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After the England tour in July, India’s head coach Ramesh Powar had underlined how lack of support for Jhulan Goswami was one of the many problem areas. After the Australia series, India’s second tour in the space of three months, it’s one area he feels India have made significant gains in with Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Shikha Pandey and Pooja Vastrakar all queuing up to give India fast-bowling depth building into the 50-over World Cup 2022 and beyond.Meghna, primarily a swing bowler capable of taking it away from the right-hand batters, was picked on the back of a tournament-winning campaign with Railways in the 50-over competition this April. On tour, she picked up just one wicket in three ODIs, but remained economical across the 21 overs she bowled. In the Test, she snared two scalps. More than the numbers, her temperament, the ability to hit her lengths consistently and keep wheeling away stood out.Renuka, two years younger at 25, impressed in her two outings in the T20Is. Although her inexperience towards the death overs showed in the second T20I with India needing to defend 14 off the last two overs, her accuracy and the tying down of Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning inside the powerplay was noteworthy. In the final T20I, she dismissed Alyssa Healy early after India elected to bowl.Meanwhile, Pandey, India’s highest wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup last year, had a point to prove after being left out of the ODIs and the one-off Test. With her one ball alone, to dismiss Healy in the second T20I, she proved none of her old virtues that have made her a regular since 2016 had diminished. Swing being right on top of that list. A ball that swerved in from way outside off, hit the deck and jagged back in alarmingly to have Healy chop on.”After coming back from the UK tour, we set some goals and the goals were achieved [in Australia],” Powar said after Australia clinched the T20I series 2-0. “We were looking at the seam attack to support Jhulan, which we were struggling with in England. The way Meghna, Pooja Vastrakar and Renuka bowled, especially today [was fantastic]. The objective was to find a pace battery that we can invest in and carry on to the World Cup.”Among the options he named, three are largely considered seam-bowling options. Vastrakar showed another dimension to her accurate seam-ups – the ability to finish off innings in the second T20I gave India a total they made a spirited defense of, while in the final game, her late blows reduced the margin of defeat. It typified the kind of “character” Powar expects from the team: the ability to fight when the chips are down.”I think it was fantastic,” Powar summed up the performance of the young group. “I think Australia is the No. 1 side, England is right up there, so testing our own skills was very helpful. The girls reacted well on this tour. We’ve shown some character and that is what we want. You can’t win games with just quality players; you need to have characters in the team.”We stand at a juncture where Mithali [Raj] and Jhulan [Goswami] are almost going to fade away at some point, so getting the England tour and the Australia tour mainly for the young cricketers like Meghna, Renuka, fast bowlers… be it Jemimah [Rodrigues], it makes a huge difference because you’ll be tested against the best and you can show your skill here and then you can go forward and build your career from here. We wanted to test our players, and this was the best opportunity – the England [tour] and mainly the Australia tour.”Asked if the decision to bench key players like Pandey, Poonam Yadav and Rodrigues at different stages on tour was a conscious decision, Powar calmly explained the rationale behind the thought process. “There’s no surety of places, we want to make healthy competition in our squad,” he said. “That was the motto for this tour. You don’t take your place for granted; if you are not consistent enough and not playing your primary roles, you will be sidelined. We want to keep the healthy competition going in the team, we don’t want someone to take their place for granted.”

A comprehensive bowling performance from Trinbago Knight Riders routed Barbados Royals by six wickets, chasing down 94 with more than three overs to spare. Knight Riders’ spinners did enough to stifle Royals throughout the first innings, with Akeal Hosein, Khary Pierre and Sunil Narine responsible for seven of the nine wickets that fell, conceding just 59 runs in their combined 12 overs. In response, Knight Riders chose to coast rather than blast their way to victory, with the asking rate not a concern for them. Colin Munro’s unbeaten 41 shepherded them through the chase, with Hosein’s two sixes finishing the game off with a flourish and putting Royals on the brink of elimination.Royals got off to a flyer thanks to Kyle Mayers, whose 12-ball 24 was as good as things got for his side. At that stage, the pitch looked like it had little for bowlers and a big total was seemingly on the cards. But once Mayers fell, no batter could build on the mini-platform he had set, and as the spinners took over, Royals began to crumble.A disastrous middle-order collapse saw Knight Riders pick up five Royals wickets for 18 runs, with all three spinners making hay. Azam Khan hung around with the tail without really having much of an impact, and the innings spluttered along to the end, by which time the Royals had limped to 93.Despite a brilliant first couple of overs from Mohammad Amir, including a first-ball wicket, the chase never really threatened to unravel. Knight Riders understood all they need to do was keep wickets in hand and the win was all but assured, and unlike the Royals, negotiated the middle overs expertly. Royals’ spinners had few runs to play with, and thus struggled to build any real pressure, and even though Lendl Simmons and Tion Webster departed early and Darren Bravo struggled for runs, Knight Riders were always in control.Both sides were going through the motions at the end, with the game drifting and the result not in doubt. The win took Knight Riders to the top of the table, with the defending champions assured a spot in the playoffs. Royals, meanwhile, are staring elimination in the face.

