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Madhya Pradesh secured a bonus-point victory on the back of an innings and 64-run thrashing of Uttar Pradesh in Hyderabad. UP, asked to follow-on after being bowled out for 176, slumped to 225 all out on the final day. Chandrakant Sakhure, the right-arm medium pacer, playing in only his third first-class game, finished with career-best figures of 6 for 40. MP’s 465 in the first innings was built around Harpreet Singh’s unbeaten 216. UP captain Suresh Raina, recovering from fever, didn’t bat in both innings.A double century from Manpreet Juneja helped Gujarat pull off a heist and pocket three points, courtesy a first-innings lead, despite conceding 544 against Baroda in Jaipur. Gujarat began the day needing 267 runs with six wickets in hand, to take a lead. The task appeared tougher when they lost the services of Rujul Bhatt, who retired hurt on 58. But Juneja found able support from Axar Patel, the left-arm-spinning allrounder, who made an unbeaten 109 as Gujarat went past Baroda’s score without losing a wicket on the final day.Railways’ push for an outright win was thwarted by Uday Kaul as Punjab salvaged a point after conceding a first-innings lead at Palam grounds in New Delhi. Set a target of 362, Punjab were 170 for 3 when play ended, with Kaul (61 not out) and Mandeep Singh (41 not out) having forged an unbroken 86-run fourth-wicket stand. Railways, who resumed on 180 for 2, lost five wickets for the addition of 65 runs before the declaration. Shivakant Shukla, who made 128 in the first innings, made 97 in the second dig. Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh had a disappointing outing, making 9 and 17 in his two outings.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:40

