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ScorecardJacques Rudolph continued his remarkable run of good scores as Yorkshire gained a hard-earned victory over the Netherlands at Headingley to make it four consecutive wins in Group B of the Clydesdale Bank 40.Chasing a target of 201, Yorkshire got there by four wickets with just three balls to spare, Rudolph leading the way with an unbeaten 83 to go alongside his previous scores in the competition of 101 not out, 83 and 26.Once again, Yorkshire were given an excellent start by skipper Andrew Gale and Rudolph, who put on 81 in 20 overs before Gale, having made 38, stepped out of his crease against the impressive spin of Mohammad Kashif and was neatly stumped by Atse Buurman.Rudolph, who had made rapid progress off the new ball, was forced to treat the spinners with greater respect and Adam Lyth hit five fours in his 29 before he attempted to steer Mark Jonkman to third man and was bowled off-stump.Kashif had Gerard Brophy caught at short mid-wicket in his final over and, with 60 still required from the last ten overs, it was Joe Sayers who boosted the scoring by taking two fours in an over from Pieter Seelaar which cost 13 runs.The visitors’ hopes were kept alive as both Sayers and Adil Rashid fell lbw and when Richard Pyrah became Michael Dighton’s second victim Yorkshire still required 12 from 13 deliveries. David Wainwright relieved the pressure in the penultimate over with a lofted boundary back past the bowler and Rudolph saw Yorkshire home with a four through mid-wicket which brought him his seventh boundary off the 100 balls he received.Put in to bat, the Netherlands lost a quick wicket when Nick Statham chopped Tino Best into his stumps but the West Indian paceman was then slammed for three fours during the remainder of the over by Dighton, the Tasmania batsman who is the Dutch side’s overseas player.Best had to be temporarily removed from the attack but returned later to dismiss the hard-hitting Dighton and his fourth-wicket partner, Bas Zuiderent, the former Sussex batsman, in consecutive overs.He bowled Zuiderent, making room to cut, for 26 after the pair had added 56, and then knocked back the stumps of the dangerous Dighton for 62 from 64 deliveries with six fours and a six.Best and Steven Patterson each finished with three wickets but they were unable to prevent a late burst of scoring from Mudassar Bukhari, who cracked the last ball of the innings from Patterson for six to finish unbeaten on 49 from 40 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Graeme Swann was unveiled on Monday night as the ECB’s Cricketer of the Year, following a remarkable 12 months in which his attacking offspin and hard-hitting lower-order batting have proved instrumental in one of the most successful years that the England cricket team has ever known.Swann claimed 99 wickets at 26.26 in 45 matches for England, across all forms of the game, and picked up the accolade – which was voted for by the British media – at an awards ceremony in the Long Room at Lord’s. He beat off competition from Stuart Broad, Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood and James Anderson.”I am absolutely delighted to win this award,” said Swann. “It’s been a magical year for me with so many high points. I love playing for England and hope this award can be a stepping stone for even greater things both personally and as part of a successful England team.”I would like to take this opportunity to thank my team-mates for the support they’ve given me on and off the field over the last year. As I’m sure you can see from the pictures on TV we work hard as a team and take real pleasure in each other’s successes. The atmosphere and bond we have in the dressing room at the moment makes winning that much sweeter.”Swann picked up five five-wicket hauls in all internationals in 2009-10, including a best haul of 5 for 28 against Australia at the Riverside last September. As a batsman, he averaged over 25 with a top-score of 85 against South Africa in the first Test at Centurion in December. Following a career-best ten-wicket haul in the Chittagong Test against Bangladesh in March, he rose to become the No.2 bowler in Test cricket.Meanwhile, Katherine Brunt was named as the ECB Women’s Cricketer of the Year, an award she first picked up in 2006, having produced matchwinning figures of 3 for 6 from four overs in the final of the ICC World Twenty20 against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2009. She also claimed 5 for 22 in the second ODI against India in Bangalore, after which she was ranked as the third-best bowler in women’s cricket.”I am honoured to win the ECB Women’s Cricketer of the Year Award for second time,” said Brunt. “It’s been a mixed year for the team but along the way we’ve had some amazing highs such as winning the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in 2009.”I’ve been pleased with my bowling performances over the last year, but I’m always striving to take it to the next level. My ultimate goal is to be the best bowler in the world in the women’s game. It’s great to be part of a successful team with so many talented players and makes taking this award even more special.”The 17-year-old allrounder Chris Edwards became the second cricketer to win the ECB Disability Cricketer of the Year Award, after Nathan Foy in 2009. He first played for the England Learning Disability Team in 2008 aged 15, going on to score 64 on debut. Chris has since gone on to cement his position in the team as an opening batsman whilst his seam bowling has also picked up useful wickets.Commenting on the announcement of the three winners, David Collier, ECB chief executive said: “This has been a year to remember for England’s cricketers. In the last twelve months our men’s and women’s national teams have both secured an Ashes victory and an ICC World Twenty20 trophy. Whilst the England Learning Disability Team reached the final of the Tri-Nations Trophy at the MCG and in doing so recording their best-ever result.”On behalf of everyone at ECB I would like to congratulate Graeme Swann, Katherine Brunt and Chris Edwards on their respective Awards and take this opportunity to thank all those who have represented England over the past twelve months – your achievements have given us an enormous amount of enjoyment and have helped ensure cricket remains the nation’s No. 1 summer sport.”