Steven Mullaney was still fielding questions about the Hundred with Nottinghamshire’s Blast quarter-final against Hampshire barely 24 hours away. Flicking the switch from one competition to another is not that easy when the media is still flicking it back again.Even Nottinghamshire, a T20 side to be reckoned with as winners in two of the past four years, were wary about making that instant switch when their loanees to the Hundred reassembled with the rest of a squad who had been consigned to duties for much-weakened sides in the Royal London Cup.It was enough for the Notts media unit – one of the most far-sighted in the country – to put together a welcome-back video with family members stressing how important Notts Outlaws’ success was to them and how proud it made them feel. “It’s a long time since the squad was together,” Mullaney said. “It was really touching to see how much it means to them and how proud everyone is. It’s going to be a really special occasion.”Nottingham quickly took to Trent Rockets in the Hundred, with crowds ranging between 11,483 and 13,688, and there will be no fall-off for the Blast – quite the contrary. Advance sales were more than 13,000 on Tuesday lunchtime, a record, putting the record crowd for a domestic fixture, 14,478, tantalisingly close. If the Hundred energises the Blast, rather than overwhelms it, the counties will be mightily relieved.Related

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“The Hundred will get more interest in the Blast in my opinion,” Mullaney suggested. “You will get lads wanting to get into the Hundred by standing out in the Blast. It’s been a real positive for the county game.”They have had 10 home quarter-finals in the last 12 seasons. It is an extraordinary record. But they will need no reminding that the two they lost, in 2012 and 2014, were against Hampshire (who have been boosted by the returns of Liam Dawson and Chris Wood from injury).Mullaney’s summer became all the onerous when Australia threw Notts’ plans into confusion on the eve of the tournament by surprisingly recalling Dan Christian at the age of 38. While Christian, an inspirational T20 leader for Notts, had a thin time on limited-overs tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh, Mullaney inherited leadership responsibilities in the Blast to his role as club captain.”I did have the luxury of 10 days in isolation as a Covid close contact so I had a bit of a rest there,” he said. “But at my age you want to play as much cricket as you can at the highest level you can.”He politely waved aside the suggestion that being a like-for-like player might have made it a little easier. “I think that’s a bit of an injustice to DC saying we’re alike,” he said, “I think he’s a bit better than I am.”It was a late call to take up the T20 captaincy but it was a natural progression as captain of the four-day side. I’ve not tried to change too much. Obviously, every leader has a different style but the blueprint has not changed.”It was a really exciting opportunity for me. I had never captained a T20 before so it probably took me three of four games to get a proper grip on it. You have to make snap decisions and on the chosen day they might be different to Dan’s. I spoke to him quite a bit before the tournament and also throughout the tournament – he is always in touch and always there for you to call.”Mullaney has captained Notts in Dan Christian’s absence•Getty Images

