Andrew Strauss, dropped from England’s touring squad to Sri Lanka, has admitted he was shattered when Andrew Flintoff was handed the captaincy ahead of him for the Ashes last year.”Duncan Fletcher [the coach at the time] sat me down and said it was a tough call but that there were good reasons why they chose Fred [Flintoff],” Strauss told the . “Although I was still in the team, it felt like I was dropped. He couldn’t say anything to make it better. I just tried to be as supportive as I could.”However, Strauss didn’t find fault with Flintoff’s behaviour as captain. “He had a lot on his plate,” Strauss said. “With the responsibility of batting and bowling, perhaps the captaincy was too much. I’m not saying he wasn’t equal to the task. No matter who had captained that side – Michael Vaughan, Mike Brearley or anyone – we would not have won the series [Ashes] the way we played. I’m not sure my undefeated run would have carried on for long if I was captain. “Strauss is focused on making a comeback to England whites and is set to play for Northern Districts in New Zealand, though only for the one-day league.”This is the first time I have had a break in a very long time and I have enjoyed spending some time away from the game. But the only way I will get my England place back is to score runs. I have to do everything I can to be in form and in the best frame of mind if England need me. A month with Northern Districts is perfect.”
David Sales has agreed a two-year contract extension at Northamptonshire which will keep him with the club until 2008 and has also agreed to continue as captain in 2007.Sales, 29, is currently enjoying a benefit year with the county and scored over 1200 runs in the Championship last year as the team missed out on promotion.He said: ‘It’s a great honour to be name captain again with such exciting times ahead. A new head coach in David Capel and David Ripley’s new position as second team coach/academy director will give us the knowledge and support we need along with their back room staff.”I am very much looking forward to the year ahead and expect some big things this year for the club. On my contract extension I am delighted to commit myself to the club for a further two years and hopefully a lot longer in the future’
England have named a 14-man squad for the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka during February and following their winless tour of Bangladesh there are several news faces in the party.Steven Mullaney, Mark Stoneman, and Graeme White are the fresh players in the squad, although Mullaney, a right-handed batsman from Lancashire, has previous experience with the Under-19 team after playing against Sri Lanka in 2005. Richard Jones, a pace bowler from Worcestershire, is also back in the squad having been forced home from the tour of Bangladesh with a back injury.The 16-team tournament runs starts on February 5 in Colombo and England are grouped with Zimbabwe, Ireland and Nepal for the first round of matches.England squad Moeen Ali (Warwickshire), Varun Chopra (Essex), Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey), Nicholas James (Warwickshire), Richard Jones (Worcestershire), Andrew Miller (Lancashire), Steven Mullaney (Lancashire), John Simpson (Lancashire), Mark Stoneman (Durham), Huw Waters (Glamorgan), Graeme White (Northamptonshire), Greg Wood (Yorkshire), Robert Woodman (Somerset), Ben Wright (Glamorgan)
Ian Billcliff, Canada’s captain, has said that John Davison’s absence would be felt during their ICC Intercontinental Cup semi-final against UAE at Sharjah, but that it would give others a chance to display their skills. He believed that the team’s sense of self was a strength, and though they had not played UAE much, they would reply on getting their basics right in order to win."John is obviously a very important player for us and has been our most successful performer in the qualifying matches so it goes without saying that he will be missed," said Billcliff. "But his absence gives some of the others a chance to shine. We’ve got some good players and I’m still confident we can do well."Billcliff said that the experience his team got in the tournament would be vital, and that facing different countries and conditions hurried their learning. "Any opportunity we have to play cricket against quality opposition is a great experience for us. Playing in different countries against varied opposition is a very steep learning curve, and what we have experienced so far is that the team that comes to terms with the conditions the quickest and executes their plans efficiently comes out on top."It [playing the three-day game] definitely has been helpful to learn to be able to build an innings and to be patient with the ball and build pressure. The experience will definitely benefit the team’s growth and I think that we have grown closer as a unit over the series of three-day games. The wearing pitch is the biggest factor. To be able to adapt one’s game as the match progresses is the key."We have had limited experience playing these teams so there will have to be a lot of input from various members of the team. There will be a fair bit of thinking on our feet but in the end it is a fairly simple game, and the team that executes the basics the best will win the tournament.
