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A brilliant stonewalling effort from Harvinder Singh Sodhi and AmayKhurasiya helped Madhya Pradesh salvage a draw against Railways on thefinal day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy clash at the KarnailSingh Stadium in Delhi today. Khurasiya’s second century of the matchwas the undoubted highlight, the India discard adding an unbeaten 118to his first innings effort of 105.Railways enforced the follow-on as expected this morning afterestablishing a first innings lead of 242 yesterday. In the 17th overof the innings Murali Kartik struck by bowling opener Jai PrakashYadav for 12 with the score at 20. That was to be the lone success forRailways on an otherwise frustrating day.Sodhi and Khurasiya batted through the remaining 70 overs as MPfinished the day on 189/1. Sodhi’s 50 (253 balls, 6 fours) lasted fiveand three quarter hours while Khurasiya’s 262 minute effort was rathermore enterprising, coming off 216 balls and including 12 fours and 2sixes. Railways picked up five points and MP three from the drawnencounter.

The 1st One-Day International in the Spurs ODI Series will be played at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo and the following squad has been selected:

Tamil Nadu made a superb recovery on the opening day of their RanjiTrophy Super League Group C match against Orissa at the Barabatistadium in Cuttack on Saturday and symbolising this was a record lastwicket partnership of 137 runs off 34.3 overs between No 10 RajatBhatia and No 11 J Gokulakrishna.The two came together shortly before tea with Tamil Nadu in trouble at190 for nine. They took the score to 222 at tea and dominated thebowling in the last session. Both went boldly for their strokes. The20-year-old Bhatia was slightly more aggressive and hit 72 in 166minutes. He faced 93 balls and hit nine of them to the ropes. The27-year-old Gokulakrishna who remained unbeaten with 59 batted 147minutes. He faced 126 balls and hit five boundaries. Bhatia was outshortly before the scheduled close.The partnership is the fourth highest for the tenth wicket in the66-year-old national competition. It surpassed the previous best forthis wicket for Tamil Nadu, 130 between NJ Venkatesan and CRRangachari against Madhya Pradesh in 1951.Tamil Nadu made a poor start losing five wickets for 74. A sixthwicket partnership of 58 runs off 15 overs between skipper SridharanSarath (60) and Vasanth Saravanan (27) retreived the innings. Sarathplayed the sheet anchor role, batting 196 minutes, facing 115 ballsand hitting 12 fours. Coming in at 47 for three, he was ninth out at190. Wicketkeeper Reuben Paul chipped in with a valuable 22. Then camethe last wicket stand that boosted the Tamil Nadu total to327. Mohanty, A Barrick and Bipin Singh all took three wickets each.

Philip Amm, who played 118 first-class matches and 138 List-A games between 1982 and 1998, died in Grahamstown, aged 51.A Cricket South Africa release noted that Amm was “one of the outstanding opening batsmen of the 1980s and early 1990s.” He had his finest hour when he struck 214 against Clive Rice’s “Mean Machine” attack, helping Eastern Province seal their first Currie Cup title in the 1988-89 season.Amm represented SA Schools and SA Universities besides plying his trade for Eastern Province and Border. He scored 6860 first-class runs, including 12 centuries and 39 fifties, to add to 4117 List-A runs.His elder brother, Peter, also played for SA Schools and turned out for Eastern Province B in first-class cricket.”On behalf of the CSA Family I extend our deepest condolences to his family, his friends and his cricketing colleagues”, CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said.