Unbelievable that modern batsmen can play like this

In their final innings of a long and wretched series, South Africa’s batsmen produced their most unyielding display, responding with dour defence in the face of a mountainous fourth-innings task. Hashim Amla was at the forefront of their defiance, playing the slowest innings of 200 balls or more in the history of Test cricket*, but South Africa’s job, notwithstanding their captain’s monumental effort, was less than half done.India declared half an hour from lunch, after Ajinkya Rahane had become the fifth Indian batsman to score twin tons in a Test match, setting a target of 481 with just over five sessions remaining. At stumps on day four, South Africa had only lost two wickets while eating up 72 overs. They only scored 72 in that time, but it hardly mattered to them: South Africa were batting time, and runs were simply not on their minds.At stumps, Amla was batting on 23 off 207 balls and with him was AB de Villiers, on 11 off 91. Their third-wicket partnership was worth 23 off 29.2 overs. Before that, Amla and Temba Bavuma had put on 44 in 38.4 overs.South Africa began their fourth innings with a possible 158 overs remaining in the match. Given the sheer amount of time left, a draw seemed out of question, but South Africa have shown themselves capable – in Adelaide three years ago and in Colombo last year – of defying that sort of logic. South Africa’s batting has been far from its best during this series, but they kept faith in their ability – unique in this era – to bat long without thinking of runs.They had five overs to see out before lunch, and did not survive that period unscathed. R Ashwin looped one up to Dean Elgar from around the wicket, drifting it into the left-hander and getting it to leave him from a middle-stump line. Elgar didn’t reach the pitch while trying to drive straight, and Rahane took a comfortable catch at slip.In walked Amla. It took him 46 balls to get off the mark, and the first runs were unintentional, his back-foot defensive stroke off Ravindra Jadeja squirting away into the fine leg region. Bavuma, blocking with comparable single-mindedness at the other end was on 8 off 50 balls when Ashwin sent down a rare half-tracker – possibly slipped in deliberately to break the batsman’s rhythm – that left him with almost no option but to pull for six.The overs ran by quickly, hypnotically, and the close-in cordon grew in strength. It was fascinating to watch. South Africa, perhaps, were making things more difficult for themselves by contributing to India’s rapid over rate and leaving themselves more overs to face. When their innings began, 68 overs remained from the 90 scheduled for the day; India bowled 72.And while neither batsman was making too many mistakes – their control percentages hovered in the low-to-mid-90s – every little mistake was amplified by the presence of four, sometimes five, fielders around the bat at all times.Between lunch and tea, the edges weren’t finding fielders though. Amla came forward to defend Jadeja, and nicked him between first and second slip. Ishant Sharma, replacing Ashwin in the 28th over, found Bavuma’s edge twice in the second over of his spell, and the ball streaked through the slips on both occasions.By tea, India had bowled 22 maidens in 39 overs, and had only one wicket to show for it. It took a ball of great beauty from their best bowler, Ashwin, to finally break the stand in the fourth over of the final session. It drifted away slightly from Bavuma’s off stump, and hit it as he played for more turn than there was. The length was key, punishing the batsman for his lack of a front-foot stride.The pitch seemed to have slowed down slightly, but the batsmen were still being tested, forced to stay vigilant every ball. Ashwin continued to confound with his flight, and slipped in the odd legbreak for variety. Jadeja got a couple to turn sharply past de Villiers’ edge. Umesh Yadav got one to lift from a length and smack Amla’s left glove. It was, perhaps, the moment that best summed up Amla’s impregnability: his hands were as close to his body as possible, and they cushioned the impact of the ball to make it drop right next to his feet.Amla and de Villiers had been at the crease for 62 balls without scoring a run, when Kohli decided to shake things up by bringing on his part-timers. Shikhar Dhawan sent down two wide full-tosses in his first over, and Amla had no option but to smash them to the cover-point boundary, but in between he got one to spit up from a length. Amla was fully stretched out in defence, his head over the ball and his bat face almost parallel with the ground, when the ball popped up off his glove and over Cheteshwar Pujara at silly point. Pujara spun around and dived full-length, but could only get his fingertips to the ball. It was barely a half-chance, but also the only chance India would get during the partnership.In the morning, Rahane shifted gears effortlessly as India resumed 403 ahead, looking for quick runs. On day three, he had scored 52 off 152 balls, shutting South Africa out of the contest in a display of cool professionalism in the company of Virat Kohli. On the fourth morning, Rahane made 48 off 54 balls.The only major change in his batting was a willingness to go after anything remotely wide of the stumps. He picked up two fours and a six in the first four overs of the morning, all in the arc between third man and deep cover, the pick of them a perfectly timed ramp over the slips off Morne Morkel.Kohli, who began the day on 83, only added five to his overnight score before he was lbw to a ball from Kyle Abbott that crept through at shin height. It didn’t hamper India’s scoring rate as Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha kept playing their shots. Rahane raced through the 80s with sixes in successive overs off Imran Tahir and Dean Elgar, and Saha used his bottom hand to telling effect in swiping three fours in two overs.The declaration was just around the corner. Tahir bowled one full at Rahane’s pads, and he clipped it away through the leg side to bring up a hundred that he barely celebrated, raising his arms momentarily before walking off towards the dressing room. It was an understated reaction to an outstanding achievement. Among Indian batsmen, only Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (three times), Rahul Dravid (twice) and Kohli had made hundreds in both innings of a Test match before Rahane.*

Kapil Dev, the former Indian captain, has said that it is now up to the younger players in the side to take the lead and win games for the team. Kapil felt that as the future of Indian cricket, players like Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Zaheer Khan have to take up more responsibility if India are to have long-term success.”As long as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are there, they should be the anchor, the platform to ensure that nothing should go wrong,” Kapil told . “England is always a tough tour and this series will be a real test for India after the World Cup.”Kapil said that India were going through a rough period post World Cup. “They needed to get their heads together and sort things out,” he said. “But the issue of who will coach the side has dragged on too long.” The Indian board is yet to appoint a coach and the team is touring England with Chandu Borde, the former Indian batsman, as the team manager.Zaheer’s county experience, Kapil said, will prove useful to India, who have no other fast bowler in the squad with a knowledge of English conditions. “He [Zaheer] knows more about English pitches and English conditions than any of the other seamers. If he can also take responsibility it will be lovely.”In an endorsement of the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a potential rival to the Indian board, Kapil said that young Indian players would benefit a lot if they got a chance to play some of the best international players in the world. He also said that the problem at the moment was that the leading Indian players didn’t play enough domestic cricket.The ICL, which has signed up Kapil, Kiran More, Sandeep Patil, Dean Jones, and Tony Greig, will consist of 20-overs-per-side matches. Each side will have two top Indian and four foreign players. The prize money for the tournament, which will be telecast on Zee Sports, includes $1 million for the winners.