The Cidermen travel to Cardiff later today to take on Glamorgan in search of their first win in the Twenty20 Cup.Having lost their opening match in the new competition Somerset will be keen to get a favourable result tonight, and nobody more so than Steffan Jones who played at Sofia Gardens for Wales in their One Day International against England last weekend.The Welshman from Llanelli told me: "Every game my bowling is getting better, and at last it’s going right for me this season. Just when everybody else is going down with injury I’m starting to get going."He continued: "It will be a bit strange for me going back to play against the team who I played for last weekend and I expect that I’ll get a few jibes but I’m looking forward to the match this evening."Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "This is a competition that we think that we should do well in, and in our first game we played ourselves into a good position and then let it slip away.If we can get a grip of these situations then we can win this one tonight.With Aaron Laraman suffering from a side strain, all rounder Gareth Andrew comes into an otherwise unchanged team from the one that played on Friday evening.The full Somerset team will be – Jamie Cox, Mike Burns, Carl Gazzard, Ian Blackwell, Keith Parsons, Wes Durston, Keith Dutch, Simon Francis, Gareth Andrew, Rob Turner and Steffan Jones.
Pakistan’s defeat in the Lord’s Test was their 68th in test cricket. Out of 278 tests played to date, Pakistan have lost 18 against Australia, 16 against England, 13 against West Indies, 6 each against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, 5 against India, 3 against South Africa and 2 against Zimbabwe. 51 of these defeats have come on away grounds, against 17 at home.West Indies and Sri Lanka have most victories (4) against Pakistan on Pakistan grounds. Pakistan suffered their heaviest defeat – by an innings and 185 runs – against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2000-01. In terms of runs, Pakistan have lost two matches by a margin of over three hundred runs – against Australia (Melbourne 1976-77) and South Africa (Johannesburg 1994-95).Pakistan’s heaviest defeat at home was by an innings and 156 runs at Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore, against West Indies in 1958-59. Pakistan’s inaugural test against India at Delhi in 1952-53 resulted in an innings defeat. Their 10th defeat came against England at Lahore 1961-62, 25th against England at Edgbaston 1978 and 50th against Sri Lanka at Sialkot 1995.The complete break-up of Pakistan’s 68 defeats against each country in chronological order, followed by margin-wise and venue-wise defeats, is presented below:
Defeats against each opponent
India
Sr.#
Year
Venue
Margin
1.
1952-53
Delhi
Innings and 70 runs
2.
1952-53
Bombay
10 wickets
3.
1979-80
Bombay
131 runs
4.
1979-80
Madras
10 wickets
5.
1998-99
Delhi
212 runs.
England
Sr.#
Year
Venue
Margin
1.
1954
Nottingham
Innings and 129 runs
2.
1961-62
Lahore
5 wickets
3.
1962
Edgbaston
Innings and 24 runs
4.
1962
Lords
9 wickets
5.
1962
Leeds
Innings and 117 runs
6.
1962
The Oval
10 wickets
7.
1967
Nottingham
10 wickets
8.
1967
The Oval
8 wickets
9.
1971
Leeds
25 runs
10.
1978
Edgbaston
Innings and 57 runs
11.
1978
Lords
Innings and 120 runs
12.
1982
Edgbaston
113 runs
13.
1982
Leeds
3 wickets
14.
1992
Leeds
6 wickets
15.
2000-2001
Karachi
6 wickets
16.
2001
Lords
Innings and 9 runs
New Zealand
Sr.#
Year
Venue
Margin
1.
1969-70
Lahore
5 wickets
2.
1984-85
Auckland
Innings and 99 runs
3.
1984-85
Dunedin
2 wickets
4.
1993-94
Christchurch
5 wickets
5.
1996-97
Lahore
44 runs
6.
2001
Hamilton
Innings and 185 runs
Australia
Sr.#
Year
Venue
Margin
1.
1959-60
Dacca
8 wickets
2.
1959-60
Lahore
7 wickets
3.
1972-73
Adeliade
Innings and 114 runs
4.
1972-73
Melbourne
92 runs
5.
1972-73
Sydney
52 runs
6.
1976-77
Melbourne
348 runs
7.
1978-79
Perth
7 wickets
8.
1981-82
Perth
286 runs
9.
1981-82
Brisbane
10 wickets
10.
1983-84
Perth
Innings and 9 runs
11.
1983-84
Sydney
10 wickets
12.
1989-90
Melbourne
92 runs
13.
1995-96
Brisbane
Innings and 126 runs
14.
1995-96
Hobart
155 runs
15.
1998-99
Rawalpindi
Innings and 99 runs
16.
1999-2000
Brisbane
10 wickets
17.
1999-2000
Hobart
4 wickets
18.
1999-2000
Perth
Innings and 141 runs
West Indies
Sr.#
Year
Venue
Margin
1.
1957-58
Port of Spain
120 runs
2.
1957-58
Kingston
Innings and 174 runs
3.