Imran Tahir has joined Nottinghamshire until the end of the season, replacing Ben Hilfenhaus as the club’s main overseas player. Hilfenhaus returned to Australia last month after suffering a hip injury.Nottinghamshire will be Tahir’s fifth county, having previously played for Hampshire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire and Middlesex. He is expected to make his debut in the Royal London Cup fixture against Essex on Sunday and will be available to play in the Championship as well, either side of his South Africa commitments.”Imran is experienced, he’s played lots of cricket in England and we know how effective international-class spinners can be during the business end of a county season,” Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, Mick Newell, said. “We were always open to replacing Ben with a spinner, Imran was available and looks a good option for us.”We’ve started to play on some increasingly dry pitches this season, surfaces on which an extra spin option might help us win some matches. With the signing of Imran, we’ll have that in most of our matches between now and the end of the season.”Tahir is an experienced campaigner in county cricket, having taken almost 200 wickets across all formats for Hampshire, who he last represented at the back end of the 2014 season. He has also represented South Africa in Test, ODI and T20 cricket and was a member of the team that got to the World Cup semi-final earlier this year.”We see him as someone who can have success for us in both red and white ball cricket,” Newell said. “A world class legspinner is a valuable commodity to any side in any form of the game, particularly one of Imran’s quality and experience.”We’ve built some momentum with the cricket we have played in recent weeks. Hopefully this addition will help us maintain that through to the end of the season.”Nottinghamshire were joint bottom of the Championship at the end of June but have risen to mid-table after two wins from their last three games. They missed out on a T20 quarter-final after a rain abandonment in their final match but have started well in the Royal London Cup, with two wins and a no result so far.Dan Christian, who signed as Nottinghamshire’s second overseas player for the NatWest T20 Blast, has been filling in for Hilfenhaus during the Royal London Cup and will continue to be available when Tahir is on international duty. South Africa play New Zealand in two T20s and three ODIs between August 14 and 26, which Tahir is expected to be involved in.

Sam Northeast has been named as Kent’s captain for 2016, succeeding Rob Key in the role. Northeast led the side in Key’s absence during much of the 2015 season and was the unanimous choice to step up from vice-captain, which he has held for the past two seasons.While Key dropped himself from the Championship side, Northeast was Kent’s outstanding batsman, scoring more than 1000 first-class runs for the first time. He was also their leading run-scorer in the T20 Blast, as Kent reached the quarter-finals in both limited-overs competitions.”It’s a great honour to become club captain of a team I’ve supported from a young age and follow in the footsteps of some great captains,” Northeast said. “Hopefully the future is bright for Kent and I can help bring some silverware back to the club.”I would like to congratulate Keysy on an excellent job as captain and am sure he will have a large input going forward.”Key was in his second spell as captain, having been in charge between 2006 and 2012, then resuming the job after Kent spent a season under James Tredwell.The former England batsman has indicated he will continue to play on in 2016, when he will be 37, for which he is already under contract. He finished the season in good form, scoring consecutive hundreds in Kent’s final two Championship matches against Lancashire and Glamorgan.Of Northeast’s appointment, Kent chairman of cricket, Graham Johnson, said: “Sam has been seen as a potential leader as he has developed through the Kent cricket system. He has shown maturity in the role, without it affecting his form, and he commands the respect of the dressing room.”He is ambitious both personally and for the Kent team. The next stage of Kent cricket development at the highest level is in good hands.”

A century from Andre Fletcher and five-wicket hauls by Shane Shillingford and Alston Bobb set up Windward Islands‘ crushing win over Jamaica at Arnos Vale. Jamaica chose to bat, but came undone against the left-arm spin of Bobb to be bowled out for 204. Apart from Jermaine Blackwood, who missed a century by four runs, no one made a substantial contribution.Windwards responded strongly with an opening partnership of 75, then faltered briefly as David Bernard ran through the middle order, but then recovered through Fletcher, who registered his fifth first-class century, and was only dismissed after the lead was 120. The innings close four runs later, but that lead proved to be too much for Jamaica as only three of their batsmen were able to get into double-digit scores. Shillingford picked up 6 for 31, his 28th five-wicket haul.Ronsford Beaton and Devendra Bishoo played leading roles as Guyana edged aside bottom-placed Leeward Islands within three days in North South, Antigua. While Beaton’s 4 for 40 was instrumental in restricting Leewards to 139 on the first day, Bishoo’s 6 for 82 ensured the fourth-innings target was limited to 73, which Guyana achieved without much fuss.Leewards, winless in the competition, had a poor start to the match as they stumbled to 84 for 8 before the last two wickets pushed them past 100. As Guyana came out to bat, Rahkeem Cornwall snaffled seven wickets to register his best first-class figures, but before that, Opener Rajindra Chandrika’s 83 had pushed Guyana close to 200 for the loss of three wickets.The 128-run first-innings deficit proved to be difficult to clear as Leewards collapsed from 104 for 3 to 122 for 8, this time against Bishoo’s spin. A 65-run stand for the last wicket gave Leewards just enough time to pick up two wickets in the fourth innings, but couldn’t prevent their sixth loss in six matches.The Barbados bowlers dismissed Trinidad & Tobago cheaply in both innings to secure a 222-run victory at Kensington Oval.Barbados lost the toss and were 93 for 4 in the first innings before Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich made 85 and 92 to help them to 275 before they were dismissed early on the second day. They lost their last six wickets for 25 runs. Imran Khan took 4 for 65 for T&T, while Shannon Gabriel claimed 3 for 40.T&T were dismissed for 60 overs in response for 218. Carlos Brathwaite claimed 4 for 50, while Chase backed up his performance with the bat with 3 for 14. Evin Lewis top scored for T&T with 43.Having secured a lead of 57 in the first innings, Barbados rode on a hundred from Shai Hope to score 278 for 5 before declaring, setting T&T a target of 336. They were dismissed in 50.3 overs in the chase, falling for 113. Tino Best and Brathwaite claimed three wickets apiece to seal Barbados’ crushing win.

