010) and Dan Christian (2014), who plundered T20 tons on Kentish soil in Middlesex colours, McCullum – the Kiwi short-form specialist – hit four fours and five sixes during a 57-ball stay that eased his side to a formidable 216 for 6.In his final innings of the summer for Middlesex, McCullum featured in a century opening stand with in-form Dawid Malan (60), the Middlesex captain, to set Spitfires an exacting asking rate of 10.55 an over for victory ­ – a pursuit that proved well beyond Kent’s reach.Fresh from an unbeaten 50 against Somerset at a soggy Lord’s on Thursday evening, Malan soon took a liking to a hard and pacey Canterbury pitch, lofting Matt Hunn’s third ball into the Frank Woolley Stand.In the ninth over Malan hoisted his third six over the long leg ropes off Darren Stevens to raise the Middlesex 100 but, in trying to square drive the next delivery, Malan was superbly caught one-handed by a leaping James Tredwell to go for 60 off 30 balls.McCullum might have gone for 34 had Tredwell clung on to a stinging return catch off his own bowling, but the 34-year-old from Dunedin survived to take his side on to 112 by the innings mid-point.Tredwell made amends in the next over by snaffling a tumbling catch at backward point after Paul Stirling (12) backed away aiming to cut against Stevens.Fabian Cowdrey’s direct hit from deep mid-wicket accounted for James Franklin (1), run out after McCullum had called countryman through for a risky second run and Kent’s fightback continued when Stevens pegged back James Fuller’s off stump.Without seemingly finding his top gear McCullum countered by moving to a 34-ball 50, but Stevens bagged another scalp when John Simpson (2) holed out to long-on to give Stevens figures of four for 31.Having been spanked to most parts of the ground, Hunn enjoyed some consolation by having Nick Gubbins (11) caught off a skier at extra cover, but Kent’s woes continued in the 19th over when umpires Nick Cook and Russell Evans awarded six penalty runs for their slow over rate.McCullum posted his side’s 200 with his fifth maximum of the night but ran out of deliveries in his quest to reach three figures and finished 13 short of an eighth short-form century.Kent’s run chase started disastrously when openers Tom Latham and Joe Denly fell within 14 balls. Latham edged the first ball of the reply from Toby Roland-Jones onto his off stump. Then, in his next over, Roland-Jones had Joe Denly (6) caught off a skier at mid-on.Under the lights and in front of the biggest Canterbury crowd of the summer, Kent captain Sam Northeast mowed a quick 41 before miscuing to short third man.The required run-rate had risen above 13 at the mid-point of the Spitfires reply forcing Blake (3) into the extravagant, only for the left-hander to sky to long-on.With spin from both ends and pace off the ball, Kent started to struggle for boundaries but Cowdrey found the ropes against Stirling to post his 32-ball 50 and Kent’s 100 in the 14th over.The hosts needed a further 85 from the final 30 deliveries but England international Sam Billings soon departed for seven, paddling to short fine leg.Top-scorer Cowdrey reached a career-best, but the right-hander drove to mid-off to go for 71 and Kent’s outside hopes of stealing a third south group win went with him.