1957-58
George Town
8 wickets
4.
1958-59
Lahore
Innings and 156 runs
5.
1976-77
Port of Spain
6 wickets
6.
1976-77
Kingston
140 runs
7.
1979-80
Faisalabad
156 runs
8.
1986-87
Lahore
Innings and 10 runs
9.
1987-88
Bridge Town
2 wickets
10.
1990
Faisalabad
7 wickets
11.
1992-93
Port of Spain
204 runs
12.
1992-93
Bridge Town
10 wickets
13.
2000
St John’s Antigua
1 wicket
Sri Lanka
Sr.#
Year
Venue
Margin
1.
1985-86
Colombo
8 wickets
2.
1995
Faisalabad
42 runs
3.
1995
Sialkot
144 runs
4.
1999-2000
Rawalpindi
2 wickets
5.
1999-2000
Peshawar
57 runs
Zimbabwe
Sr.#
Year
Venue
Margin
1.
1994-95
Harare
Innings and 64 runs
2.
1998-99
Peshawar
7 wickets
South Africa
Sr.#
Year
Venue
Margin
1.
1994-95
Johannesburg
324 runs
2.
1997-98
Faisalabad
53 runs
3.
1998-99
Port Elizabeth
259 runs
Summary of defeats against each country from 1952-53 to date
Opponent
Home grounds
Opponents’ grounds
Total
India
–
5
5
England
2
14
16
New Zealand
2
4
6
Australia
3
15
18
West Indies
4
9
13
Sri Lanka
4
1
5
Zimbabwe
1
1
2
South Africa
1
2
3
Total
17
51
58
Pakistan’s defeats – 1st, 10th, 25th & 50th
1st
1952-53
India
Delhi
Innings and 70 runs
10th
1961-62
England
Lahore
5 wickets
25th
1978
England
Edgbaston
Innings and 57 runs
50th
1995
Sri Lanka
Sialkot
144 runs
Defeats – by margin
Margin
Opponent
Ind
Eng
NZ
Aus
WI
SL
Zim
SA
All
Innings and 150 runs
0
0
1
–
2
–
–
–
3
Innings and 100-149 runs
–
3
–
3
–
–
–
–
6
Innings and 50-99 runs
1
1
1
1
–
–
1
–
5
Innings and 1-49 runs
–
2
0
1
1
–
–
–
4
10 wickets
2
2
–
3
1
–
–
–
8
9 wickets
–
1
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
8 wickets
–
1
–
1
1
1
–
–
4
7 wickets
–
–
–
2
1
–
1
–
4
6 wickets
–
2
–
–
1
–
–
–
3
5 wickets
–
1
2
–
–
–
–
–
3
4 wickets
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
–
1
3 wickets
–
1
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
2 wickets
–
–
1
–
1
1
–
–
3
1 wicket
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
–
1
300 Plus runs
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
1
2
250-299 runs
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
1
2
200-249 runs
1
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
2
150-199 runs
–
–
–
1
1
–
–
–
2
100-149 runs
1
1
–
–
2
1
–
–
5
50-99 runs
–
–
–
3
–
1
–
1
5
25-49 runs
–
1
1
–
–
1
–
–
3
1-24 runs
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
5
16
6
18
13
5
2
3
68
Biggest defeats
Sr.#
Year
V/S
Venue
Margin
1.
2000-2001
New Zealand
Hamilton
Innings and 185 runs
2.
1957-58
West Indies
Kingston
Innings and 174 runs
3.
1958-59
West Indies
Lahore
Innings and 156 runs
4.
1999-2000
Australia
Perth
Innings and 141 runs
5.
1954
England
Nottingham
Innings and 129 runs
6.
1995-96
Australia
Brisbane
Innings and 126 runs
7.
1978
England
Lords
Innings and 120 runs
8.
1962
England
Leeds
Innings and 117 runs
9.
1972-73
Australia
Adelaide
Innings and 114 runs
10.
1984-85
New Zealand
Auckland
Innings and 99 runs
11.
1998-99
Australia
Rawalpindi
Innings and 99 runs
12.
1952-53
India
Delhi
Innings and 70 runs
13.
1994-95
Zimbabwe
Harare
Innings and 64 runs
14.
1978
England
Edgbaston
Innings and 57 runs
15.
1962
England
Edgbaston
Innings and 24 runs
16.
1986-87
West Indies
Lahore
Innings and 10 runs
17.
1983-84
Australia
Perth
Innings and 9 runs
18.
2001
England
Lords
Innings and 9 runs
19.
1976-77
Australia
Melbourne
348 runs
20.