Shorter, more sharply-focused practices, a fresh mindset and space for a bit of fun have turned Zimbabwe from highly-strung to hopeful, which their senior players have put down to one thing: a change of coach. Dav Whatmore was appointed on December 30 and in less than six weeks put together the pieces of a broken squad to prepare them for the World Cup.”It’s literally been a total 180 in the players’ mindsets. We’re really enjoying each other’s company and there’s no more worries,” Brendan Taylor, the former ODI captain, said. “We’ve got a bit more direction at the moment and very clear minds. You can see that with the new coach, new ideas and calming influence.”Whatmore took over at what was one of the lowest points for Zimbabwe. Not only had they lost all three Tests and five ODIs and even a warm-up match in Bangladesh, they also lost their way as an international outfit. Theirs was not a professional sports structure but an army-style disciplinary system enforced by commander-in-chief Stephen Mangongo.The former coach demanded obedience in everything from the time players spent training in the nets to content of text messages. The former were unnecessarily long, the latter best kept short or not at all, especially if they include content of opposition bowlers – Tinashe Panyangara was suspended for circulating a video of a Mitchell Johnson bouncer barrage to team-mates via WhatsApp. Whatmore does not have the same stipulations.”There’s definitely a more energetic approach to training. Because the practices have been a lot shorter, guys will put in a lot more for that shorter period and go home. When Dav came in his main objective was to practice quality and not quantity,” Craig Ervine explained.”On our previous tour to Bangladesh, we practiced for a long time and after a while you start to lose a bit of interest and you don’t practice the right things. After the first few practices with Dav, guys were shocked. The guys sat around and said ‘What am I gonna do now, coz we’re finished?'”So what did they do? “We just went home and had a coffee,” Ervine said. Not really.Whatmore has got his players thinking about preparation instead of doing it ad nauseam. He “puts us in certain situations that replicate things at international level,” Sean Williams said.For someone like Taylor, whose habit it is to spend significant swathes of time in the nets, that means he has to juggle between the physical act of training and the other aspects. “I still hit a fair amount of balls but not as much. I try and mentally switch on, plan a lot better, write down things and make sure I’ve got a clear mind about how I am going to approach my innings. That’s just as important as putting in the work,” Taylor said.For others it means there is more time to find the work-life balance that has been successful for teams like South Africa. “It’s makes a huge difference,” Williams explained. “Our training session are ten times shorter. They are only two hours now. Things are great. We play games, we do things, we can have a beer. All that’s back.”And with that, the players have taken it on themselves to be responsible with their after-hours activity, just like adults should be. “The coaches have put the trust in us. They treat us like grown-ups and everybody has responded well to that. Nobody goes out boozing until 2 or 3 in the morning,” Williams said.All of that has left Elton Chigumbura in charge of a team he sees smiling more than he used to, who he can lead with the confidence that they are ready to perform better than they have done in the recent past. “The environment in the team has changed and the guys are happy with what has been going on at the moment,” he said. “We will have a more challenging team than the last World Cup; a team that wants to win. I will be happy to go out with XI guys who want to win the game from ball one.” What more could any captain want?