Cricket Australia has confirmed its plans for a Champions Trophy warm-up series in the “new frontiers” of Malaysia and Singapore in September. Australia, West Indies and India could line-up in the mini-tournament and James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, hoped more details would be finalised this week.”It would be exciting to bring the game to newer cricketing frontiers and to showcase some of the best players in the world,” he said. “I’m sure such a tournament will be a great success and further strengthen our relationships with Asian cricketing countries.”The Malaysian and Singapore cricket associations have supported the proposal and Sutherland said the matches would be an important lead-up to the Champions Trophy in India in October. “We hope we’re close to being able to put this important tournament in place,” he said. “The Australian team last played one-day international cricket in Bangladesh in April, so it’s important for us that this opportunity is used.”

The troubled Mashonaland Cricket Association held a lively annual general meeting on Friday evening, which finally ended after a gruelling five hours.Tavengwa Mukuhlani, a member of the Zimbabwe cricket board, sailed through as chairman under a constitutional provision which allowed him to continue for a second year at the helm of Zimbabwe’s biggest cricket stakeholder.The meeting was held without the complete audited financial report, which raised emotional opposition from some administrators. Mukuhlani explained that the auditors would release the full audited accounts soon, attributing the delay to the squabbles which threatened to paralyse cricket operations in the province until his board was retained by the same clubs who had previously passed a vote of no confidence in them.Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, was present but remained was quite throughout, while sacked national team coach Phil Simmons left midway through the meeting.

Chris Read has reacted with shock and anger at his omission from England’s one-day squad for the NatWest Series. Speaking to BBC Sport, Read, who was replaced by Geraint Jones in the line-up, said: “I’m really surprised and disappointed. I find it difficult to comprehend. If Geraint was going to bat in the top five I’d understand it but there are other batsmen in the top five.”David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, termed the decision to drop Read “one of the hardest that I have been a party to in my nine years as a member of the panel”, but that did little to cheer Read. “David made it clear it was a tough decision but that doesn’t help,” Read said. “It makes me a little angry. In the last 12 months I’ve helped England win several games and I’ve always been consistent. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.”Jones, who had earlier replaced Read in the Test squad as well, was selected because his superior batting skills, but Read has performed more than adequately with the bat in the one-dayers, scoring a crucial 15-ball 27 at Georgetown to steal a win against West Indies on England’s recent tour. Read’s wicketkeeping has been outstanding as well, making the decision all the more inexplicable.Read stated as much, saying that he understood the reason for his omission from the Test side. “When I was dropped from the Test team I thought it was a bit harsh but I was not doing what I needed to with the bat,” he said. “But in the one-day side I believe I’ve done everything I can and it seems it’s not enough.”

Spin bowling may be Indian cricket’s traditional strength, but a decline in standards has prompted the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to set up a panel of experts to revive what Jagmohan Dalmiya, the board president, called a “decaying art”.The body, scheduled to meet for the first time on May 30 in Kolkata, comprises Bapu Nadkarni, VV Kumar, Rajinder Goel, Padmakar Shivalkar, Shivlal Yadav, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Anil Kumble, as well as all four members of the famed spin quartet – Erapalli Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Bishan Singh Bedi.Dalmiya told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that, apart from Harbhajan Singh and Kumble, Indian spinners have not made much of an impression of late. “Spin bowling appears to be a decaying art today,” he said. “In the past, however, the strength in this department helped India win many matches. But the performance of the spinners with the exception of Kumble and Harbhajan leaves much to be desired.””After the brain-storming session, a spinners’ wing would be set up under the National Cricket Academy (NCA). The talented spinners in the country from all age groups would be identified and put under special training of the experts in the panel,” added Dalmiya.For a long time now, India’s former slow-bowling legends have bemoaned the lack of encouragement given to their art. This latest initiative gives them an opportunity to walk the talk.