1994-95
South Africa
Johannesburg
329 runs
21.
1981-82
Australia
Perth
286 runs
22.
1998-99
South Africa
Port Elizabeth
259 runs
23.
1998-99
India
Delhi
212 runs
24.
1992-93
West Indies
Port of Spain
204 runs
Margin-wise defeats – highlights
19 of Pakistan’s defeats were by an innings, 28 by wickets and 21 by runs.
Three innings defeats were by an innings plus 150 or more runs (v New Zealand at Hamilton 2001, v West Indies at Kingston 1957-58 and v West Indies at Lahore 1958-59).
Six innings defeats were by an innings plus 100 to 149 runs (v Australia at Sydney 1999-2000, v England at Nottingham 1954, v Australia at Brisbane 1995-96, v England at Lord’s 1978, v England at Leeds 1962, v Australia at Adelaide 1972-73).
Two defeats by a margin of over 300 runs (v Australia by 348 runs at Melbourne 1976-77 and v South Africa by 329 runs at Johannesburg 1994-95).
Pakistan also suffered three other defeats of over 200 runs (by 286 runs v Australia at Perth 1981-82, by 212 runs v India at Delhi 1998-99 and by 204 runs v West Indies at Port of Spain 1992-93).
Pakistan’s narrowest defeat, by one wicket, was recorded at St John’s Antigua v West Indies 1999-2000.
Defeats – by venue
Home/Away
Ground
Ind
Eng
NZ
Aus
WI
SL
Zim
SA
Total
Home
Karachi
–
1
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
Lahore
–
1
2
1
2
–
–
–
6
Dacca
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
–
1
Rawalpindi
–
–
–
1
–
1
–
–
2
Faisalabad
–
–
–
–
2
1
–
1
4
Peshawar
–
–
–
–
–
1
1
–
2
Hyderabad
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Sialkot
–
–
–
–
–
1
–
–
1
Total
–
2
2
3
4
4
1
1
17
Ind
Delhi
2
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2
Bombay
2
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2
Chennai
1
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
Total
5
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
5
Eng
Nottingham
–
2
–
–
–
–
–
–
2
Lords
–
3
–
–
–
–
–
–
3
Leeds
–
4
–
–
–
–
–
–
4
The Oval
–
2
–
–
–
–
–
–
2
Edgbaston
–
3
–
–
–
–
–
–
3
Total
–
14
–
–
–
–
–
–
14
NZ
Auckland
–
–
1
–
–
–
–
–
1
Dunedin
–
–
1
–
–
–
–
–
1
Christ Church
–
1
–
–
–
–
–
1
Hamilton
–
–
1
–
–
–
–
–
1
Total
–
–
4
–
–
–
–
–
4
Aus
Adelaide
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
–
1
Melbourne
–
–
–
3
–
–
–
–
3
Sydney
–
–
–
3
–
–
–
–
3
Brisbane
–
–
–
3
–
–
–
–
3
Perth
–
–
–
3
–
–
–
–
3
Hobart
–
–
–
2
–
–
–
–
2
Total
–
–
–
15
–
–
–
–
15
WI
Port of Spain
–
–
–
–
3
–
–
–
3
Kingston
–
–
–
–
2
–
–
–
2
George Town
–
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
1
Bridge Town
–
–
–
–
2
–
–
–
2
St John’s Antigua
–
–
–
–
1
–
–
–
1
Total
–
–
–
–
9
–
–
–
9
SL
Colombo
–
–
–
–
–
1
–
–
1
Total
–
–
–
–
–
1
–
–
1
Zim
Harare
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
–
–
Total
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
–
1
SA
Johannesburg
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
1
Port Elizabeth
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
1
Total
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2
2
Venue-wise defeats – Highlights
17 out of 68 defeats have been recorded at home grounds while the remaining 51were suffered on opponents’ grounds.
Most number of defeats (6) on one home ground have been suffered at Lahore.
Outside Pakistan, the most number of defeats (3 each) have been recorded at Lords, Edgbaston, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Port of Spain.
West Indies and Sri Lanka have defeated Pakistan on four occasions each on Pakistan grounds, Australia thrice, England and New Zealand twice and Zimbabwe and South Africa once each.
On their own grounds, Australia have beaten Pakistan in 15 tests, England 14, West Indies 9, India 5, South Africa 2 and Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe one each.
India is yet to win a test match on Pakistan soil.
Sam Johnstone, Conor Townsend and Callum Robinson all struggled in West Brom’s disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Swansea City.