India were not prepared enough to face Ajantha Mendis in the recently concluded Test series and didn’t have a plan, former national captain Ajit Wadekar has said. Mendis, an unorthodox legspinner who made his debut in the first Test in Colombo, dominated the Indian batting line-up during the series – which Sri Lanka won 2-1 – to finish with a record 26 wickets.”To be frank, India were caught napping. They did not plan to tackle Mendis properly,” Wadekar said. “They did not decide which of the batsmen should go after him. That’s basically how one should go about things at the international level, regardless of whether the batsman gets out.”Wadekar said an attacking approach was needed against Mendis. “One should try to hit him out of the attack, not give him a chance to spin the ball both ways. One has to take chances otherwise he will always get on top,” Wadekar said. “With such a good batting line-up I am surprised why no one decided to take him on.”Mendis’ abilities with the ball impressed Wadekar. “It’s really amazing to see him hold the ball with his carrom-like grip, bowl at pace, and be absolutely accurate,” he said. “He’s got tremendous variations and he is going to be one of the wonders of the game as far as bowling is concerned.”Mendis, he said, reminded him of John Gleeson, whom he faced when Australia toured India in 1969. “Gleeson was a similar type of bowler but he could not bowl at pace because of his difficult grip. He would flight the ball, so we managed to kill the spin by stepping out,” he said. “It became much easier to face him [Gleeson] as the tour went on. It wasn’t as difficult as with Mendis, who is much quicker, faster and accurate.”Wadekar also spoke about two Indian spinners from his playing days who were similar to Mendis. “I have faced Subhash Gupte, who was a genuine legspinner. He was much slower then Mendis, but very tricky.”Bhagwat Chandrasekhar was another such bowler. If he got wickets in his first two overs, he became unplayable because he would begin to vary his deliveries a lot,” he said. “When we [the Mumbai side] played him in domestic cricket, he would try and not give him an early wicket.”

North Division

Lou Vincent’s Twenty20 century, the third from all players in this year’s competition, launched Lancashire back up to the top of the table in an important win against Derbyshire as the business end of the group stage approaches.Vincent’s quick pile – his century came from 60 balls with 11 fours and three sixes – and some handy figures for Glen Chapple and Sajid Mahmood all added up to the nine-wicket victory at Old Trafford, while a hard-working Derbyshire were knocked out of the competition.Lancashire had a pleasingly neat 100 for 0 at the 10-over mark – Vincent on 71 runs from 43 balls; Loye 27, from 17. Loye fell on the same score, caught off Wavell Hinds and it was left to Vincent and Stuart Law (19 not out) to finish things off.Wickets were at a premium throughout as the runs flowed, with Derbyshire managing to profit from a 4th-wicket stand of 103 between Hinds and James Pipe. Hinds ended with a 52-ball unbeaten 72 that left the visitors in the reckoning; Pipe made 44. Chapple took the first two scalps and Mahmood followed up with a brace of his own while yet again Simon Marshall was in the wickets.Vincent had said before this competition that it suited his game and this was a fine way to prove it. He ended on an unbeaten 102 and ultimately, he had it all figured out.

South Division

Hampshire moved into joint top position with a six-wicket win over Surrey in front of 6500 under the lights at The Rose Bowl. Surrey got off to a decent start but were never able to really up the run rate despite Scott Newman’s 52, and the innings fell away as they lost five wickets for 19 in 23 balls, finishing with 147 for 7. Michael Lumb (63 off 45 balls) and Ian Harvey (34) made a much more positive opening stand of 80 as Surrey wilted. At one point they were penalised with a no-ball for not having the correct number of fielders inside the circle, prompting a furious tirade against the blameless umpires from Mark Ramprakash. “It was a bad day for us but we’ve had a few in this competition,” he said afterwards. “We got off to a good start but perhaps there was some inexperience and we fell away and there was not enough for us to defend.”