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Habib Bank opener Saleem Elahi hammered a brilliant 115 off only 97 balls, helping his side surpass Allied Bank’s competitive 266 with two overs and three wickets to spare in the first match of the sixth round of One-day tournament (departments). This is test discard Elahi’s second consecutive century in the tournament, after he thrashed 170 (142 balls, 22 fours, 1 six) in Bankers’ winning campaign against Pakistan International Airlines in fifth round.After adding 115 for the first wicket with Taufeeq Umer (39 off 63), the right-hander Elahi compiled a useful 73 for the third wicket with Ijaz Ahmed (51 off 49, 4 fours 2 sixes) to take his side across 200-run mark by the 32nd over.The fall of a few wickets in quick succession after that endangered HBL’s chances of victory. However, they managed to squeeze through on the basis of an unbeaten 14 off 21 from wicket keeper Tahir Rasheed, batting at number 9.Batting first after winning the toss earlier in the day, Allied Bank were boosted by a 125-run second wicket partnership between Mohammad Nawaz and Aamer Hanif. Getting together at 12 for 1 in the third over, they took the score to 137 by the 28th over, thus, laying a sound foundation for a big score.Nawaz made 67 (85 ball, 6 fours) and Aamer contributed with 57 (76 balls, 3 fours), before both getting out within the space of 7 runs. After their departure, the task of scoring quick runs was taken over by Aaley Haider (25 off 26, 3 fours) and Taimur Khan (39 off 52, 4 fours). However, the real acceleration was provided by former test player Mohammad Akram, who collected a quick-fire 35 off 24 ball, hitting 4 fours and a six.HBL skipper Akram Raza remained the most successful bowler, getting 3 for 48.Imran Farhat, fresh from his trip to Sharjah, took 2 for 21 in five overs. Asadullah Butt and Sajid Shah bagged one wicket each.Saeed Bin Nasir stroked a magnificent 106 not out to help Khan Research Laboratories crush Agricultural Bank by a comprehensive margin of 9 wickets in the second match of this round, played at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.The right-handed opener hit 12 boundaries in his 111-ball innings, while adding 144 to for the first wicket with Saeed Anwar Jnr and another 62 with Mohammad Wasim for the unconquered second wicket, overhauling the victory target of 205 in 38 overs.Saeed Anwar Jnr made 78 off 87 balls and hit 10 boundaries, whereas Wasim remained unbeaten on 17 off 32 balls.The morning session saw a magnificent collective effort by the KRL bowlers, containing ADBP to 205 in 46.3 overs, after they had elected to bat first on an apparently batting-friendly track.Naeem Akhtar, the right-handed pace man, grabbed three wickets for 53 to inflict real damage on the ADBP batsmen, after a fine 77 off 99 by the middle order batsman Majid Jahangir had taken them on course to a big total. Naeem was ably supported by Jaffar Nazir and Saeed Anwar Jnr who grabbed two wickets for 34 runs each.In the third match of the day, played at Sheikhupura, Pakistan International Airlines surpassed the 178-run target set by National Bank to win comfortably by 6 wickets.After losing two wickets for just 16, PIA looked in real danger of squandering their chance of winning the match. But then a 50-run partnership for the second wicket between Ghulam Ali (32 off 36, 4 fours) and skipper Asif Mujtaba (28 off 49, 4 fours) brought a much needed order in their ranks.However, the dismissal of both within a space of 20 runs, once again made things a bit shaky for PIA. It was then up to an unbeaten 95-run stand between Yasir Hameed and Moin Khan for the fifth wicket, which ensured a comprehensive victory for their side.Moin, the former captain, stroked a fine 51 off 49 balls, and Yasir made 50 off 64 to take their side through in only 34.1 overs.Earlier, it was fine display of spin bowling from Shoaib Malik (4 for 39) and Saqlain Mushtaq (2 for 38), restricting NBP to 177. Only Qaisar Abbas (38 off 73) and Naumanullah (37 off 75) could take their individual scores into 30’s, with the remaining batsmen failing to show any worthwhile performance against an experienced PIA attack.In the last match, Pakistan Customs went down by 3 wickets against Wapda, despite a valiant hundred by Nasim Khan at number 3 position.It was really a commendable effort by the left-hander, considering that none of the other Customs batsmen could score even a fifty, the second highest being 32 (41 balls) by Nisar Abbas, batting low down the order.Requiring 232 for victory, Wapda seemed to be cruising along at 132 for 2 by the 30th over, after Rizwan Malik (67off 95 balls) and Sheraz Butt (27 off 53 balls) had batted with utter caution. However, the next ten overs saw them slumping to 179 for 6, needing the remaining 53 at around five an over.Rafatullah Mohmand and Shafiq Ahmed batted with responsibility at this critical juncture to ensure that the ultimate honours went to their side. Shafiq Ahmed remained not out on 25 off 26, hitting one four and a six, whereas Rafatullah missed his half-century by just one run in a 47-ball innings, before being out at the total of 224.