No side has ever successfully defended a T20 title in England, a fact about which Mullaney is regularly reminded. That was enough to make their pre-tournament odds of 5-1 – and their status as favourites – seem a little uninviting. They possessed the most fearsome openers in the land in Alex Hales and Joe Clarke; Ben Duckett, at No. 3, is a three-times winner; and Samit Patel’s admirable skill and durability is thoroughly uplifting for everybody whose gym membership card occasionally gets lost under a family pack of Twix bars.But the bowling? With Harry Gurney retired, Luke Wood lost to Lancashire and no overseas saviour, it just appeared to be a little vulnerable.But in hurried piece of advice offered by Christian before he left helped to set the Outlaws on the right track. He urged Mullaney to put trust in the legspin of Calvin Harrison, which was pretty much an unknown quantity even to Harrison himself. Mullaney was persuaded and Harrison, who had been invited to Trent Bridge as a 2nd XI trialist, went on to top Notts’ wicket-taking charts at a decent average and even got a gig in the Hundred for Manchester Originals, such a dizzying rush to prominence that it was fortunate he had undertaken a psychology degree to help him cope with it.Mullaney said: “Just before DC went back, he said, ‘I think this kid has to play’. I think his numbers have spoken for themselves. He spins it hard whether it be googly or legspinner. What he has got better at is holding his length. He drives it into the pitch. He has had a bit of a whirlwind but he is a very level-headed lad.”Calvin had got a hundred against us for his uni side earlier in the season and we wanted a look at him in the second team more as a batsman, although he did bowl a bit of legspin. Since then he has worked tirelessly.”Alongside Harrison, Matt Carter, the towering offie, and Patel, as irrepressible as ever, have seen Notts through to another home quarter-final.”Carts for a few years has been a mainstay of the T20 side,” Mullaney said. “He bowls often at difficult times during the Powerplay. If you ask other countries one of the hardest grounds to bowl at would be Trent Bridge so his stats speak volumes about how well he has done.”He recalled a recent interview with ESPNcricinfo about how statistics suggest home advantage does not matter in a Blast quarter-final, but perhaps it matters a little bit more at Trent Bridge because of the misshapen outfield – and anyway, considering that Nottinghamshire only ended a three-year winless streak in the Championship in May, and have since reached Division One in the culmination to the Championship season, a home quarter all adds to a sense of a club in good health.”We have had a tough three years and I have been captain of that. It has been really tough, not winning a game. I have often said that I believed I was the right man to lead the side and we had the talent to turn it round. We have backed that up this season with performances.”We’ve had a lot of home quarter-finals and it always feel special. We have players who have performed well under pressure but we will have to be at our best to win.”

Shikha Pandey is eyeing better all-round returns on the tour of England following her performance with the ball in the second ODI, where she picked up 9-1-34-1, her economy the best among the Indian attack.Though India lost the match, Pandey was pivotal to setting the tone of India’s attempt to defend 221 and the bowling unit’s much-improved performance. She gave away just two runs in her first two overs, including a maiden, and got the ball to hoop early, causing discomfort to Tammy Beaumont, the in-form England opener.Heading into the third and final ODI in Worcester on Saturday, which then leads into the three-match T20I series, Pandey, 32, was hopeful to build on her outing in the second ODI in Taunton.”Not setting long-term goals,” Pandey said when asked about the all-round role she may be expected to play in the 2022 ODI World Cup. “That’s not really something that works for me, so [I’m] just setting short-term goals. For me it’s one session, one spell, one ball at a time when I’m going in to bowl. I think I have found some rhythm back in the second game, so just going to go ahead, follow the basics and keep doing all I can.

Mithali Raj set to play third ODI

The India captain had not fielded in the second ODI on Wednesday after suffering from neck pain, with Harmanpreet Kaur leading the side. On Friday, Pandey said, “Mithali di is all well. She has been assessed by the medical staff, [physio] Tracy [Fernandes] ma’am…” The BCCI later tweeted, “Captain @M_Raj03 has recovered and is training with the girls as we prepare for the 3rd WODI tomorrow here at New Road, Worcester,” with photos of Raj training with the team.

