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Ashok Thakur starred for Himachal Pradesh, picking up three of the six wickets that fell today, as they held their nerve to clinch a 14-run win against Vidarbha to earn four points in a close encounter at Nagpur. Vidarbha, who started the day needing 121 runs to win, lost both the overnight batsmen quickly but fought hard through a valiant 47-run seventh-wicket partnership between Vikarant Gonnade (35) and Pritam Gandhe (25). Himachal then fought back to remove Gonnade and Harshal Shitoot, the next man in, and looked to have sewed up the game when Thakur, the left-hand medium-pacer, struck twice in an over to have Vidarbha reeling at 142 for 9. Gandhe fought on gamely, hanging around with the last man Pawan Yadav, as they inched close to Himachal before Vikramjeet Malik delivered the decisive blow removing Gandhe.
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Sanjay Pandey grabbed a five-for and Narendra Hirwani, the former India legspinner, picked up four to bowl out Rajasthan for 267, gaining a 126-run lead, to put Madhya Pradesh in a commanding position by the end of the third day’s play at Indore. Rajasthan, resuming at 10 for 1, were propped up by 113-run fifth wicket partnership between Dishant Yagnik and Ajay Jadeja, the captain, but that was not enough as the toporder could not handle the medium pace of Pandey while the others struggled against the wiles of Hirwani. Madhya Pradesh lost Naman Ojha, the opener, and were at 17 for 1 at close.
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Despite crumbling from their overnight 182 for 5 to 194 all out, Saurashtra fought back to dismiss Tripura for 119 before hitting the required 32 runs to win by eight wickets at Agartala. Sandeep Jobanputra and Sandip Maniar tore into the Tripura toporder while Kamlesh Makvana took care of the tail as Tripura were shot out for a paltry score in their second innings. Earlier, Vineet Jain, the medium-pacer, and Sujit Roy, the offspinner, triggered a collapse as Saurashtra lost five wickets for just 12 runs but that was not enough to prevent Saurashtra picking up four points from this game.
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Pravaranjan Mullick, overnight on 51, went on to a score a superb century as Orissa gained a vital 102-run lead in the Ranji Plate match against Goa at Margoa. Avinash Aware, the fast-medium bowler, cleaned up the tail to end with a five-wicket haul but Mullick by then had guided Orissa to a comfortable position. In reply, powered by Nikhil Haldipur , Goa erased the deficit and were 26 runs ahead but it might not be enough to prevent Orissa from earning at least two points from this game, courtesy the first-innings lead.
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Shahid Khan, the left-arm spinner, and Sanjeev Gupta, the medium-pacer, snared seven wickets to leave Jammu & Kashmir struggling at 155 for 8 as Jharkhand gained upper hand by the end of the third day’s play at Jammu. Earlier in the day, Sameer Khajuria, the J&K offspinner, scalped four wickets and bagged a five-for but Mihir Diwakar’s breezy 50 off 50 balls studded with 10 fours had ensured a 90-run lead for Jharkhand.
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Sreekumar Nair, the left-arm spinner, struck twice in the space of four balls to unsettle the lower middleorder after Tinu Youhannan had grabbed the key wicket of Vasanth Saravanan early on the third day to bowl out Assam for a paltry 169 to gain the upper hand at Dibrugarh. Somasetty Suresh remained unbeaten on 30, after the early dismissal of Sadagoppan Ramesh, the former India and Tamil Nadu opener, as Kerala reached 58 for 2 at close.

Anil Kumble
On taking a five-wicket haul in Kanpur in three matches
I would have been lot more happier if I would have bowled fewer than those 54 overs.On feeling disappointed with the pitch
We just need to play with whatever surface we are provided with, and go on doing our job. We always knew the Kanpur wicket was on the slower side, and we had to show that we can play good and that’s what we did today when we batted. We were able to restrict South Africa and have so far batted well, so we are in a good position at the end of day three.On the strategy for tomorrow
Just keep batting – and get as soon as possible past the 310-mark which is not far away. Keep batting tomorrow and see what holds us from there. The wicket is still good for the batting and, with a capacity crowd, we should be able to do that.On Gautam Gambhir’s batting
He’s done pretty well and is going for the target. And chasing a 500-plus target its not easy for a youngster in only his second Test. Hopefully he goes on to score his first hundred tomorrow and bats long.Ray Jennings
On the day’s proceedings
It was interesting day. We started off positive, though the fog was different in the morning as we haven’t experienced anything like that. Then I saw really superb batting display by the Indian openers which I haven’t seen for a long time, so all credit to them.On whether the Indian fightback was expected
From a top side you can expect anything. Obviously the 50-50 stumping chance [Thami Tsolekile missed stumping of Virender Sehwag off Robin Petersen] didn’t go our way. We could have stopped their acceleration and that put pressure on us. Both the Indian openers batted very correctly and exploited our weaknesses.On the South African bowling
We didn’t bowl in the right areas today and will be addressing that later in the evening and you will see them different tomorrow.On the timing of their declaration
We are an inexperienced side and the declaration timing for us was just a sort of guarantee. We could have always attacked and sped the game up – but the fog in the morning changed our way of thinking. We were going to be a lot more cautious than normal, but we could have accelerated our game at least in one session in the last two days but I am happy to gain that experience and put the 11 players through the experience they had never had before.