Apart from the obvious issues relating to the fate of Lalit Modi and the charges against him, there was one key question surrounding Monday’s press conference following the IPL governing council meeting: What was the council’s responsibility in overseeing the working of the IPL, and what was the extent of its culpability in the current mess?The response of Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, was three-fold: first, the council was not informed of most of the chairman’s work; second, that it was not the job of the council members to scrutinise the work anyway, and, third, that there was a full-fledged secretariat – and the hired help of IMG – to ensure things were run in a professional manner.”An institution functions on trust,” Manohar said. “If I have to do all the jobs, I don’t need executives. Why do I need a secretary? Why do I need other people? Because even in your institution your managing director does not look into where you’re going, what you’re doing and if you commit something wrong, your managing director is not responsible for that.”If you are expecting every governing council member to come here every morning at 10 and leave at 10 in the night to look at what is happening everywhere, then we don’t need the other staff which is there. Then we don’t need to pay IMG Rs 27 crore [approx $6 million] and we don’t need a CEO to running the IPL. It is their job to do all these things.”He expanded on the theme, essentially saying the council entrusted Modi with running of the league and left it at that. “Any public organization functions on trust because each and every person can’t go and check every aspect or each and every document in an organization. There are huge companies that are run by people and those people, once a decision is approved, don’t go and look at the document whether it is properly executed or not. It is the job of the professionals and the executives who are appointed by the institution to do that job.”An allegation is being made and the media is saying all the members of the governing council are party to all the decisions. Now most of the contracts have been entered into without the consent of the governing council and they’ve been brought to the governing council after the contract was signed. So the governing council has no other option and are presented with a fait accompli,” Manohar reason, before citing an example.”I came here [Mumbai] three days in advance to look into all the documents and contracts in view of the ongoing controversy. I called Sundar Raman [the IPL CEO] because on that day in the evening there was an IPL awards function. I asked for the contract of that function and I was told ‘Sir, there was no contract. The contract terms were finalised last night.’ And this he informs me at 3 in the afternoon when the function is going to be held at 7 in the evening.”Thereafter, if this issue comes before the governing council, what do you expect the governing council to do? Do you expect the governing council to say, ‘No, we reject this contract and we’re going to cancel this function’, when the function is already over,” Manohar asked.Manohar’s apportioning of the blame squarely on Modi, absolving the governing council of its responsibility in the matter, is at odds with the views of MAK Pataudi, a council member and now one of the three former cricketers entrusted with working out a mechanism for the next IPL season. Pataudi had last week said the governing council had been a failure because the members should have been more aware of what was happening.Manohar was also questioned on the issue of professionalism within the IPL, in answer to which he pointed to the appointment of IMG to help run the tournament. “As far as the IPL is concerned, we knew that this is a huge and valuable property. Therefore we appointed professionals like the IMG, who conduct tournaments like Wimbledon and the FIFA world cup. And we are paying them a huge sum of Rs 27 crore for all operational things.”It the duty of IMG, because they are the corporate entity and their job is to look after the professional things and the normal functioning of IPL games. We also appointed a professional CEO, Sundar Raman, for the IPL who is also paid a huge salary. We have a separate staff for IPL and so I don’t understand what media means by saying `professional people’ for running the event,” he said.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outThe reverse-sweep that won Punjab their first game in the IPL this year•Indian Premier League

