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Scorecard
A measured innings by Steve Smith and a punchy one by Brad Haddin helped guide New South Wales to first innings points over Queensland on day two of the Sheffield Shield match in Canberra.After Doug Bollinger’s four wickets helped tip out the Bulls for 243, the Blues stumbled to 4 for 109 before Haddin added 125 with Smith to take their side to the cusp of the lead.While Haddin perished when swinging Nathan Hauritz to deep midwicket on 73, Smith held his nerve and his wicket, forming a useful stand with the captain Steve O’Keefe that has the chance to grow with the NSW lead on the third morning.Smith’s maturity was demonstrated by the pacing of his innings, playing the reserved partner to Haddin before expanding his array of strokes later on in the company of O’Keefe. Hauritz and Luke Feldman grabbed two wickets apiece for the Bulls.

ScorecardEngland’s bowlers were made to work hard for their wickets on an unresponsive pitch•Getty Images

If England had any illusions about the enormity of their task in India, they would have largely been dispelled on the second day against Haryana.Having lost their last five wickets for 14 runs in the morning session, England’s bowlers then spent the rest of the day toiling under a hot sun, claiming just four wickets in 61 overs. Matt Prior was forced off the pitch suffering from a stomach upset and, perhaps more worryingly, the Haryana offspinner, Jayant Yadav, delivered a less than glowing review of England’s performance against spin bowling.While England’s total of 521 underlines the ease with which the batsmen flourished for the main, it is worth noting that against 40.1 overs of spin they lost eight wickets for 177. Yadav, an unremarkable bowler playing only his fifth first-class game, finished with 4 for 110, the best figures of his career to date.It may be wrong to read too much into that. In the latter stages of the innings, with the total over 500 and the lack of intensity in the match situation producing lethargic cricket, England played some carefree strokes. But, given England’s recent history against spin bowling, and bearing in mind that this surface is offering precious little help to bowlers of any type, those statistics will be just a little unsettling.England’s top-order looked comfortable against Yadav. Several batsmen, notably Ian Bell, Nick Compton, Prior and Kevin Pietersen, quickly took advantage of the lack of spin to come down the pitch to drive him over the top. But, far from being impressed by such confidence, Yadav interpreted it as a sign of insecurity.”They looked very uncomfortable against spin,” Yadav said. “That’s why they resorted to playing that way. If you are comfortable you play from the crease. You would use your feet once or twice. But from the outset they had a mindset to attack the spinners, because they were unsure how to play them. The wicket was not offering much to the spinners. It was very slow and didn’t turn much at all. There were uncomfortable.”Whether that is fair or not, it is certainl that England’s tail – without Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad – folded quickly. After Bell fell early, attempting to run one to third man but edging to slip, Samit Patel and Prior added 69 in 12 overs. Both looked in fine form, with Patel registering his third score over 50 in succession on the tour. He could hardly have done more to nail down the No. 6 position for the first Test.But when Prior, perhaps already feeling unwell, skipped down the pitch and missed one, it precipitated a sharp decline. Tim Bresnan and Patel, unwilling to grind out runs with the total already over 500, both slogged down the throat of long-on, before Stuart Meaker’s drive was sharply taken by Amit Mishra in his follow through and Graham Onions was bowled playing back to one that skidded on. So, it was five quick wickets, but a far cry from the hopeless displays that characterised the trip to the UAE earlier in the year.England’s bowlers were also made to work hard. While Nitin Saini, unsettled by a good bouncer, soon steered Bresnan to point, Rahul Dewan and Sunny Singh added 97 for the second wicket. At one stage Singh, a man with a first-class triple century to his name, took Bresnan for three successive boundaries and also skipped down the pitch to drive Patel for successive fours, while Dewan, cutting particularly well, hit Onions for two boundaries in a row and looked a well organised, patient batsman. He enjoyed only one moment of fortune when Prior, clearly unwell by this stage, dropped a tough chance down the leg side off Meaker’s second delivery.Poor Prior was obliged to make two emergency dashes for the bathroom, but England’s initial request to use a substitute wicketkeeper from outside their playing XI was declined by the umpires and match referee. While the convention in English domestic cricket permits a substitution on the grounds that the ECB believes that county cricket could be lessened as a spectacle by the use of a make-shift wicket-keeper, the Laws of the game (Law 2:3 specifically) actually forbid it. Ultimately, however, the BCCI, in an admirably magnanimous gesture, were contacted and made a special dispensation towards England. Jonny Bairstow took the gloves and Prior retired to a dark room.England did eventually break through – Jonathan Trott clinging on to the first of two sharp catches in the slips – but Bresnan later rated the wicket the best for batting he had ever experienced.”That wicket out there is possibly the best I’ve ever bowled on,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s easy-paced, has nice bounce and just comes on to the bat lovely. You get the feeling you’re in an ‘indoor school’ scenario. It’s not doing much off the straight, not seaming, not really bouncing much – and it’s not spinning at all. So it’s difficult.”All three of England’s seamers worked up a decent pace – Meaker in particular – but the line was just a little too wayward to build any pressure. Monty Panesar, in stock bowler mode, gave away little and, on a warm afternoon against determined but limited batsmen, the game drifted in somnambulant fashion. Indeed, it will tell you much about the day that the most entertaining moment came when play was briefly suspended while two monkeys ran across the pitch and enjoyed a romantic liaison at third man. You don’t see too much of that sort of thing at Lord’s.There was better news off the pitch for England, though. Steven Finn has improved more than expected and was able to bowl off his full run-up in the nets and, while Stuart Broad continued to rest and Graeme Swann remains in the UK, both are expected to be available for the first Test.”Finn is off his full run now,” Bresnan said. “That’s a very good sign. With six days to go, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be fully fit. If he can bowl at 90mph plus consistently, and get that bounce and lift, he’s going to add to any team. He would probably get in any side in the world at the minute.”