Lincolnshire ended day two of their Minor Counties Championship match at Barrow-in-Furness in a commanding position.Having set Cumberland a target of 365, Jonathan Davies capitalised on the wicket he claimed at the close of day one, taking a second before the home side had added to their overnight score of 26.And Bob Chapman quickly got in on the act with the wicket of Ashley Metcalfe to make it 33 for three.Opener Oliver Clayson and number five Graeme Lloyd stopped the slide with a stand of 76. But when both fell to Dowman – Clayson lbw and Metcalfe to a diving catch at gully by David Christmas – the Cumberland innings crumbled from 120 for four to 154 all out, wicketkeeper Oliver Burford taking three catches and one stumping.Dowman finished with three for 29 and Davies two for 30, both off 12 overs while Elliot Wilson took two for 37 off nine and Christmas followed up his excellent opening day innings with an economical two for 17 off 14 overs, eight of which were maidens.Mark Fell then invited the home side to follow on and the second innings brought a steadier performance as Steve Knox made 29, Clayson 26, Metcalfe 34 and Lloyd 58 off 77 balls in which he hit 11 fours.Jason Quint contributed 31 and at the close of play Cumberland were 244 for five, O’Shaughnessy unbeaten on 31 and Christmas adding two more wickets to his tally.Cumberland go into the final day 33 ahead with five wickets standing, and Fell will be looking for early bowling success to leave Lincs an achievable target.

Nick Horsley and Rob Nicol will make their first-class debuts for the Auckland Aces when the team opens its State Championship campaign against the Central Districts Stags at Eden Park’s Outer Oval on Monday.Twenty-year-old Horsley has spent the winter at the New Zealand Cricket Academy in Christchurch. He was the top scorer (67) in their 10-wicket loss to the State Auckland Aces in their three-day game in Christchurch earlier this month.Eighteen-year-old Nicol, from the Cornwall Club, has been in good form in the Crown Relocations Cup scoring 188 runs at an average of 47 and taking 12 wickets at an average of 14.25. He is the leader in the Crown Relocations Premier Grade Cricketer of the Year Award.Unavailable for selection due to injury was Richard Pudney who suffered a broken thumb at training on Wednesday night. Pudney will be out of action for six weeks.The State Auckland Aces team to play the State Central Stags is: Brooke Walker (captain), Andre Adams, Aaron Barnes, Tama Canning, Chris Drum, Mark Haslam, Matt Horne, Nick Horsley, Tim McIntosh, Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Reece Young.

ScorecardMark Footitt joined the England squad in the summer [file picture]•Getty Images