Mediocrity met mediocrity on Sunday night, and somehow produced the first tie of the third edition of the IPL, leading to a Super Over, which gave Kings XI Punjab an unlikely victory. Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh managed 82 runs in the 10 overs they faced between them, but the others batted poorly to score just 54 in the other 10. In the chase, even after a 65-run opening stand, the Chennai Super Kings batsmen contrived to be needing 10 runs off the last over. Fittingly for a match of low quality, the last over of the regulation game – bowled by Irfan and faced by Albie Morkel and R Ashwin – read: edge for four, missed slog for two byes thanks to an overthrow, single, another edge for two, a missed waft, and a powerful, nervous hit straight to mid-off with one needed off the last ball.Juan Theron, playing his first IPL match and Punjab’s bowling hero in the regulation time, bowled Matthew Hayden off the second ball in the Super Over, and despite a slogged six from Suresh Raina, once again 10 were needed in the last over. Muttiah Muralitharan was hit for a six first ball by Mahela Jayawardene, but he came back with a wicket and a dot to set the match up again. Yuvraj chose that extremely nervous moment to execute a delicate reverse-sweep, a shot he hardly ever uses, to finish the game off with two balls to go.By halftime, though, Murali, the second Sri Lankan spinner to bowl the losing Super Over in as many tied matches in IPL, wouldn’t have expected to play any further role in the game, let alone bowl the pressure over. In regulation time, he was the perfect spy, taking out two of the most prolific batsmen from his country, with 3 for 16 in his four overs. It wasn’t as if Chennai needed any extra-ordinary bowling effort: the Punjab batsmen were hapless again.Irfan, promoted to open the innings, and Yuvraj would have felt the rest of the team had turned on them. They got zero support from the other end, and the two batted together for only nine deliveries. There was a time when Irfan had scored 29 off 17 balls with five crunchy boundaries, but thanks to the struggling Ravi Bopara and Kumar Sangakkara, Punjab were 30 for 1 after five overs. Yuvraj, too, scored 43 out of the 70 runs that came while he was at the crease. He got to face only 28 out of 64 deliveries bowled when in the middle.Between those spells of ordinary cricket from Punjab came Murali’s genius. In his first over, inside the Powerplay, he beat Sangakarra twice in the flight, but the real beauty came in his second. This time he didn’t bowl it flat when he saw Sangakkara charging down, just got it to dip more and then the bounce left him high and dry.Jayawardene was made to look poorer than that. Murali first beat a late-cut with a topspinner from round the stumps, and then got a flighted offbreak to turn enough to beat the bat and get an lbw decision. At 64 for 4 after 11 overs, Punjab were looking at a freak innings from Yuvraj to keep them alive.Yuvraj hit four fours and two sixes, but Mohammad Kaif and Manvinder Bisla at the other end wasted too many deliveries. The trend for Punjab, until this game, had been for one aspect of their game to do well, and the other to let it down. Still, to defend 136 against an in-form Hayden was too much to ask for. What’s more, they had dropped their only bowler who could produce wickets, Sreesanth.Hayden was not at his murderous best, but he was good enough he overtake Yusuf Pathan for maximum sixes in the IPL so far, and leave Chennai only 72 to get off the 68 deliveries. Punjab, the whipping boys of the tournament until then, used to letting matches slip after getting into winning positions, were about to turn one around from a losing position.Their newest player, Theron, a medium-pacer, provided the turning point. Parthiv Patel dropped one at his feet and called Suresh Raina for a single, but Theron ran faster than Raina and kicked the ball into the stumps, from a good-length area on the pitch. Umpire Daryl Harper, who had earlier called a clear six a four, joined in the fun, sending M Vijay off when the ball was clearly sliding down leg.About five overs later, the six call was corrected, and Parthiv was seeing Chennai through with what seemed a sensible fifty. Then came the rush of the blood. Just after having hit a boundary, he jumped out to Piyush Chawla and was stumped, leaving Chennai 16 to get off 16. Morkel and Manpreet Gony, who had earlier bowled poorly to give 20 runs in two overs, started slogging as if the requirement was sixty and not sixteen.Theron, bowling the 19th over, only had to be straight when Gony produced the worst bit of cricket on a night that had had its fair share already. Throwing his front leg out of the way, and his head up, he slogged and lost his middle stump. An injury had confined Justin Kemp to the dressing room and Ashwin, like a hare in the headlights, couldn’t do much with the last two deliveries of that over, setting up an exciting finale.