Although Pakistan spinners gained a stranglehold on the Australian batsmen to make their chase of 199 difficult on a slow wicket in Sharjah, coach Dav Whatmore stressed on his team’s need to “read the game well” to gain positions of advantage in matches, ahead of the second ODI in Abu Dhabi.Pakistan lost their last six wickets for 38 runs to capitulate for 198, which proved costly as the low target allowed Australia to cut out the risks as they pushed for a win.”Reading the game is very important. If the players can read the game well, they are in a better position to respond. It is not just about losing wickets. It is also about why, how and what you do next. We have some wonderful young players and they have to change their thinking sooner rather than later,” Whatmore said.Saeed Ajmal took three wickets and Mohammad Hafeez two as all six wickets fell to spinners, who together maintained an economy rate of 3.20. Whatmore praised them for putting Australia under pressure early.”Our spinners did well against Australia. Their economy rate was very good. We bowled like I expected them to. But credit has to be given to Australia for the way they countered our spinners. But if they had a few more runs to chase, it would have been a different kettle of fish.”I’m disappointed that we could not win the first game. We made a couple of errors.”

Ray “Slug” Jordon, the former Victoria wicketkeeper who toured India and South Africa with the Australians in 1969-70, has died at the age of 75. Jordon, who was well known as a sports commentator and Australian rules football coach as well as for his cricket career, had struggled with ill health since suffering a stroke 13 years ago.As a cricketer, Jordon played 90 first-class matches, mostly for Victoria during an 11-year career, and he was renowned for his work up to the stumps. The former Test fast bowler Max Walker made his Sheffield Shield debut in 1968-69 with Jordon as captain, and he said he would remember Jordon for his “blunt, forthright” nature, as well as his skills as a player.”He was my first captain at Victoria. I guess some people come into your life and they change the way you act and think forever,” Walker told ESPNcricinfo. “The Slug had an amazing way with language. If you were on the opposition side you’d probably reckon his tongue was a bit like a chainsaw. It landed with impact and nothing was sacred or off limits.”It was Jordon’s way with words – and not mincing them – that made him a fine Australian rules coach, particularly at the Under-19 level. It also made him a fascinating commentator, and his association with Walker continued when they were both part of the cricket commentary team for the radio station 2UE after their playing days ended.”On 2UE we had Richie Benaud, Dennis Cometti, Slug Jordon and Max Walker. They were pioneering days,” Walker said. “Richie Benaud and myself would walk out of the television commentary and it was like changing gears, you’d have the images up on screen and then all of a sudden on radio you had to paint the pictures yourself, and Ray Jordon was brilliant at that.”He was the stand-out, a bit like Kerry O’Keeffe is now. What a contrast it was, Slug sitting next to Richie Benaud, but he was never intimidated by anyone in any environment and that’s what we loved him for.”Although Jordon did not play a Test, he came close on the 1969-70 tours of India and South Africa, where he was the reserve gloveman behind Brian Taber. Many years later, Ian Chappell recounted in the book how the captain Bill Lawry had considered picking Jordon in the Test side during the South African leg of that tour, but was persuaded not to by Chappell.Chappell was convinced that during a tour match in India earlier on the same trip, Erapalli Prasanna had been cheated of his wicket when Jordon was standing up to the stumps to the fast-medium bowler Alan Connolly and the ball had bounced off the keeper’s pads and back on to the stumps, and Jordon appealed for bowled.Whether that was what happened remains a matter of debate, but Chappell told Lawry he would not play in the same Test team as Jordon, and Jordon was duly not selected. Connolly, who was a state team-mate of Jordon with Victoria, said his work up to the stumps to pace bowlers was extraordinary.”He was the very, very best keeper of fast-medium bowling on the stumps around. There were no others,” Connolly told ESPNcricinfo. “I bowled to plenty of the other great name keepers but none of them had the courage to be able to stand up to the stumps and put their bones at risk like he did. He had very good hands. That was his forte, keeping up on the stumps and taking medium-pace. We had a very good rapport and he knew my bowling inside out, knew what was coming.”He always had colourful language. Stump-mike wouldn’t have worked with him, it would have had to be turned off all the time. But he really made playing cricket on a 22-yard hard strip of dirt a pleasure.”