Mark Cosgrove scored his second century of the season against Derbyshire to raise Leicestershire’s chances of completing a championship double over their local rivals in the Division Two match at Derby.The Foxes skipper followed his hundred at Grace Road last month with an unbeaten 126, his highest score of the season, after the visitors had been in trouble at 55 for 3 and shared a fourth wicket stand of 144 with Aadil Ali who made 62Mark Footitt, who could be playing his last game for Derbyshire, was again the pick of the home attack, taking three more wickets to claim 10 in a match for the first time in his career but at the close Leicestershire were 284 in front on 307 for 7.The first part of the day had belonged to Derbyshire with Ben Cotton scoring a career-best 43, adding 65 in 14 overs with Tom Millns to give their side a slender 23 run lead before Footitt plunged the visitors into trouble with two wickets in three overs.Cotton defeated Ned Eckersley’s defence push to leave the batsmen with the worrying statistic of having been bowled in 14 of his 33 first-class innings this season and when Footitt had Dan Redfern caught at second slip and Angus Robson edged behind, Leicestershire were only 32 runs ahead.Another wicket at that stage would have left them in danger of losing in three days but Cosgrove has a good record at Derby, having scored a career best 233 for Glamorgan on this ground in 2006, and after a cautious start, he began to put his team back in the contest.Ali again showed impressive judgement and temperament to help his captain restore the balance, pulling Wes Durston over the long on boundary after Cosgrove had driven the off-spinner for six.Cosgrove drove Millns for four to take the stand past 100 and the intensity of the cricket led to the umpires speaking to both captains after an exchange between Cosgrove and Cotton just before tea.Perhaps that disturbed Ali’s concentration because he was lbw to the final ball of the session from Durston and when Niall O’Brien fell to Footitt without scoring, Derbyshire sensed another opening.But Cosgrove, who completed 1,000 championship runs for the season, was the key and he reached his fourth hundred and his third in eight innings when he drove a Durston full toss for his 18th four.Lewis Hill helped him add 61 in 15 overs and with Ben Raine chipping in with 27, Derbyshire have a lot to do to avoid going through a season without a home championship win for the first time since 2005.”After the morning session when we didn’t play our best cricket, the back end of the day was ours in the end but it’s probably 60-40 so there’s no real lead at the moment,” Cosgrove said.”It was an important partnership between me and Aadil because at that stage of the game we needed to dig in and bat time and knock it around. Aadil has been fantastic for us this year and it’s really good to see the young kids come through.”Cotton believes Derbyshire are still in with a good chance of finishing with a victory. “The sun’s been on the pitch for three days and it’s starting to flatten out a little bit so once you get through the new ball there’s not a great deal there although I thought we clawed it back in the last session.”It’s not one of those games that’s just going to fizzle out and we are going to try and be aggressive and take it all the way.”

Nic Pothas provided the sort of innings that was once a regular feature ofhis repertoire, but has been missing for the last couple of seasons, to takethe Highveld Strikers to a thrilling five-wicket victory with two balls oftheir 45 overs to spare.Pothas belted 79 off just 77 balls, the last 26 coming offjust 18 deliveries, to see his side through to their victory target of 226in 44.4 overs, after they had faced an asking rate of eight to the over inthe latter stages. Forty-eight were needed off the last six, then 31 off thelast four and 18 off the last two. That was when Pothas really came into hisown as Kenny Benjamin’s last over went for 14, taking the match away fromthe visitors.It was a bitter pill to swallow for the team from Benoni, just 35km away, asthey suffered their third defeat in six days to see their chances ofreaching the semi-finals diminish even further. Prior to their match againstBoland on January 5, Easterns had been sitting pretty with four wins fromfive matches. Now, despite gaining a bonus point in each of those threematches, they find themselves outside the top four with two difficultmatches, away to Eastern Province and at home to Free State, to come.In truth, the visitor’s defeat was partly of their own making. Having wonthe toss and chosen to bat, Easterns got off to a great start as Mike Rindeland new recruit Andre Seymore put on 120 for the first wicket, before beingseparated at the halfway mark of the innings, in the 23rd over, when Seymorewas bowled by Clive Eksteen for 46.At that point, they were looking good for a total beyond 250, but Rindel ranhimself out just 12 runs later for 60, made off just 63 balls, including 22off Eksteen’s first two overs, and after that, Easterns were never able tosustain the same scoring rate. It fell below five to the over, only gettingup to that mark again through some good late hitting and running by captainDeon Jordaan and Aldo van den Berg. That enabled them to reach 225 forseven, which proved to be just short of what they needed.For the Strikers, after a woeful season, the victory over a team includingmany former Strikers players salvaged some much-needed pride, given thatthey can no longer qualify for the semi-finals.