The Australian Cricketers’ Association remains hopeful that its IPL security requirements can be met despite Lalit Modi’s blunt criticism of players’ concerns this week. The ACA chief executive, Paul Marsh, said there were positive signs that the IPL’s security firm was taking seriously the list of safety issues that worried players after an independent report found that a terrorist threat against the league was credible.”Our security adviser Reg Dickason has been working with the IPL’s security adviser, Nicholls-Steyn,” Marsh told Cricinfo. “They’ve been working for a few days now on what we’ve identified as the issues that have come out of various player meetings.”Nicholls-Steyn is aware of those and they are working through the issues and we’re making some positive progress. It’s probably looked more positive over the last few days than what it has [before]. There’s still 15 days to go before the event starts and things can happen very quickly in India, we’ve seen that over the years.”Marsh stressed that the Australian players involved in the IPL still wanted to go ahead and take part but as it is not a national team tour, the decision remains with the individual players. Modi has been vociferous on Twitter in the past couple of days, insisting the IPL would not “be dictated by players associations where to play” and that anyone who pulled out might be placing in jeopardy their future participation in the tournament.Modi also had a dig at Ricky Ponting and said he had heard that Ponting was encouraging players not to go to the IPL. There had been reports that Ponting had disagreed with some senior freelance players, including Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne, at an ACA meeting on Tuesday but Marsh said the reports of a rift between players were untrue.”I presented to the players the information that we had and opened it up for discussion … like any meeting I’d have with the players,” he said. “Like just about every meeting, when you’re dealing with a difficult issue, there are different points of view and there were definitely different points of view in this particular meeting. The players were completely unified on the position that they wanted to go.”However, there was one school thinking they would only go if our security adviser, Reg Dickason who we trust, believes it’s safe to go. There was another school that said it’s a risk-and-reward type situation, would we go regardless. We got to a position at the end of it where we all said okay, let’s put back to the IPL the things that we need so that all the players can go.”If we can resolve those issues with them, and that is our hope, then we would expect to get to a point where our security adviser recommends that it’s safe for the players to go. If we can’t overcome these issues then the opposite is the most likely scenario. This is a decision to be made by each individual player.”

Cricket is historically slow at grasping the nettle but few countries have been able to resist the buzz of lucrative Twenty20 tournaments, and former England captain Michael Vaughan believes the format can only be good for Test cricket and, specifically, English cricket. While other cricket boards have embraced the lucrative Champions League Twenty20, the ECB has been keen to keep a lid on the excitement and is apparently in no mood to change its domestic calendar to accommodate the tournament this September.Vaughan, in Bangalore as part of the England Under-18 set-up, reiterated his view that embracing such Twenty20 tournaments could only be beneficial to English cricket.”I think the game’s moved. In a positive sense, it has gone forward. Test-match cricket is still the ultimate game, and the lads coming up all want to play for England in the Test arena,” he told Cricinfo. “But they realise that Twenty20 plays a big part in the county and international setup and of course with all the leagues coming up. They’ll all first and foremost want to play for England but they will be aware of the big leagues being set up and we need to find the right balance. We need to embrace Twenty20.”If you’re good enough to play one format you’re generally good enough to play all three, and players will want to develop their skills in all three, and that can only be good for English cricket. If you’re talking about back in county cricket, where players are already established, then yes, playing in Twenty20 tournaments gives the players much to gain from.”Vaughan recently criticised the ECB for its “arrogant” stance against the BCCI and its role in promoting the Champions League, writing in the that county players must play in such tournaments “to earn a few quid and get a massive buzz from playing in big grounds in front of decent crowds, something they never experience at home”.He believes the ECB in particular is still wearing blinkers and that is important that England, at the grassroots level, embraces the opportunity to participate in international Twenty20 leagues with an eye on the next generation of players. “It can only be good and you’ve got to start at an early stage,” he said. “Look at the lads touring here for this short trip. They need exposure, as do the players in county cricket, and nowadays that comes largely through Twenty20.”Twenty20 is positive because Test cricket needs to be looked at. We need good teams playing each other and playing attractive, aggressive cricket. The product has to be good. If we can produce a more exciting kind of Test cricket where you hit the ball harder and score faster that’s going to be more entertaining to watch, so in the long run Test cricket will gain from what Twenty20 has brought.”As a former international, Vaughan’s role with the U-18 squad is that of batting consultant, but his responsibilities also include sharing his experiences with the youngsters. More than just the technical aspects of the game, he hoped such visits to India would enhance the players’ minds and views and prepare them for the future.”I’ve played a number of Tests in the subcontinent, more over in Sri Lanka, and a lot of one-dayers, so I know how to talk to the lads,” he said. “It’s all about adapting to the conditions – the heat, the humidity, especially, and the pitches. Experiences like this – being away from home for two weeks for the first time – allows you get used to a different kind of lifestyle, food, and surfaces. Importantly they get to play a lot of spinners, with their varieties. Hopefully they can develop as players and as people and that’s good for them and for English cricket. We need that.”