Mitchell Marsh, the Western Australia allrounder, has been sent back home to Perth from the Centre of Excellence as a disciplinary measure. Marsh was found “unfit to train” on Saturday after a night out.”While the incident in isolation was not serious, he was already on a final warning,” a Cricket Australia release said. “As such, it was decided he should be sent home to Perth.”Marsh, 20, who has played three Twenty20 internationals and one ODI for Australia so far, was named one of the stand-out Australian players to watch out for by Shane Warne earlier in the year. He captained Australia U-19 to victory in the U-19 World Cup in 2010, and was part of the Perth Scorchers side that made it to the final of the Big Bash League. But a stress injury to his back in February this year meant he had to miss the rest of the domestic season.

Gloucestershire will go to Bristol City Council again on Wednesday to try and have their revised planning application for the redevelopment of Nevil Road approved. It is a crucial day for the future of the club. The rejection of their revised plans could see the county forced out of Bristol, their home since being formed in 1870.As with the initial application, it has been approved by the council planning officer. But the council’s planning committee ignored the advice of the planning officer in turning down the first application by six votes to four in January.The rejection had immediate implications, with the future of the club thrown into doubt. The club suggested they would be forced out of Bristol and were contacted by Gloucester City Council about a permanent move to the city; Filton Airfield has also been explored as a possible alternative venue. There were also ramifications for their playing staff as Chris Taylor left the county – his new deal was dependent on the ground application being approved.But Gloucestershire decided to revise their plans and reapply. The main objection was the height of the flats to be built at the Ashley Down end of the ground – the development that funds the £10 million project. That has been reduced by a storey and the club have also sought to significantly improve the sustainability of the fabric of the building.The development is necessary for Bristol to meet ECB standards for international cricket. The capacity will be raised to around 7,000, with a further 10,000 temporary seats available. A new media centre will also be built into the pavilion’s redeveloped frontage. Bristol lost its international scheduled for 2013, between England and New Zealand, but Gloucestershire hope to be able to stage an ODI against India in 2014. Failure to secure planning permission could see international cricket lost at Bristol forever.Gloucestershire chief executive, Tom Richardson, said: “We are pleased that our proposals are recommended for approval. We have worked hard over the past few months, with local residents, councillors and community groups to respond, where we have been able, to their concerns. We feel that the development plans have been improved by this consultation and we hope that this is recognised when the application is debated and decided upon by members at the committee meeting.”

Match facts

Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Start time 1600 (1030GMT)Dale Steyn needs more support•AFP

Big picture

Deccan Chargers have had a week to get over the last-ball heist by Rohit Sharma in Visakhapatnam, a game the Chargers shouldn’t have lost. For a team struggling on form and balance, they had an opportunity to put one across the tournament contenders, but panicked. It could have been a different story if they hadn’t bowled so many full tosses, and if Dale Steyn had more support. Against Rajasthan Royals, they will start as underdogs.The Royals hit the summit of the points table after their win against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Ajinkya Rahane slaughtered the relatively inexperienced Indian bowlers in the attack and the Chargers bowling attack isn’t the most threatening. There could be a case to give Brad Hodge an opportunity right at the top of the order, if Rahul Dravid moves down.