The slimmer Shane Warne has shown he could yet beat Muttiah Muralitharan to Test cricket’s most treasured bowling record with his marathon performance in his 100th Test.Warne’s match figures of 8-231 from 98 overs in the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town boosted his career haul to 444 wickets and pushed him closerto Courtney Walsh’s title of Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker.Sri Lankan Muralitharan (412 wickets from 73 matches) is the only bowler with a realistic chance of beating Warne to Walsh’s record of 519 wickets and the pairare locked in an intriguing race.Warne needs 76 wickets to pass Walsh – the same number of wickets the Australian leg-spinner has taken from his last 16 Tests.Muralitharan has claimed 121 wickets from his last 16 Tests and Warne expects the off-spinner to finish with more career wickets than him, even tipping him last week to reach 1000.But Warne can still become the first Australian since paceman Dennis Lillee to claim the top spot among the world’s bowlers, especially with his new dedication to fitness.Warne has never bowled as many overs in an innings or a Test but without him South Africa’s batsmen would have put Australia out of reach on a Newlands wicket doing nothing for the quicks.His 6-161 in the second innings came from 70 overs – the most bowled by an Australian in one innings in the last 24 years.”When I hit the 60-over mark it was like a big night out – you get your third and fourth wind,” Warne said.”It gets past midnight and when you get to two o’clock in the morning you get that third wind and you just start to find a bit extra.”There was plenty to like about Warne’s composed performance at Newlands, including the leading role in a collapse of 5-42 as he blunted South Africa’s disciplined comeback in the second innings.The Proteas were dismissed for 473 and openers Matthew Hayden (50 not out) and Justin Langer (58) pushed Australia within 200 runs of victory at 1-131, withone day remaining.”I was knackered but I knew we weren’t that far from knocking them over and another 10, 20, 30 runs would have made a huge difference,” Warne said.Warne had already ensured his 100th Test would be memorable by scoring his sixth highest score (63 from 65 balls) in between his bowling stints.The 32-year-old’s fitness has helped his recovery but he has taken no chances to ensure he sleeps well, moving into an adjoining hotel room to his young childrenBrooke, Jackson and Summer.”We’ve brought our nanny over so they’re sleeping in the next room and I’ve locked the doors and bolted it and put the chair up against it and they’ve been coming into the room about 7.30am,” Warne said.”It’s been great to have them here.”In your 100th Test you always want to do something a little bit special and I’m very happy with my effort of bowling 70 overs and getting six wickets and with the batting in the first innings.”

Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe has described his cancer as “very treatable” and blamed the disease on the rigours of a touring lifestyle with New Zealand for two decades. Crowe, who has been diagnosed with grade two follicular lymphoma, said his immune system had weakened after suffering illnesses on certain tours, like when he picked up salmonella poisoning in Sri Lanka in 1984.”It is very treatable. It is not aggressive,” Crowe said in a statement. “Treatment will be decided in due course after further tests and consultation in the next two weeks.”In the past, on travels during my cricket career, suffering salmonella and glandular fever has compromised me. The result of a weakened immune system over the last two decades is basically why I have become exposed to this sort of disease.”Crowe took the setback in a positive spirit and thanked his well-wishers for their support. He said the cancer had affected the lymph nodes in his neck, armpits and stomach.”I am overwhelmed by the support and concern by so many around the world and wish to say a massive thanks… it has enabled me to come to terms with the shock from my recent lymphoma diagnosis faster,” he said. “My mindset and fierce focus has kicked in just like it did when approaching a long innings in a Test match. I will focus on the important things in front of me, and nothing else.”One of New Zealand’s most celebrated batsmen, Crowe, 50, had played 77 Tests between 1982 and 1995, before he was forced to quit international cricket due to a bad knee. He had briefly attempted to return to competitive cricket last November, saying that he considered it a means of self-motivation and a tool to get fit, but his comeback lasted just three balls, after he pulled a thigh muscle.

Having whitewashed England 3-0 at home, Sri Lanka was thwarted by Pakistan in the thriller of an opening game of the three-nation ARY Gold Cup. It was a close run thing, but eventually the Lankan challenge to a modest Pakistan total of 255 fizzled out, by a mere 16 runs. The new Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis was an inspiration on the field. He led by example, bowling fast and taking wickets, four in all, but more importantly when it mattered most.Sharjah always has a rather refreshing effect on the Pakistanis, and Younis having a fresh start as captain, for the first time in his own right, couldn’t have wished for a better one. He won the toss and took crucial wickets, the most important of them being that of rival captain Sanath Jayasuriya in the very first over, to stop the Lankan run chase in its tracks.The Man of the Match award though went to Saeed Anwar, for his 90 off 117 deliveries, 10 short of what would have been his eighth hundred in the desert oasis, but still it was the highest innings of the match.It, however, was the Pakistan attack, which lived up to its reputation of defending whatever totals its batting line-up had built. And surely, it was 25 to 30 runs short of what they would have liked to put on the board considering the kind of start they had. The so-called slog-overs, the last 10 of the 50, had yielded only 56 with five wickets lost in the bargain.But a charged-up Waqar Younis made up for that, getting a wicket on his second ball, trapping the hard-hitting Jayasuriya leg before with a fast and straight one. The Lankans made a strong comeback through that pocket dynamo Romesh Kaluwitharana and a sedate Marvan Atapattu. Kaluwitharana did have his share of luck for the edges that flew off the bat, to the boundary as Younis quite inexplicably, took the slips off soon after the start. The diminutive Kaluwitharana however was quick to seize the initiative, and in association with Atapattu seemed to be taking the game out of Pakistan’s hands when the duo of off-spinners, Saqlain Mushtaq and his clone Shoaib Malik were introduced into the attack. Young Malik, who had played a little cameo with the bat, contributing a quicksilver 24 off only 20 deliveries and was nimble-footed in the field too, provided the breakthrough by getting Atapattu stumped by Humayun Farhat, the debutant `keeper’s first scalp. Bowling tidily, he accounted for Kaluwitharana as well; clean bowling him when he seemed to be destined for greater things. Three for 101 in the 23rd over, and Pakistan had partially swung it back.From then on wickets kept falling at regular intervals, with Shahid Afridi’s fastish leg-spin bowling sending back Mahela Jayawardene and Kumara Sangakkara. Russel Arnold and Indika de Saram in a 50 run stand partially swung it back in Sri Lanka’s favour, taking the score to 201 in a stand of 50 for the sixth wicket. Younis brought himself back at this stage, and his leg-cutter bowled Arnold, and his straight one on the last delivery of the 44th over proving too good for Muralitharan. Younis for good measure dealt the next vital blow by clean bowling de Saram and though Chaminda Vass tried to make a fight of it, Saqlain made sure that nothing untoward happened by taking the last two wickets in the penultimate over.Younis definitely had his say, but the three spinners – Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi – definitely had a big hand in ensuring Pakistan’s triumph.It generally was good for the spinners, for the trio of the Lankan spinners too had set Pakistan back after a rather decent start once Younis had won the toss and quite predictably elected to bat on the placid