East Zone

A fine bowling effort led by Ranadeb Bose and a strokeful hundred from Shreevats Goswami handed Bengal their first win in two games, while Jharkhand’s fortunes swung the other way at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. After a reasonably sound start from the Jharkhand openers, Bose vindicated Bengal’s decision to field by dismissing Sachin Prasad for 9. Ashok Dinda quickly removed Ishank Jaggi for a blob to put the skids on the innings. Saurabh Tiwary tried to counterattack with Siddhartha Sinha, but Sayan Mondal dismissed both in the 16th over of the innings, after which survival became the need of the hour for Jharkhand. Rajiv Kumar dropped anchor to score an unbeaten 69, but Bose skittled the rest to ensure that the innings folded under 200. With little scoreboard pressure, Goswami settled for a big innings, and struck 16 fours and a six in an attractive innings. Wriddhiman Saha supported him will with a chirpy 51, and their 133-run stand took their side home with a bonus point.Tripura made Orissa sweat every inch of the way, but the hosts eventually prevailed by two wickets at the Ravenshaw College Ground in Cuttack. Debasis Mohanty was the hero, as he seized the opportunity to bowl first to finish with exemplary figures of 4 for 14 in his 10 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals and only a fighting 30-ball 45 from Sukanta Reang lifted the score to 199. Orissa’s chase got off to the worst possible start, with Wilkin Mota trapping Bikas Pati in front first ball. Natraj Behera calmed the nerves in the company of Subit Biswal and Halhadar Das, to put his side in command at 120 for 2, before things started to go awry. Mota prised out three, while Tushar Saha accounted for two, as the score sank to 158 for 7. Rakesh Mohanty and Alok Chandra Sahoo then played calm hands to take their side home.