Players to watch

At this point, the Chargers would love to have a bowler as good as Dale Steyn to partner him. His countryman Richard Levi got a working over in Visakhapatnam, playing, missing, weaving and losing his middle stump. He bowled with the kind of pace rarely seen on Indian pitches and conceded just 12 off his four overs for his three wickets. In hindsight, his captain should have bowled him for the final over.Siddharth Trivedi has been an unsung hero for the Royals, picking up 47 wickets in 50 games overall. He compensates for his lack of pace with his nagging line, bowled from back of a length. He attacked the stumps regularly against Royal Challengers, getting all wickets bowled. On a slow pitch, he can be difficult to get away.

2011 head-to-head

These teams played each other just once last season, with the Royals chasing down 138 easily winning by eight wickets in Hyderabad. Johan Botha was the top scorer for the Royals with an unbeaten 67.

Stats and trivia

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSachin Tendulkar was bamboozled by a Sunil Narine offbreak•AFP

It had all built up to that one moment. Gautam Gambhir, playing three spinners against the home side’s decision to stick to three fast bowlers at the Wankhede Stadium, had hoped at the toss that the pitch would turn later. Kolkata Knight Riders had just about recovered from a horror start to post a decent 140. Mumbai Indians had found run-scoring as difficult as Knight Riders had, but had lost only two wickets at the halfway stage.The last ball of the 11th over, Sunil Narine bowled a good length delivery to Sachin Tendulkar, who went for the cut. The ball spun in a mile and cannoned into off stump off bat and pad. Had both not come in the way, it would have taken out leg stump. With one of the game’s greats not being able to pick Narine, the rest of the Mumbai Indians line-up had little chance. He finished with 4 for 15; had Lasith Malinga not got six off a dropped catch on the straight boundary, Narine could have had 5 for 9.The 32-run margin was substantial in the end, and it was down to how swiftly Knight Riders barged in to the opening created by Tendulkar’s dismissal. The pressure was already on Mumbai Indians after Herschelle Gibbs had crawled to 13 off 24 deliveries, four of those runs being overthrows. When Tendulkar fell, the asking-rate had touched nine. Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard had hunted down a much stiffer target against Royal Challengers Bangalore a couple of day ago. It wasn’t to be today. Not on this pitch.The Wankhede crowd waited for their all-star line-up to fire. They waited for the big hits to come. In vain. With 58 needed off 28, Shakib Al Hasan lured Rayudu out with a wider one to give Brendon McCullum an easy stumping. Jacques Kallis, who had got a ripper from RP Singh first ball, had Pollard edging a slow bouncer to McCullum. Next ball, he trapped Dwayne Smith in front with a skiddy delivery which nipped in. Rohit Sharma was Mumbai Indians’ only hope now; Narine had him caught by a diving McCullum off a leading edge. The rest caved in.Smith’s fall had made it 96 for 6, exactly the same perilous position Knight Riders had found themselves in after being stunned early by an atrocious umpiring decision and a terrific ball from RP Singh. Their lower order and Yusuf Pathan rode on some fortune, though, to take 44 off the final 26 balls.Stroke-making was hard as the usual Wankhede bounce combined with the ball not coming on. The pitch did not have any role to play in the first dismissal, though; umpire Subroto Das had. He adjudged McCullum lbw though the batsman was at least two metres out of his crease to a ball that pitched outside leg and would have missed off. Knight Riders were to get another rough one later, when Tendulkar was caught plumb in front first ball by Shakib, only to be denied by umpire Billy Doctrove.RP Singh followed up the McCullum wicket by uprooting Kallis’ off stump with a ripper, getting a short of a length ball to swing in and zip through the gate. A stunned Knight Riders tamely allowed the home bowlers to build up the pressure.Even Gautam Gambhir, who has had a golden run this season, found it difficult to score, and could not capitalise on two let-offs. He was dropped by the wicketkeeper and by Tendulkar at third man, but was bowled on 27 as he missed a Pollard cutter.Knight Riders continued to struggle to time their shots, with Tiwary pottering to 17 off 27 deliveries at one stage. An inside edge off Pollard brought him four, and he hammered the next ball past mid-off for another. Harbhajan Singh and Malinga were hit down the ground for sixes.From 6 for 2 to 89 for 3 seemed a creditable recovery, given the pitch, but three wickets for seven runs nearly undid Tiwary’s efforts. Yusuf, caught off a RP Singh no-ball, could not do much to break his poor run, but along with the lower order, managed to get Knight Riders to 140.It hadn’t looked to be a challenging total at the break, it turned out to be a match-winning one, and all but took Knight Riders to the playoffs.