Former India coach Greg Chappell has praised Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy and said the Indian team is shaping up well under him. Chappell quit as coach after the World Cup earlier this year, ending a two-year tenure with the team.Though his stint was mired in controversy, Dhoni was one of the successes and Chappell said he had seen a lot of potential in him. Dhoni led an inexperienced team to victory in the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa, his debut series as captain.”I had foreseen a great future for Dhoni,” Chappell told . “He has proved his potential and has been most impressive as a leader. The Indians are lucky to have a leader like him.”Chappell, currently in India as a consultant for the Future Cricket Academy of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, based in Jaipur, acknowledged India’s recent success.”The Indian team is now doing well,” he said. “When I was the coach, whatever I did stood them in good stead. It is up to the others to judge. They have a few exciting players and have already won the ICC World Twenty20.”The good thing about Indian cricket is that it has a varied environment in which players are groomed differently. The players, like those from far-flung areas, are an example of that.”The current one-day series between India and Australia, Chappell said, would be a close contest, despite a few senior Australian players retiring from the game in recent months.”The Australian team is in a transition phase. There is no [Glenn] McGrath or Shane Warne. But they are well prepared for the series. They have been working hard and they have to keep intact their supremacy. I believe it will be a hard fought series.”His work at the academy, Chappell said, would not necessarily replicate training methods used at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane. He inaugurated the academy with Ian Frazer, the bio-mechanics expert who also assisted him when Chappell was with the Indian team.”It is not right to compare it to Centre of Excellence because that has been running for years now. People like Allan Border [the former Australian captain] work and evolve new techniques for the trainees there. But I assure you that it will be different. We wish to make it one of the most reputed training centres of the world.”Twenty20’s growing popularity, Chappell felt, would be a challenge for coaches in adapting to different forms of the game. He did not, though, believe it would ruin a batsman’s technique. “There is no question of spoiling the technique. It has brought about a few changes which 50-over cricket too brought along. Now players use heavy bats, footwork is changing and they are hitting much harder than in my day.”

Damien Martyn has told Dennis Lillee to shut up with his “Dad’s Army” criticisms of the home side ahead of the Ashes. Martyn, who arrived home on Tuesday from Australia’s Champions Trophy victory in India, said Lillee was in danger of losing the respect of current players if he continued to criticise the team.Martyn, one of three 35-year-olds in the side, slammed Lillee’s recent comments that an ageing top order could be the achilles heel in Australia’s bid to regain the Ashes. “I think Dennis Lillee should keep quiet as president of the WACA [Western Australia Cricket Association] – it is disappointing,” Martyn told reporters. “The team is disappointed in Dennis’ several comments over the last six months, which don’t need to be said. No [it doesn’t fire you up] … you just lose your respect.”In a column in the last month, Lillee said he saw danger signs for Australia as they prepared to take on the younger England team. “It’s worrying how Australia, after being outplayed in England last year, are going to turn things around with a decidedly older team,” he wrote.”Australia have some great players but even the greatest players get tapped on the shoulder by Father Time at some stage.” The side to begin the Ashes campaign at the Gabba on November 23 is likely to include Martyn, 35, Justin Langer, 36, Matthew Hayden, who will have turned 35, Ricky Ponting, 31, Adam Gilchrist, 35, Glenn McGrath, 36, and Shane Warne, 37.Ponting said the Champions Trophy win would serve as good preparation for regaining the Ashes. “Our last 12 months of Test cricket has been first-class,” Ponting told reporters at Sydney Airport. “We’ve raised our standards again from where they were, so I couldn’t be happier with the way we’re heading and to have this trophy and the month’s preparation in India and good hard training will be good.”We went away [after the 2005 Ashes loss] and had 15 months to try to rectify some things and with everything we’ve done – our training, preparation and the way we’ve played – we couldn’t have done much more. That’s been the really pleasing thing for me and I know every Australian cricketer is looking forward to getting the series underway – not long now.”

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Damien Martyn stroked a wonderful 110 to take Western Australia to a five-wicket victory after some early hiccups against Victoria in their ING Cup match at Perth and then took the opportunity to attack the media for its “unfair” treatment of Australian players. WA finished on 5 for 224 after bowling out Victoria for 222 in just 47.3 overs.Martyn was dropped from the Australian side after averaging just 19.77 with the bat during the Ashes series and came in for some strong criticism in the press. Martyn insists he hasn’t made any changes to his batting since arriving back in Australia: “It’s the same as England. No different. Better bowlers in England. When I got 1200 runs in a season people asked what was different, but I was batting exactly the same way. It’s just cricket. I had a run out and two bad decisions in the Ashes, so anything could’ve happened. Guys don’t bat differently. The game’s not easy.”Martyn said he was still available if the selectors changed his mind, but when asked if Simon Katich’s poor form for Australia would open the door for his return, Martyn launched an attack on the media: “I feel sorry for [Katich], I’ve been there. I feel sorry for what the media do to those players. It’s unfair in a way. It’s a tough job what they do. They’ve been fantastic for four or five years doing what they do, so you should give them a break and let them play cricket.”All Western Australia needed were a couple of good partnerships but they got off to a disastrous start after Gerard Denton dismissed Adam Gilchrist in the first over and bowled Justin Langer in the sixth (3 for 27). Damien Martyn then put on 76 runs with Mike Hussey (35) and 112 runs with Adam Voges (48 not out) as Western Australia recovered superbly to shut Victoria out of the game.Victoria couldn’t get a decent partnership going, after Cameron White chose to bat, as they lost regular wickets at one end while Jonathan Moss hit a fluent 70 at the other. Moss smacked ten fours and a six during his 84-ball innings but was beaten by a change of pace from Peter Worthington and hit a full toss straight to Mike Hussey at cover. Adam Crosthwaite hit a plucky 52 and built handy partnerships with Graeme Rummans and Gerard Denton to take Victoria past 200 before Brad Williams, who finished with an impressive 3 for 36, mopped up the tail.