North Zone

Haryana romped to their second successive win with a comprehensive show against Himachal Pradesh in a low-scorer at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Rohtak. Hopes of a Haryana win were rather bleak at the halfway mark after they had stuttered along to 188, in the face of some impressive bowling. Ashok Thakur went for just 15 in his spell of ten overs, but the damage was done by left-armer Kuldeep Diwan, who picked 5 for 39. Defending a modest target, Haryana required a strong allround effort, and the opening bowlers – Sanjay Budhwar and Joginer Sharma – produced exactly that. Wickets fell at regular intervals, four of them to Budhwar and two to Joginder, as Himachal folded dramatically for 88 in the 34th over.Punjab outlasted Delhi in a run-fest at the Shah Satnam Ji Stadium in Sirsa. Delhi’s openers gave their side a superlative start, raising 153 in 20 overs before Unmukt Chand fell for a ballistic 59-ball 74. Shikhar Dhawan was equally punitive in his 70-ball 83, but he fell soon after, as Delhi under-achieved in the latter part of their innings. Virat Kohli kept the attack going with a typically stroke-filled 71, but his dismissal in the 42nd over was crucial in letting Punjab claw their way back into the game. Jaskaran Singh picked four scalps in the last ten overs to contain the score – if such a verb can be used in the context – to 338. Karan Goel and Ravi Inder Singh set about the chase, by launching a stable platform for the middle order to charge from. Their 124-run stand was in contrast to the one between the Delhi openers, and came off 140 balls when Goel fell for 68. Ravi Inder blocked one end up, while Mandeep Singh launched a terrific charge in which no bowler was spared. After Ravi Inder fell, two short of a well-deserved hundred, Bipul Sharma walked out and matched Mandeep shot for shot, as 61 runs came in 46 balls. Mandeep’s dismissal at 270 triggered Bipul to up the ante even further as Punjab blasted 72 off 45 balls to finish the game in the final over.Jasvir Singh’s unbeaten 112 obliterated the efforts of Ian Dev Singh who also scored the same number of runs, as Services handed Jammu & Kashmir their second successive defeat at the Tata Energy Research Institute Oval in Gurgaon. After electing to field, Services struck in the very first over, as Imraj Thakur fell to Fazil Mohammed for a duck. After a couple of steady stands, worth 43 for the second wicket and 80 for the third, the J&K innings lost its way. That they managed 232 was down to the efforts of Ian Dev who carried the innings on his shoulders. He hit nine fours and a six off 141 balls before falling in the 48th over. Despite losing their openers early, Services barely broke into a seat, thanks to Jasvir’s calm knock. He was supported well by Yashpal Singh who contributed 63 in a partnership worth 130 that took their side to the threshold. Jasvir stayed on till the end to secure a seven-wicket win.

England have announced they intend to lodge an official complaint following Graeme Smith’s controversial reprieve by the third umpire, Daryl Harper, during the second day of the fourth and final Test at Johannesburg.Smith, who top-scored for South Africa with 105, his 20th Test century, appeared to be given a let-off on 15 when he attempted a cut against Ryan Sidebottom and appeared to feather a nick through to the keeper, Matt Prior.Although the onfield umpire, Tony Hill, initially turned down England’s appeals, the captain, Andrew Strauss, immediately used one of his team’s two reviews, and the TV replays seemed to indicate an audible snick as the ball passed the bat.However, Harper upheld the onfield decision, claiming that he could not hear any noise on the replay that he was being shown in the third umpire’s booth. An angry England coach, Andy Flower, claimed that this was because he had the volume too low on his television set, and confirmed that an official complaint was being made to the match referee, Roshan Mahanama.”He has obviously hit it because you can hear the nick on the replays,” said Flower. “I don’t blame him for standing but certainly with the technology available and everyone can hear the nick on referral, I find it very surprising that he hasn’t been given out.”Umpire Harper was at the centre of a previous review controversy involving England on their tour of the Caribbean in the spring, and Flower did not seek to mince his words. “I am not surprised he didn’t hear it because he didn’t turn the volume up on his speaker,” he said. “I find it strange if you are listening for a nick you don’t turn the volume up on your speaker.”The initial belief, among confused commentators, was that the SABC feed used by the third umpire must have come from a different source to those used by Sky and Supersport, on which the noise was clearly audible. However, after seeking clarification from Mahanama, Flower discovered that this was not the case.”We found out that wasn’t correct and one audio feed is used for everyone, and the second time [Mahanama] said that Daryl Harper had not switched up the volume on his mike and that is why we have heard the nick but the third umpire hasn’t. If it wasn’t such a serious match for us I would have found it amusing, I think it’s very disappointing.”They said they did not deem it necessary to turn up the volume. But in the pre-series match referees meeting both Dave Richardson from the ICC and Mahanama explained on caught-behind referrals the volume would be turned up.”For cost reasons, neither Snickometer nor HotSpot are being used in this series despite their successful application in other parts of the world, a state of affairs that Flower described as “illogical”. “We were assured that, because we don’t have that technology available, they would turn up the volume to listen for nicks,” he added. “They didn’t do that today and I find that hard to understand.”Smith, for his part, did not deny there had been a noise, but maintained that he had stood his ground with good reason. “There definitely was a noise but I didn’t feel I’d touched the ball,” he said. “Even talking to Ashwell [Prince] as the review was going on I didn’t feel the ball hit the bat. That can happen, maybe it did, maybe it didn’t.”I thought it was my thumb on the bat handle, and I still don’t feel like I hit it.”