batting track. The toss was not the only thing that went right for Pakistan to begin with. Soon the openers, Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi, were stroking the ball to all parts of the park.Returning from a groin injury that had ruled him out of the recent Test series against the Black Caps, Anwar seemed to be in sublime touch and started off by hitting Nuwan Zoysa for a couple of boundaries in the second over to get the innings going. Then he was dropped by Atapattu, at 18, a straightforward chance at mid-off. That drop turned out to be a costly lapse as Anwar, on his lucky ground with seven of his 19 hundreds coming here, made the Lankans pay for it.Afridi on the other end was quite visibly trying to be patient, spacing his characteristic lofted drives with singles and defensive strokes. But having made 21 off 18 deliveries, his principal strokes being two fours and a six, off Zoysa and clouted out of the ground at midwicket, he tried to clear the infield, and holed out. Young debutant Imran Farhat too didn’t last long. That brought Inzamam-ul-Haq in, and with Anwar at the other end, the two most seasoned Pakistani campaigners were at the crease. The two between them put on 88 runs for the third wicket when Inzamam went. Anwar and Younis Khan together tried to continue in the same vein but the former got bogged down in the quest for his 20th hundred. Then Anwar and Younis went in quick succession and it was a struggle for the remaining batsmen.They ultimately put on 255, quite a few less than they thought sufficient at that point, but it turned out to be otherwise in the end.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
M Vijay’s 266 became the highest individual score in Irani Cup history•Fotocorp

There were no glorious uncertainties on the third day of the Irani Cup at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as, expectedly, Rest of India’s batsmen piled on the runs against Rajasthan. M Vijay continued to enjoy himself, reaching the highest individual score in the tournament’s history, beating a 22-year-old record held by Praveen Amre, to pretty much ensure the Ranji champions would be denied the Irani Cup for a seventh year in a row.As early as Saturday morning, when the openers Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane were utterly at ease against Rajasthan, the discussion in the press box was about when Rest of India will decide to declare, and at what score. The majority view was that Rajasthan would be in the field at least till tea on the third day; it turned out that Rest of India batted for almost an hour after tea, till the lead stretched to a mammoth 354.Worryingly, for Rajasthan, the odd ball stayed low making it difficult for the batsmen, and one from left-arm spinner Gajendra Singh took off from the rough, spinning past the outside edge and the wicketkeeper’s shoulder. It was by no means a difficult track to bat on yet, but was promising to become one as Rajasthan looked to bat out the best part of two days.That also meant the day wasn’t an absolute cruise for the Rest of India batsmen, as it had been on Saturday. Vijay began with a couple of wristy square-leg boundaries, and within the first half-hour had reprised the two signature shots of his innings: an off-drive between the bowler and mid-off, and a carve through cover for another boundary. But there were a few false shots as well, like the Chinese cut for four off left-arm quick bowler Aniket Choudhary and several missed shots with the ball going through to the keeper.Just before the first drinks break of the day, Vijay brought up his third double-hundred, with a drive for four to long-on. The stream of drives through the V continued, and he also guided several wide deliveries to the third man boundary as he neared his previous personal best of 243. He was put down by Sumit Mathur at long-on on 220, and looked plumb lbw to Mathur on 258 but he persevered, not showing too many signs of tiredness. He was hobbling soon after as a delivery sneaked between his pad and thigh and painfully struck him on the knee. It wasn’t long before he finally holed out to long-on, walking off for 266.Like each of the other batsmen before him, S Badrinath also helped himself to a half-century, and with lunch around the corner, he looked good for his first first-class hundred since last December. Instead, he was done in by a shortish ball from Deepak Chahar which kept low.That didn’t affect Rest of India too much, as Dinesh Karthik joined the half-century party, with a 56 that included ten boundaries. He used his feet to the spinners, and was forceful on the cut against anything short. He was looking to defend a delivery from the offspinner Madhur Khatri off the front foot, but it spun past the inside-edge and he was gone lbw for 56.Rajasthan’s bowlers finally got some respite late in the day, as Cheteshwar Pujara declared with 16 overs remaining. Rajasthan had waited half a day to get their first wicket on Saturday, but Rest of India needed only four deliveries as Ishant Sharma got one to swerve away and take Ankit Lamba’s outside edge to Dinesh Karthik, who took over the keeping duties from Wriddhiman Saha for the second innings. On the evidence so far, Rajasthan have given little reason to believe the Irani Cup won’t be as comprehensively one-sided as it has been over the past few years. Taking the game to the fifth day itself will be an achievement for them.