How many players has Pakistan wasted over the years? How long is a piece of string? So many have come as quickly as they have gone, so many we have been bewitched by, and so many we have despaired of that we have become numb to the lost talent. For every Yasir Hameed, there is an Imran Nazir, a Mohammad Wasim or an Ali Naqvi, for every Mohammad Sami, a Mohammad Zahid or a Mohammad Akram. It doesn’t seem to matter any more, for someone will always emerge and perhaps that is the way of things. But sometimes, every now and again, you stop and wonder how we have become so blasé about them. And instead of trying to understand why they failed, you try to appreciate what they can bring to the game, no matter how sparingly.Shahid Afridi’s ebullient contribution to Pakistan’s win over India on Saturday was the latest in a series of one-offs. Not many players who have exasperated as much as him garner as much attention – even in disappointment there is eminence – but then Afridi has always had something about him, a sense of cricketing decadence in the gloriously neglected manner in which he has frittered his unique gifts. That he has done it so extravagantly, perversely, has enamoured him to some of us. The chances that he will suddenly discover the discipline and the judgment he has lacked for so long are slim. But should that overlook the allure – intermittent, as it is – that he possesses?There isn’t much that is tangible about it, certainly not his career figures; but at its essence his game is an unbridled, almost raw, joy. Much of the charm of Afridi is of a rustic sort, he provides the romance in the game, and all good ones are doomed to failure anyway. There is such a foolish abandon in the way he bats that you wonder whether he has progressed from batting on a potholed street, protecting not stumps but mango crates. He is, in local parlance, a lapaytoo – a street-slogger, but with less technique and discretion. In the gallis their job is to swing at almost every ball, and that Afridi does it still at international level is absurd. He has had so many comebacks that he qualifies as a fully paid-up resident of the last-chance saloon, living fastidiously by its fatalistic ground rules.He reacquainted himself with us on Saturday with a buoyant second-ball six, out of the ground for good measure. It could have been on any street in Karachi, and it could just as easily have been mishit to mid-on. There followed a couple of audacious boundaries and a diabolical dismissal – one that confirmed for most Pakistanis that he might never learn. But he came back, and picked up four wickets, taunting us and daring us to doubt him. Along with Shoaib Malik he turned the match, as if to the manner born. In the field, he was Pakistan’s chirpiest outfield presence since the days of Javed Miandad.But it isn’t even the bits ‘n’ pieces of his batting or bowling, it is instead the whole. He is blessed with a presence; he can make things happen, and around him, things happen. The problem is that he doesn’t know when and how it happens and neither do we. In that way, a comparison with Virender Sehwag – as there was in Pakistan earlier this year – while not obvious, is not entirely untenable. And watching Andrew Flintoff perform this summer can’t help but invoke a tinge of regret at what Afridi has squandered.Of course, his appeal lies partly in his failure to emulate these standards. Maybe there isn’t a permanent space for him in the modern game, reliant as it is not only on extravagant natural gifts, but on self-discipline and the ability to harness that talent as well. He seems out of place and out of touch with the work ethic of today’s players, as well as lacking their willingness to learn and improve. He will argue, as he has done, that the team has never used him properly, and he does it with some justification. Even before this tri-nation series, the team management was unsure as to how to utilise him most effectively. His critics will argue that he has simply refused to learn in over seven years with the national team.But surely there is room for an ephemeral rogue, if only because occasionally, and unexpectedly, he adds another dimension to any game. As he did against India at Peshawar earlier this year, he may very well embark on another disastrous run of failures after this latest encounter. But maybe that is OK; we know what we get with him, and if he deigns to provide it to us when he feels fit to – or is allowed to – then why not admire it for what it is? Why live in the hope that he will come round and start doing it all the time? It is only sporadic moments of beauty he provides, but it is beauty nonetheless and for that alone it should be treasured.