BAT Sports, Portsmouth and Winchester KS can begin to put the celebratory champagne on ice as a wet Saturday gave their respective Southern Electric Premier League championship prospects a significant boost.All three clubs, whose matches were abandoned after early afternoon rain, are within striking distance of claiming the divisional titles.BAT, 17 points clear at the top of ECB Premier 1 with two matches remaining, had made 68-2 after 25 overs at second-placed Havant when the rains came down.Portsmouth, with a 12-point advantage in Division 2, restricted their nearest rivals Cove to 173-9 at Grasmere Road before the rain set in.But Winchester, whose key promotion clash with city neighbours St Cross Symondians was similarly washed out, still need eight points from this Saturday’s awkward visit to Paultons to secure the Premier 3 crown.Anything less could let in Rowledge, who will need a maximum 22-point haul against Bashley (Rydal) II next weekend, if they are to stand any chance ofpipping WKS at the post.Havant, with South Wilts and Bashley (Rydal) left to play, had to beat BAT in order to wipe out the Totton club’s significant advantage.They dismissed Dave Carson (35) and Richard Kenway after BAT had been put into bat – but heavy rain forced the players off after just over an hour’s play.”We probably had the edge when play was called off,” said Havant skipper Paul Gover.”Now all we can hope for is that BAT slip against either Andover or Calmore Sports, and we win both our games. But it’s a tall order.”Allan Hurst (2-17) pronounced his comeback after a long-term shoulder injury with a brace of wickets for Calmore Sports, whose visit to Andover was abandoned with the London Road club at 121-4.Mark Miller (35), Stuart Summers (28) and Roger Miller (21) made their mark for Andover, with left-arm spinner Mark Boston (2-16) taking the other two wickets.Liphook & Ripsley, still not mathematically certain of avoiding the drop, reached 120-5 against Burridge, for whom Gosport bound Paul Jenkins took 3-32.Basement club Hungerford, who visit Liphook on Saturday, had made 85-2 against Bashley when play stopped.Left-hander Neil Randall, who has been producing some useful performances for Hampshire 2nd XI recently, scored an undefeated century for Cove against title chasing Portsmouth.Randall, whose 100 not out included ten fours, held Cove together after some accurate bowling by Lee Savident (2-30) and Raj Maru (2-36) had reduced the prospective Thames Valley Leaguers to 76-6.Peter Hayward (3-38) whipped through the tail as Cove slipped to 173-9.But there was no time for Portsmouth to start their reply as rain washed out play at tea.Trojans skipper Simon Williams cracked a league-best 118 as the Old Basing attack came under fire once again.Williams, with a six and 18 fours in his century, shared a century opening partnership with Mario Mohammed (49) as Trojans notched 234-5 in 42 overs before the rains came down.The only two matches to be completed in the Premier League were at Bashley, where Joe Hall’s unbeaten 103 set up an eight-wicket win over Havant II – and ensured Division 3 safety for the New Forest club.Bob Paul (4-45) and Neil Sexton (4-65) shared the spoils as Havant were restricted to 195-9 – a total Hall and evergreen Iain Britton(54) saw off with three balls of a reduced 33-over match left.Hursley Park notched their sixth winin seven matches, trimming New Milton by 12 runs in a rain-reduced encounter.Rory Miller (28) top scored in Hursley’s 142-7 (Lee Beck 3-39), which was reduced to 131 off 34 overs.Ross Cambray’s spell of 4-42 left New Milton 119 all out.All the other Premier 3 matches were abandoned.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to stick to the best possible team for the ODI series against Zimbabwe that is scheduled to get underway next month. It was widely anticipated, and planned by the national selection committee, that new faces will be tried in the relatively low-key series in order to assess Pakistan’s backup resources.”We cannot take Zimbabwe on any other team lightly,” Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the PCB, told the . “That is why we will ensure that our best possible team plays against Zimbabwe and wins the series five-nil.”Salahuddin Ahmed, the chief selector, had earlier planned on introducing young blood into the team during the series.”We will definitely try out some new faces in whichever department we need them in,” Salahuddin had told Cricinfo. “That’s not to say that we are taking Zimbabwe lightly, but we need to assess players on the fringes of the national side and this is a good opportunity.”However, after Ashraf attended a couple of domestic matches on Thursday, he had a meeting with Salahuddin where a decision to hold a three-day exercise to test several upcoming cricketers was taken. The camp is scheduled to take place in Karachi from January 9 and will include 22 to 24 promising youngsters in action.”We will call around 20 to 24 youngsters for a few trial matches ahead of the series against Zimbabwe,” Ashraf said. “The players will be selected on the basis of their performance in domestic events as well as during Under-19 assignments.”We will spot players who can be a part of the national team in the future but will bring them in step by step. This is because we have to make it sure that the team’s performance is not affected by too many rapid changes.”We have a four-day and a three-day game against Zimbabwe and they would provide us with excellent opportunities to check out the youngsters who are knocking at the doors of international cricket.”We need solid players who can be groomed into world class Test cricketers.”The tour is scheduled to start on January 14 with a four-day match in Karachi. However, yesterday’s assassination of Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister, has thrown the immediate fate of the series in doubt.