ScorecardFile photo: Kedar Jadhav blasted 24 fours and one six during his unbeaten 175 to take Maharashtra to 337•BCCI

A third-wicket stand of 206 between Harshad Khadiwale and Kedar Jadhav propelled Maharashtra to a mammoth 337 for 4 against Hyderabad, as the visitors wrested the advantage at the end of the first day.Khadiwale and Jadhav both scored centuries, as the pair batted out 53.5 overs to help Maharashtra overcome a shaky start that saw the opener Chirag Khurana and Vijay Zol both dismissed by medium-pacer Ravi Kiran inside 10 overs.Khadiwale’s 11th first-class ton included 15 fours and a six, but he was eventually caught behind for 107 by the keeper Habib Ahmed off Amol Shinde in the 64th over. Jadhav however carried on the scoring and remained unbeaten at 175 – his fifth century in first-class cricket. He blasted 24 fours and a six during his knock, as Maharashtra finished the day strongly.
ScorecardMedium-pacer Sandeep Warrier spearheaded an incisive bowling performance from Kerala that helped the team restrict Tripura to 136 for 9 at the end of day one in Kannur.Warrier picked up the three top-order scalps of KB Pawan, Samrat Singha and Abhijit Dey, which left Tripura rattled, and ultimately, unable to recover from, as they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.Tripura offered some brief resistance when Yogesh Takawale and Manisankar Murasingh put up a partnership of 51 for the sixth wicket, but Murasingh was caught by Vinoop Manoharan off his own bowling in the 57th over, and soon after, Takawale departed for 45, leaving the team in a dire situation.K Sreejith, Prasanth Parameswaran and Manoharan notched two wickets each as Kerala seized a firm grip of the game heading into the second day.
ScorecardFifties from Srikar Bharat and Bodapati Sumanth took Andhra to a respectable 233 for 5 against Assam when other batsmen also got starts but couldn’t capitalise on them. While Bharat was dismissed for 70, Sumanth was unbeaten on 56 at the end of the first day.Andhra were given a slow start after they were put in to bat and opener Prasanth Kumar fell for 8 to Pritam Das in the 16th over. When Bharat and Murumulla Sriram had almost steered them to 100, Das struck again to break the 66-run stand by dismissing Bharat for a relatively brisk 70. And a run later, Arup Das removed Sriram for 20 to leave Andhra at 100 for 3.Veteran Amol Muzumdar and Sumanth built on the score by putting together 42 runs but Muzumdar’s innings was cut short to 23 when he became Arup Das’ second victim. Sumanth was then joined by AG Pradeep who couldn’t go past the 20s either. He scored 27 in the 60-run partnership and was dismissed by Abu Nechim at the score of 202. Sumanth and Duvvarapu Shivkumar then saw their side till stumps as the former scored his 13th first-class fifty.