Saeed Ajmal, the driving force behind Pakistan’s Test series victory against England, is to pull out of his deal to be one of Worcestershire’s overseas players in this year’s Friends Life t20 competition.Ajmal will cite a need to manage his workload ahead of additional international commitments for Pakistan, who are confident of announcing a series against Sri Lanka shortly.Ajmal’s wife has also recently given birth to the couple’s third child, a son, who predictably has already been nicknamed Teesra – the ‘third one’ – after his latest mystery delivery.It will be a major disappointment for Worcestershire, who had signed one of the most appealing cricketers in the game. Ajmal was also their best bowler in last year’s T20 competition. He claimed 16 wickets in eight games, conceding fewer than six runs an over and averaging 11.37 per wicket.Worcestershire have yet to hear official confirmation of Ajaml’s withdrawal, though they were aware of plans for the Sri Lanka series which have been mooted for a few weeks. They have yet to make contingency plans.The PCB has also yet to decide whether to allow Junaid Khan to play for Lancashire. The left-arm fast bowler has recently recovered from knee injury and, while he has applied for a No Objection Certificate, the PCB have yet to grant it.

AB de Villiers, the South Africa limited-overs captain, has said the team has started to respond to his style of captaincy, as was evident from South Africa’s 3-0 trouncing of New Zealand in the one-day series. de Villiers took over the ODI captaincy from Graeme Smith, who is still the Test captain, after the 2011 World Cup, and has led the side to six victories in eight games.”I like to think that I have my own style of captaincy that’s a bit different to Biff’s [Smith’s],” de Villiers said after South Africa won the third ODI, in Auckland. “I still believe he is an unbelievable captain, but hopefully my style is taking off a bit and the team is getting used to how I do things.”de Villiers also said he believed the ODI team was as good as the Test side despite being less experienced. “I wouldn’t say our best format is Tests. Our limited-overs side is less experienced but it’s got good energy and is improving quickly. The Test side is a settled side with street-smart cricketers. Both sides are strong in different areas but both try to play a similar brand and quality of cricket.”South Africa now play three Tests against New Zealand, with the first starting on March 7, and de Villiers said that Smith and Jacques Kallis, who both missed the third ODI due to niggles, would be ready for the Tests. Kallis pulled out on the morning of the third ODI, forcing South Africa to make three changes to their XI and open the batting with fast bowler Wayne Parnell; but de Villiers joked that Kallis was just getting on in years and would recover for the Tests.”It was a little all over this place this morning when Jacquesy pulled out,” de Villiers said. “He had a very stiff back and could hardly move. So we were caught offside a bit. But the younger guys – like Marchant and Wayne Parnell, who hasn’t played a lot on this tour – came in and performed impressively.”Jacque should be fine for the Test. He’s just getting a bit older. The mattress he slept on probably wasn’t to his liking and gave him a stiff back. I, like Jacques, suffer from back spasms, so I know that the mattress can play a big role. Sometimes I can hardly get up.”Jacques has always had a bit of an issue with his back. He bowled a lot in the first two games, probably more than I had originally planned, so it’s not such a bad thing to rest him and keep him fresh for the Tests.”Smith suffered a blow on the arm before the first ODI and though he played in that game, he sat out the next two. de Villiers said it was just a precautionary move to leave him out. “Graeme will be ready for the Tests, I’m 100% sure of that. His arm is still sore. We waited till this morning and it wasn’t feeling so good, so we decided that him being captain for the Tests, and with this series already won, he would be better off resting for the Tests.”New Zealand’s batsmen have been troubled by the bounce some of South Africa’s tall bowlers have got. The 6’5” Morne Morkel took a five-wicket haul in the second ODI, and his replacement for the third game, the 6’3” Marchant de Lange, bagged four wickets on ODI debut. de Villiers said there was no specific plan to bounce out New Zealand’s batsmen.”I don’t think we are really focussed on using bounce as a weapon. Some of our bowlers are naturally tall, like Marchant and Morne, so they do get a bit of extra bounce. I personally have trouble facing our bowlers in the nets sometimes, so it’s a natural skill they have. We will just be focussed on the basics and hitting the right areas with good pace. We’ve got variety in our bowling attack so I’m sure the wickets will come.”