“As a bowling allrounder, I am, yes, supposed to be scoring runs and every time I get onto the field, the aim is to contribute to the team’s success in whichever way I can. There are goals being set but at a very short-term basis; no long-term goals in mind. So, it’s just the game tomorrow and bowl well and in case I get to bat, probably score better and contribute a lot more with the bat.”The solitary wicket – of opener Lauren Winfield-Hill – Pandey took in Taunton was also her first one on the tour.Winfield-Hill’s dismissal was as much a result of Pandey’s ability to entice a set batter into prodding at an away-going delivery as it was of Taniya Bhatia’s deft work with the gloves. Standing up to the two seamers, Jhulan Goswami and Pandey, Bhatia, in sparkling form throughout the series effecting four dismissals in three innings, snagged the faintest of edges to dismiss Winfield-Hill for 42.”Firstly, I am huge fan of Taniya,” Pandey said. “The kind of keeping, standing up to the stumps to medium pacers is not an easy job and the way she stood up to us, even with the new ball, is amazing. You can count on your fingers the number of keepers that can do that in international cricket. So, firstly, it’s commendable what she is doing for us.Related

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“It’s a few, small, little things we noticed on the field that if the England batters are standing way too outside the crease and I’m the swing bowler, so my swing gets negated,” Pandey said, elaborating on the thinking that prompted Bhatia to stand up to the stumps. “There are pretty practical decisions being taken on the ground that we need to get them to play from the crease and that’s how Taniya comes in.”I think the first wicket we got yesterday [of Beaumont, being bowled by Goswami], Taniya standing up to the stumps made a huge difference. So, firstly, Taniya is doing a great job for us and it’s just about responding to the situations on the field.”After the loss in the first ODI, captain Mithali Raj had called for the Indian seam attack to take more responsibility and support Goswami, the pace spearhead, better. Pandey said the seamers’ improved performance in the second match was down mainly to having drawn up more well-defined plans.Shikha Pandey – “I have found some rhythm back in the second game, so just going to go ahead, follow the basics and keep doing all I can”•Associated Press

“[After the first match] We just sat down and spoke about what we are capable of and backing out strengths and having clearer plans in place and just going by them and not looking too much for the wickets and just keeping it tight,” Pandey said. “That was what was said: to keep our plans simple and going about our business early in the innings.”I think we did pretty well in all departments in the second game and we are catching up,” she said. “Considering this is a multi-format series, we know going ahead if we win all four games we can still win it.”We are not really gauging ourselves against them; it’s just about backing ourselves, and we know as a team we are a very good team and when we play to our strengths, we have a good day and we know we can beat any team in the world. We are just backing ourselves and looking forward to the next game and not thinking too about much about what has happened.”Head coach Ramesh Powar, she said, had also played a part in keeping the team’s morale up.”He has backed us a lot,” Pandey said. “Even after the second game, the talk in the dressing room was very positive. He has always said if we play to our potential, to what our strengths are, we can beat any team in the world. He has got full confidence in us and he backs us as a group. I mean, what else do we need? As a coach he has been very helpful in all three departments. He has backed us a lot.”Shikha Pandey heaves a sigh of relief after picking up Lauren Winfield-Hill’s wicket•Getty Images

India’s first-innings totals so far in the series – 201 and 221 – have hardly been a challenge to the England line-up. Aside from Raj and Shafali Verma, no other India batter has been able to make an imprint on the scoring substantially. However, Pandey said the onus to win the team a match was as much the batters’ responsibility as it was of the bowling contingent’s.”I wouldn’t say batting is the main concern,” she said. “At the very outset, I can give you a player’s perspective. When I get into a game, we think about all three aspects of the game together. So if the batters cannot get us runs, it’s us, the bowlers, the bowling unit, we need to fight hard and back the batters. I wouldn’t say it is one department of the game that’s lacking.”If we can get all the three [departments clicking] together on the day, we will be doing well. Thinking too much about what has happened is not really going to help us, so just thinking ahead about what we can do as a team together. Whatever runs the batters score, the bowlers have to defend it and whatever runs the bowlers initially get the other team to score, the batting team has to go chase it.”