ScorecardHimachal Pradesh skittled Jammu & Kashmir for 178 and then marched comfortably to 92 for 1 to reduce their trail to 86 on the first day in Dharamsala. J&K’s innings saw only two major contributions – from Adil Rishi and Parvez Rasool – as their remaining nine batsmen managed only 33 runs together.Himachal chose to field and struck twice in the first 10 overs. Rishi and Rasool added 109 runs for the third wicket out of which the former made 47 with the help of 10 fours. The stand was broken at the score of 126 in the 31st over with the wicket of Rishi, and six overs later, Rasool was dismissed three short of what would have been his fourth first-class hundred. His wicket triggered a collapse as the remaining six wickets fell for only 26 more runs as Vikramjeet Malik and Rishi Dhawan shared five of those between themselves. While Malik picked up three overall, Dhawan finished with 4 for 70.In reply, Himachal lost only one wicket, of Prashant Chopra for 36, as Sangram Singh and Paras Dogra were unbeaten on 24 and 29 respectively at the end of the day.

Ireland welcome back Alex Cusack to their squad for the World T20 Qualifier next month in a boost to their chances of winning a place in Bangladesh next year.Cusack was named Man of the Tournament in the 2010 qualifier and returns having missed the final month of the season with a back injury, which also kept him out of Ireland’s ODI against England.Ireland have qualified for the last three editions of the World T20 and another place among the elite of world cricket is in their sights. It should be a formality with six of the 16 teams going through. Ireland are the No. 1 seeds in the competitions12 of Ireland’s 15-man squad for the UAE were in the party that played in the last World T20 in Sri Lanka. The three who didn’t are 20-year-old legspinner Andrew McBrine, batsman James Shannon and allrounder John Mooney.”It’s good to have Alex back in the frame,” Ireland coach Phil Simmons said. “He’s an intelligent cricketer and a very canny bowler to have especially in the Powerplays. He mixes his pace up well and can be difficult to read for the batsmen.”There’s no secret that I like a lot of experience in my squads and this one’s no different. Most of the guys have played in World Cup finals and are used to pressure, which always comes with these qualifying tournaments.”We also have John Mooney fit again after he missed the Scotland matches, so we’ve plenty of options in the bowling department. Andrew McBrine deserves an opportunity. He’s done very well this season and his bowling will be a useful asset on the slower pitches in the UAE.”The tour also includes the Intercontinental Cup final against Afghanistan, for which Andrew White will join up with the squad. White is Ireland’s leading runscorer in Intercontinental Cup history with 1502 runs at 60.08.Ireland squad for World T20 Qualifiers
William Porterfield (capt), Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Ed Joyce, Andrew McBrine, John Mooney, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien (wkt), James Shannon, Max Sorensen, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson.Ireland squad for Intercontinental Cup final
William Porterfield (capt), George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Ed Joyce, John Mooney, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Max Sorensen, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Andrew White, Gary Wilson.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDwayne Smith powered the chase with 48 off 25 balls•BCCI

Mumbai Indians boast of some of the biggest hitters in T20 cricket in their line-up and they fired in unison to storm into the semi-final of the Champions League, achieving their target in just 13.2 overs. The target was 150, but in order to topple Otago on net run rate, they needed to achieve it within 14.2 overs. The strategy was clear and Dwayne Smith and Rohit Sharma made it look ridiculously simple against a Perth Scorchers attack that failed to contain a determined top order. It meant that the semi-final line-up had three IPL teams in it.The scenarios were clearly spelt out for Mumbai ahead of the game as to what they required to keep Otago out of the semi-final race. It’s common for captains to prefer to chase in such situations and Rohit decided to do just that. The required rate for qualification was over ten an over and Mumbai approached it as a 14-over game.Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t in the best of form but he was sent to open anyway. There was the possibility that this would be his last T20 match in the event of them failing to qualify. He fell for a second-ball duck, flicking to deep square leg and there was a hush around the Kotla as he walked back. Smith provided the big hits starting from the second ball of the innings, which he slogged over mid-on before dispatching another over the rope at long-on.Scorchers had three left-arm spinners in their line-up, including the experienced Brad Hogg, but their one-dimensional spin attack was demolished by a rampaging Smith. Flighted deliveries were slogged and smashed over the covers and anything dropped short was pulled over the leg side at breakneck speed. The flatter and quicker deliveries kept him quiet on occasion but Scorchers were guilty of bowling the wrong lengths.The left-arm seamers, Joel Paris and Jason Behrendorff, came in for similar punishment. Paris’ first over leaked 19, with an effortless six by Rohit over fine leg followed by an outside edge past the wicketkeeper. Hogg bowled two long hops, the first of which was smashed by Smith over deep midwicket. The second was pulled flatter, but Behrendorff timed his jump to perfection at deep square leg to pull off a sharp catch to send back Smith for 48.Another hush enveloped the ground as Smith walked back but Rohit was in sublime form at the other end. He ensured the run rate stayed around ten an over, slogging the spinners and launching Paris several rows over long-off to speed towards his fifty. At the end of ten overs, Mumbai raced to 117 for 3 and held the edge. Kieron Pollard had moved to a relatively pedestrian 12 off 12 balls but two solid blows in an over off Behrendorff eased any pressure that may have crept up. Tension started to build in the dugout when Pollard was bowled in the 13th over with Mumbai still needing 13 off 11. Ambati Rayudu sealed the win with consecutive sixes and Mumbai qualified with an over to spare.Scorchers were already knocked out of the competition but their batsmen did their bit to make it difficult for Mumbai. Two half-century stands pushed Scorchers to what looked like a competitive 149 on a typically slow Kotla track. The openers Ashton Agar and Simon Katich added 55, helped by some ordinary fielding and catching by Mumbai. Sam Whiteman, making his T20 debut, and Hilton Cartwright added a half-century stand in just 30 balls after Mumbai pulled things back with quick wickets. Given the slowness of the pitch, 149 looked respectable but Scorchers didn’t have the bowling to keep Mumbai down.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe Bangladesh middle order batted well around Mominul Haque’s 181•Associated Press

Mominul Haque wiped away any doubts about his place in the Test line-up with an authoritative 181 that helped Bangladesh make significant progress towards New Zealand’s first innings score of 469. His innings is the third highest score by a Bangladeshi batsman, and it was an innings that was his first serious expression of a calculative approach.At stumps, the home side was 380 for 7, with Sohag Gazi and Abdur Razzak at the crease. Nasir Hossain was the last of the recognised batsman to be dismissed, which means that the tail would have to bat around Gazi, who is on 28.Despite some natural wear and tear on the wicket, there haven’t been many balls that caused alarm. At best there was a sense of bemusement when some of the deliveries bounced twice or thrice on their way to wicketkeeper BJ Watling. This was predicted, and so was assistance to spin. But it hasn’t materialised yet, much to the dissatisfaction of Bruce Martin and Ish Sodhi.Mominul dictated terms for the six hours he spent at the crease, picking up where he left off overnight. Five fours came off the first 27 deliveries he faced, which got him to the century. He had to survive a couple of close calls when he edged a few and skied one towards deep point, but reached the mark off 98 balls.Though his pace slowed – taking another 100 balls to get to 150 – Mominul made key contributions to a 126-run third wicket stand with Marshall Ayub, 46 runs for the fourth wicket with Shakib Al Hasan and another 121 with captain Mushfiqur Rahim for the fifth wicket.Mushfiqur struck 67 off 119 balls with ten fours and two sixes, having dominated the proceedings and making the New Zealand bowlers go through their toughest phase in the afternoon sessions.Mominul was clever as he kept one end up, consolidating his position and creeping towards the only two higher scores by Bangladesh batsmen – Mushfiqur’s 200 and Ashraful’s 190, made earlier this year. Though Mominul was at his slowest in the last part of his innings, when he added 31 runs off 75 balls.Earlier, Marshall couldn’t capitalise on his start from the previous evening after he chased a wide one to give allrounder Corey Anderson his first Test wicket. The left-armer added a second with the wicket of Mominul, who was trapped leg-before after batting for 377 