The one remaining issue of the Division Two season was settled in the first hour of the day as Warwickshire secured the bonus points needed against Glamorgan for them to overhaul Worcestershire and clinch the title at Edgbaston.Glamorgan, a side whose finish to the summer on and off the field is taking on Devon Loch qualities, offered no fight once they had polished off the Warwickshire innings. Neil Carter continued the onslaught he started last night, so much so that another 21 runs had been added when Tim Ambrose was dismissed without adding to his overnight 86. Adam Shanty took two of the three wickets to fall to finish with 5 for 77.That left them needing three Glamorgan wickets, and they didn’t have to wait long as Chris Woakes tore through a flimsy top order. After removing Gareth Rees and Tom Maynard, the title was secured when Jonathan Trott caught Michael Powell, and the collapse continued as Glamorgan limped to 43 for 6. Jamie Dalrymple was the man to dig in, and his plucky 92 ensured there was no follow-on. He was last man out, caught at long-on as he tried for his hundred before running out of partners, falling to Woakes who finished with 6 for 68.Second time round, Warwickshire were, understandably, slightly less focussed, and as was the case yesterday, they lost early wickets to close on 55 for 3. The day was rounded off when Ian Salisbury was awarded the third county cap of his career, adding to the ones he gained at Sussex and Surrey.Middlesex made the most of a placid pitch at Wantage Road to amass 545 for 7 against Northamptonshire. Andrew Strauss fell early for 172, failing to beat his career-best score by five runs, but Owais Shah, 80 not out overnight, completed his hundred and then Eoin Morgan gorged himself in making an unbeaten 136. In the midst of plenty there was a rather unexpected mid-innings collapse as four wickets fell for 19, Ed Joyce, in probably his last innings for the county, making only 1, while Monty Panesar whirled away to finish with 5 for 143. Northamptonshire found things equally straightforward although their batsmen got themselves out after playing themselves in, and more application will be needed tomorrow if they are to avoid the follow-on. At the close, they were 128 for 3.Leicestershire’spolicy of fielding young England players among their Kolpaks is well documented, but it was Derbyshire’s 21-year-old Portsmouth-born offspinner Jake Needham who pulled his side back into the match at Grace Road. He took career-best figures of 6 for 49, and more impressively 5 for 24 after lunch, as Leicestershire slid from 152 for 4 to 208 all out, a lead of only 14. After that excitement the rest of a truncated day was fairly hard work for the Leicester diehards, Derbyshire grinding their way to 85 for 0 in 43 turgid overs on a pitch where the bounce remains variable.Essex were another side who decided to give they batsmen free rein on a flat pitch as they piled up 510 against Gloucestershire at Bristol. James Foster gave the selectors a nudge on the eve of them naming their Test squad for India with 122 while James Middlebrook chipped in with 75, the pair adding 107 for the seventh wicket. Gloucestershire were heartened by the performance of Rob Woodman who took a career-best 4 for 65 on his debut, but when it was their turn to bat, they found the going much harder. They slid to 49 for 3 in the 25th over, the umpires coming to their aid when they took the players off for bad light.