Offspinner Dane Piedt has been called up to South Africa’s Test squad as an additional spin option. Piedt is awaiting approval of his visa and is expected to join the group this weekend, with a view to be considered for the third Test in Hamilton starting March 25.Piedt has been preferred to Tabraiz Shamsi, who was taken on South Africa’s Test tour to Australia and played in the day-night Test in Adelaide, and Imran Tahir, who has not played a Test since 2015.Piedt’s last Test was also against New Zealand in August 2016, after which he was dropped for Keshav Maharaj, the lone specialist spinner in the squad currently. Maharaj was preferred for his ability to control the run-rate and took his maiden five-for in Dunedin, but is expected to need assistance on slower, turning surfaces.Piedt’s inclusion will take the number in South Africa’s touring party to 17, after they included six pace options in anticipation of seamer-friendly conditions. Faf du Plessis admitted they have been surprised to find that is not the case, but have quickly adjusted to assuming New Zealand will look to play two specialist spinners as much as possible. As a result, South Africa are considering doing the same at Seddon Park in Hamilton, the venue that offered considerable turn during the ODIs.For Piedt, the chance to play again comes at the end of a challenging season, during which he considered seeking out a Kolpak deal in the midst of drama at his domestic franchise, the Cobras. The franchise changed coaches mid-season following a long-running battle between the players and Paul Adams, who had been in charge for five seasons.Adams was offered contract renewal despite facing a mutiny after a majority of contracted players launched a formal grievance against him. The players took their case to the country’s highest dispute resolution body, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and won the right to strike but never followed through on the threats. Instead, several senior players were sent on loan to other teams. Piedt was among them, and went to the Titans for the domestic twenty-over campaign, but only played two matches.However, when Ashwell Prince was appointed coach after Adams stood down at the end of 2016, Piedt was asked to captain the side, a role he accepted. He shelved his ambitions to seek opportunities elsewhere and committed himself to turning the franchise’s fortunes around.Remarkably, they rose from the bottom of the first-class points’ table to be in contention for the title on the final weekend. Although they did not lift the trophy, they had redeemed themselves. Piedt took 28 wickets in the campaign to finish eighth overall and of those, 17 came in the second half of the season.

Scorecard
File photo – George Bailey was 93 not out at stumps•Getty Images

George Bailey was within sight of a century at stumps on the second day against New South Wales in Wollongong, where Tasmania had taken a first-innings lead. In reply to the Blues’ 253, the Tigers closed the day with an advantage of 41 runs, at 6 for 294, with Bailey on 93 and Simon Milenko on 18.Bailey already has one hundred this Shield campaign and is the competition’s leading scorer, and he was the anchor for Tasmania on a day when everyone made a start. No Tasmanian failed to reach double figures, but Bailey was the only one able to turn that into a half-century.Doug Bollinger picked up three wickets, including those of openers Alex Doolan for 37 and Jake Hancock for 28. Ben McDermott was second on the run list with 45, while Beau Webster managed 37 before he was caught behind off the bowling of Moises Henriques.

Mohammed Mudhasir took the first hat-trick for Jammu & Kashmir in List A cricket, but the medium pacer’s spectacular work was in vain as Chhattisgarh held on to a narrow four-run victory in Kolkata.J&K had won the toss, chose to bowl and Mudhasir’s 6 for 33 – the best figures for his state in 50-over history – restricted Chhattisgarh to 239 for 9. He took the hat-trick off the first three balls of the 48th over, bowling the set batsman Ashutosh Singh for 31 off 42 balls and then pinning Shubham Agarwal and Rohit Dhruw lbw. Chhattisgarh at that point were 219 for 7 but they still had Abhimanyu Chauhan. The 30-year old playing only his sixth List A game struck a career-best 90 off 89 balls with nine fours and a six and managed to push the total just high enough despite being one of only four men to make a double-digit score.J&K’s reply began terribly with new-ball bowler Pankaj Rao dismissing three of the top four. Parvez Rasool and Puneet Bisht steadied the innings with a couple of half-centuries and at 203 for 6 they seemed favourites again. The equation – 33 runs off 51 balls – was quite manageable but three wickets in the next 15 balls including that of Bisht for 68 off 80 shifted the balance decisively in Chhatisgarh’s favour. They used eight bowlers to pull off the heist, with Rao claiming 4 for 35, Sumit Ruikar 2 for 33 and Agarwal, Amandeep Khare, Ashutosh and Sahil Gupta chipping in with a wicket each.Boundary-laden centuries from Saurabh Tiwary and Ishank Jaggi helped Jharkhand coast to a target of 277 and beat Services by seven wickets and 22 balls to spare. The match highlighted the importance of set batsmen making a big score for Services had four batsmen crossing 40 but none of them went past 54. Shamsher Yadav, the 22-year old, and Gaurav Kochar, the 24-year old, on debut struck the two fifties in the innings.Jharkhand’s bowlers deserve credit for their miserly display in a high-scoring match with left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem picking up 3 for 52 and fast bowler Rahul Shukla chipping in with 2 for 58. In the chase, though Services had dismissed the top three Jharkhand batsmen without sustaining too much damage, Tiwary and Jaggi came together and hammered 214 runs off only 179 balls to seal the game. Tiwary struck six sixes and four fours while Jaggi four sixes and 10 fours.Mayank Agarwal made 89 out of Karnataka‘s total of 201 at Eden Gardens and the innings was put in perspective later in the day when Saurashtra‘s entire batting line-up could only manage 128. Agarwal spent 44.3 overs at the crease. Normally a hard-hitting batsman, his count of five fours and a six indicated he did well adapting to the match situation. Karnataka had gone from from 68 for 4 to 136 for 7 and they needed a set batsman to guide them to a total the bowlers could defend. Saurashtra were reduced to 27 for 5 in the chase and their tail was wiped out by medium pacer Ronit More, who took 4 for 20. Robin Uthappa, who was dismissed for a duck, had a much better time in the field, taking five catches as wicketkeeper.