minutes. He had only just survived a dropped catch when Brendon McCullum’s one-handed attempt didn’t work out when he dived in front of first slip Ross Taylor off Trent Boult.Taylor made up for it, taking a good one to get rid of Mushfiqur, which could have hurt Bangladesh but Nasir and Gazi added 70 runs for the seventh wicket. before the Nasir holed out after he top-edged a half-tracker from Sodhi.Doug Bracewell and Anderson took two wickets while Boult, Sodhi and Kane Williamson took one each. It was a lot of hard work for the three seamers, and a few misfields and the dropped catch didn’t help. Nasir batted at a fair clip, scoring 46 off 65 balls with seven fours and a six. But he was far too impetuous considering a little more caution would have seen Bangladesh end the day in a slightly stronger position.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJunaid Khan picked up two crucial wickets after tea to rob Zimbabwe of the upper hand•AFP

Zimbabwe allowed Pakistan to claw back into the match in the third session of the second Test in Harare after keeping the bowlers at bay for two-thirds of the day. The hosts had survived a treacherous morning session with only the loss of their openers before half-centuries from their senior batsmen, Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor, took them to 165 for 3 at tea. However, five wickets in the final session undermined the earlier good work.Junaid Khan provided the first of the five breakthroughs when he had Malcolm Waller caught behind soon after tea, but it was Abdur Rehman who made the crucial dismissal when he trapped Taylor lbw while on the sweep. Taylor, who had been dropped at mid-off by Rahat Ali in Rehman’s previous over, was a touch unlucky though as the ball hit him marginally outside the line of off stump.But there wasn’t much resistance from Elton Chigumbura and Richmond Mutumbami, the last of the recognised batsmen, and Zimbabwe’s innings was caught in the downward spiral. Tinashe Panyangara and Prosper Utseya scored useful runs against the resurgent bowling and survived long enough to ensure the team will come out to bat on the second morning.The pitch, which was thought to be under-prepared, mostly stayed true on the first day. The final score could be much less than what seemed possible at one stage, but with the nature of the pitch still unknown, it could be a good first-innings total.For Zimbabwe though, apart from Masakadza and Taylor, none of the batsmen were able to apply themselves against Pakistan’s tenacious bowling. Masakadza and Taylor had come together at the dismissal of Vusi Sibanda with the score on 31, but added 110 to settle the nerves after initial jitters. The century partnership between the two was a story of two halves: the first dominated by Masakadza and the second by Taylor.In the initial phase, Masakadza looked to score freely while Taylor soaked up the deliveries. He stayed back against the spinners, but was quick to pounce on anything tossed up, preferring to hit over the infield. One such shot took him to his first half-century against Pakistan. Two overs later, he punched a quicker one to the cover boundary to bring up the fifty of the partnership, with Taylor scoring only 7.In the next half though, Taylor assumed the role of the aggressor, announcing his intentions with aerial boundaries off Saeed Ajmal and Rehman. The run-rate hovered around 2.5, but when the opportunities came, Taylor made sure he was ready. He reverse-swept an Ajmal doosra, then creamed a full delivery from Rahat Ali to the cover boundary. When the partnership reached 100, Taylor had taken over the scoring, with 32 runs in the second fifty.The free-scoring came after the batsmen had warded off the threat from Pakistan’s seamers in the first session when the ball was darting around. Zimbabwe lost their first wicket off the second delivery of the day and only two runs were scored in the first 40 minutes.The first over, bowled by Junaid, was almost unplayable and accounted for the wicket of Tino Mawoyo as the batsman was squared up by one that cut across him. The umpire was convinced the ball had taken the edge after the Pakistan team went up in a loud appeal. Replays showed that the ball might have hit the thigh pad along the way and not the bat, but Mawoyo, who has had a poor run of scores opening in Tests, had to go.Rahat started in the same vein from the other end and with plenty of movement on offer, kept the batsmen guessing, as ball after ball, the batsmen played and missed. He bowled a slightly fuller length and a wider line than Junaid, and induced as many errors, but earned the wicket of Sibanda with a short one. He came back to pick another wicket towards the end of the day with the new ball.