Australia 7 for 520 dec & 150 beat West Indies 312 and 323 (Deonarine 82, Nash 65) by 35 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outDoug Bollinger finished off the match with the wicket – and debatable edge – of Kemar Roach, giving him eight for the game•Getty Images

Australia needed 21 balls on the last day to win the final Test and take the Frank Worrell Trophy with a 2-0 victory over West Indies. The result was virtually assured as soon as the day broke sunny, with the hosts wanting one wicket and it came when Kemar Roach was ruled caught behind via an umpiring review.Roach and Gavin Tonge had added 15 when Doug Bollinger and the Australians were certain Roach had got an edge to Brad Haddin. The batsman immediately called for a review: there was a noise but no replay showed a clear nick and there was nothing on Hot Spot. Everyone was standing around for a couple of minutes before Billy Bowden finally raised his finger for a second time following consultation with Asad Rauf.”He smashed it,” Bollinger said. “He hit it, he was out.” Bollinger finished with 3 for 71 and eight wickets for the game.Roach (17) and Tonge (23 not out) started the last day chasing 51 to reach the victory target of 359 after putting on 29 from 30 balls on the fourth evening. Roach played and missed a couple of times in Shane Watson’s first over before Bollinger was taken for five runs by the aggressive Tonge. Tonge then inside-edged Watson for four and drove over mid-off for two before the fielding mood changed when Roach sliced a four over gully. They were soon celebrating again in a mixture of relief and satisfaction.The reason West Indies still had an outside chance on the final morning was due to the 128-run partnership between Narsingh Deonarine (82) and Brendan Nash (65), but their hopes diminished when they lost six wickets in the final session. Mitchell Johnson bowled through the discomfort of an illness to take three victims yesterday while Watson gained two.The game will be remembered mostly for the Man of the Match Chris Gayle’s 70-ball century on the second day, his second hundred of a series which started with a three-day loss but quickly became competitive. Australia’s next engagement is the first game of the three-Test series against Pakistan starting on Boxing Day.

ScorecardMichael Hogan picked up 3 for 29 on debut•Getty Images

The 28-year-old debutant Michael Hogan helped Western Australia claim first-innings points against Victoria as the Bushrangers fell 31 short of the Warriors’ 277. Hogan’s three top-order wickets were a key factor in getting on top of Victoria, who hadn’t conceded points in a first-class match since the Warriors beat them in March 2008.At stumps, the Western Australian lead had grown to 40 as they reached 0 for 9 with Wes Robinson on 7 and Luke Towers on 1. A last-wicket stand of 21 had given the Bushrangers a slim hope as Darren Pattinson was dropped twice, but the end came when Bryce McGain was given out caught behind down leg side off Brett Dorey.Victoria’s main hope of overhauling the Warriors was Cameron White, who was in excellent touch and posted 74 from 123 balls. Twice throughout his innings he struck three consecutive boundaries and he brought up his half-century with a superb on-driven four off Ashley Noffke.But as White’s partners disappeared, he reined in his aggression and eventually fell for 74 when he cut Noffke to Marcus North at gully. Victoria’s hopes dwindled further when David Bandy nibbled one through the defences of Clint McKay (26) and Steve Magoffin trapped John Hastings lbw for 6.The real damage had been done early, when a Victoria top order missing Brad Hodge struggled to capitalise on a 63-run opening stand between Chris Rogers and Nick Jewell (46). In his second over at first-class level, Hogan had Rogers caught low at first slip for 29 and later in the same over found the outside edge when David Hussey failed to show due care early in his innings.A tall man at 195 centimetres, the former Newcastle bowler Hogan hit the pitch hard and was clearly enjoying his first taste of Sheffield Shield cricket, having moved from New South Wales during the off-season. He added the wicket of Andrew McDonald, who pulled straight to short midwicket for 10, and finished with 3 for 29.Western Australia batted for two overs at the end of the day, having extended their first innings by ten deliveries in the morning. They added two to their overnight total before Hogan became McKay’s fourth victim, leaving Adam Voges unbeaten on 114.