Baroda‘s seamers delivered a thrilling 21-run win by bowling out Bengal out for 133 in their chase of 155 in a low-scoring contest in Lahli that finished inside two days. After a 23-wicket first day, 17 fell on the second. Baroda’s win was their first of the season; it took them to nine points from six matches.Baroda resumed the day 63 for 3 in their second innings, 84 in front, but were quickly reduced to 71 for 6 inside the first seven overs of the morning. Swapnil Singh and Akshay Brahmbhatt contributed 30 and 21 respectively before Mukesh Kumar polished off the innings to finish with 5 for 45, his maiden five-wicket haul. Baroda were bowled out for 133.Atit Sheth took three more wickets in Bengal’s second innings to finish with 10 in the match. Babashafi Pathan and Irfan Pathan took five wickets between them in a Bengal innings that lasted just 46 overs. Manoj Tiwary top-scored with a 48-ball 39, while four other batsmen got into double figures without managing to reach 30.Priyank Kirit Panchal struck his maiden first-class double-century to hand Gujarat the advantage at stumps on the second day against Mumbai in Hubbali. Panchal resumed the second day on 122, and seemed in danger of running out of partners as the day wore on. However, stands of 47 and 42 with No. 9 Karan Patel (14) and No. 10 Hardik Patel (5) pushed Gujarat past 400.Panchal was eventually dismissed for 232 off 434 balls, an innings that featured 28 fours and two sixes. Gujarat were bowled out for 437. Vishal Dabholkar returned figures of 6 for 118 in an innings in which Mumbai used 10 bowlers. In reply, Mumbai were 58 for 3 at stumps, with Jasprit Bumrah picking up two wickets.Left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma’s 6 for 108 helped Madhya Pradesh restrict Railways to 371 in their Group A game in Delhi. Railways began the day placed well, at 249 for 2, but lost a heap of wickets to slip to 269 for 7. Captain Karn Sharma (44) and No. 10 Anureet Singh (40) resurrected a faltering day and helped Railways post 371. Madhya Pradesh began slowly in their reply, posting 71 for 3 in 40 overs. Left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav claimed two of those wickets.Fifties from Kaushik Gandhi and Dinesh Karthik put Tamil Nadu in a commanding position against Punjab at the end of the second day in Nagpur. Gandhi remained unbeaten on a 209-ball 75, while Karthik was out for a 93-ball 54. Tamil Nadu went to stumps trailing Punjab’s first-innings score of 284 by just 66 runs with six wickets in hand.Punjab’s last four wickets only managed to add 43 to their overnight score of 241 for 6, with wicketkeeper Gitansh Khera running out of partners to be left stranded on 40. K Vignesh finished with figures of 4 for 104, and his fellow seamer Aswin Crist with 3 for 73.

Jammu & Kashmir set Goa a mammoth target of 412 runs in their second-round Group C match in Surat. Goa were 22 for 0 after 10 overs at stumps on the second day.Goa began the second day from an overnight score of 43 for 5 and were bundled out for 77, giving J&K a first-innings lead of 150. Seamer Ram Dayal finished with figures 4 for 15 from 11.5 overs, while Umar Nazir picked up three wickets. J&K then struck 261 runs in their second innings at a rate of 4.24 runs per over to establish a sound advantage. Ian Dev Singh (64) and wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht (87) struck fifties, the latter hitting 12 fours and a six in his 106-ball innings.A top-order slump saw Himachal Pradesh squander a good start and finish the second day at 198 for 8, 50 runs adrift of Kerala‘s first-innings total of 248 in Kolkata.Himachal openers Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra (60) had added 74 for the first wicket but the side stumbled to 100 for 4 in a span of eight overs. Jalaj Saxena’s offspin accounted for three of the top four Himachal batsmen, and he eventually finished the day with 5 for 53. Earlier, Kerala’s last six wickets could add only 85 runs, after resuming from an overnight score of 163 for 4. The overnight pair of Sachin Baby (61) and VA Jagadeesh (35) were both dismissed by Mayank Dagar, before Rishi Dhawan wrapped up the lower order to finish with 4 for 66.Half-centuries from openers Nitin Saini and Shubham Rohilla eased Haryana to a 45-run first-innings lead over Hyderabad at stumps in Jamshedpur. Haryana’s score of 236 for 4 was set up by a 126-run first-wicket partnership between Saini and Rohilla before No. 3 batsman Chaitanya Bishnoi anchored the innings, ending on 47 not out.Andhra finished the second day of their Group C match against Chhattisgarh at a shaky 151 for 5, trailing by 243 runs in Kalyani. Earlier, Chhattisgarh’s first innings had ended at 394 with overnight batsman Abhimanyu Chauhan (123) completing his fourth first-class century.Andhra were propped up by opener Prasanth Kumar’s boundary-filled 62 even as the rest of the line-up struggled against Chhattisgarh. Prasanth contributed 62 to the team total of 93 before he was run out by Kant Singh. The score soon turned to 104 for 5 before Dwaraka Ravi Teja steadied the innings until stumps, finishing on 30 not out.Earlier, Chauhan, who began the second day on 73, took the team’s score past 350 after Amandeep Khare and Ajay Mandal fell early in the first session. He added 79 with wicketkeeper Vivek Naidu before both batsmen fell in successive overs. Fast bowler Duvvarapu Siva Kumar finished with 4 for 61.Tripura bowlers will look to wrap up the Services innings early on the third day and bag a first-innings lead after they limited the opposition to 202 for 9 on the second day in Guwahati.Services finished the day with a deficit of 73 runs, with Shamsher Yadav unbeaten on 71. Yadav’s half-century was the only substantial effort in Services’ first innings helping them recover from 49 for 4. Tripura, who began the day on 228 for 7 pushed the score to 275 with key contributions from Rajat Dey (34) and Gurinder Singh (35).

Kent head coach Jimmy Adams is leaving the county to return to Jamaica.Adams, 48, has been one of several coaches listed as a potential candidate for the West Indies role. He missed the final game of the Championship season against Essex after he was granted permission to return to Jamaica for personal reasons.Adams departs after five years and said: “I’ve enjoyed my time at Kent which has been a great learning experience for me. I wanted to be involved in a club that was seeking to grow and I am fortunate to have found that here at Kent over the past five seasons.”It’s been a delight being involved with all our players as they have developed during the period and especially watching the younger players who have made the step up to first-class level. Working with the club to develop a stronger support team to back up our players has also been a highlight for me.”Adams has supervised a period in which Kent have often faced stiff financial constraints but have successfully developed a new wave of homegrown talent – with batsmen to the fore – such as Sam Billings, Daniel Bell-Drummond and captain Sam Northeast.Although showing signs of improvement, they have failed to break into the First Division of the Championship. They finished runners-up in 2016 and have called up legal support to question why they did not win an additional promotion place, alongside Essex, this season when Durham were demoted following an ECB financial bail-out.They also failed to make an antiicipated strong showing in the NatWest Blast and Adams received some criticism behind the scenes for his handling of Matt Coles’ disciplinary issues.Chairman George Kennedy said: “We thank Jimmy for his fine service of the club and wish him all the best for the future. His commitment to developing Kentish cricket talent is shown by the core of homegrown players now at the heart of our professional squad.”