The Baggies were desperately looking for a victory at The Hawthorns on Monday night as they aimed to keep their increasingly slim Championship promotion hopes alive. Instead, Steve Bruce’s side endured yet another bad day at the office, losing 2-0 to the Swans amid much dissatisfaction from the home supporters.
According to Sofascore, three West Brom players stood out as the poorest performers on the night, among those to have played more than 45 minutes.
Sam Johnstone – 6.4
Johnstone could leave The Hawthorns for a Premier League club at the end of the season but this was not the most impressive showing from him.
The Englishman should have done better for Joel Piroe’s goal in the second half and his distribution was erratic, with nine of his long balls misplaced overall. Johnstone also only completed 72% of his passes on the night and lost the ball nine times.
Conor Townsend – 6.4
Townsend was another man who was below-par for the Baggies on a poor night for the left-back.
He lost possession 10 times and failed to make a single tackle or interception, as the Swans got the better of West Brom’s back-line. Also, both of Townsend’s attempted crosses were inaccurate, while he was beaten in three duels.
Callum Robinson – 6.4
Robinson was another underwhelming for Bruce’s side, failing to bring an attacking spark throughout the match.
FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
The 27-year-old didn’t manage a shot on target during the game and he also only won four out of 12 duels against the Swans. Robinson was wasteful in possession, too, losing the ball 14 times.
All in all, a difficult night for him and West Brom as a whole.
Mitchell Marsh was waiting to bat when a voice behind the players’ viewing area piped up. “I was waiting to bat and some bloke yelled out in the crowd,” Marsh said. “He just said ‘well done, you’ve gone for $1 million [INR 4.8 crore] in the [IPL] auction’, and I was just sort of ‘yeah, whatever mate.'”Events in India on Saturday afternoon were undoubtedly significant for Marsh and his bank balance, but in years to come he is more likely to remember what happened next. Marsh walked to the middle with Australia’s chase and Chappell-Hadlee chances in serious jeopardy, but the iron-willed innings he conjured in the company of John Hastings allowed Steven Smith’s team to ease to a series-leveling win.Marsh is still a developing member of the Australia side, something that may be underlined by his possible omission from the squad for the World Twenty20 to take place in India before the IPL. Nevertheless, there were signs of a prospective leader in how he controlled things in Wellington, vitally setting down the ground rules for a match-clinching stand with Hastings.”It was just a great partnership with Johnny Hastings,” Marsh said. “We were in a bit of strife there, not sure how many we needed when he came out, 80 or so, and the way he batted and the way we batted together was extremely satisfying. We came here to get back into the series and we’ve done that now. So that’ll give us great momentum going into Monday [series decider in Hamilton].”We kept on saying we knew we were ahead of the run rate so we had plenty of time, and I just told Duke [Hastings] to give himself a bit of extra time to get in, watch the ball extremely hard and if it’s in his area smack it, because that’s when he bats his best. We kept it pretty simple and just tried to take it as deep into the innings as we could, because we knew we had plenty of time and overs left.”This summer Marsh has arguably evolved more as a bowler than a batsman, due at least in part to opportunity. A fully functioning top order left him short of meaningful innings during the home Tests, and it was not until he made a first international hundred in an ODI loss to India at the SCG that he was able to make a decent mark. This innings, guiding Australia home, was further progress and evidence of his increasing mental toughness.”During the Test match series I didn’t get a lot of opportunity because the top five were making a hell of a lot of runs and I just kept working hard,” he said. “I wanted to take the opportunity when I got it. When you’re under pressure for runs, certainly at this level, you think about a lot of things.”When you haven’t spent a lot of time in the middle things just don’t come naturally and you don’t think as clearly as you do when you’re in form. That’s been the biggest thing for me to work on, just worry about watching the ball and the rest will take care of itself. The last few weeks with my batting has given me great confidence to keep going now.”That toughness extended to blocking out the news of his IPL auction price until the match had been successfully finished off. For Marsh, at least, the prospect of winning a match for Australia still takes precedence over glad tidings from the game’s financial crucible.”I just tried to block it out because it was pretty amazing, and then Shaun [Marsh] came and sat next to me with a little grin and gave me a little nudge so then I found out,” Marsh said. “Really happy I was able to block that out and focus on the game today, because playing for your country is the most important thing to me, so while that’s great I’m really rapt we’re back in the series now.”
Giles Clarke, the new ECB chairman, says that England are heading for a rotation policy that will allow more cricket to be played without burning out the leading stars.”We’re heading towards rotation, more specialists and different sides put out in different forms of the game and against different types of opposition,” Clarke said in the January issue of magazine.Currently only Australia have the strength and depth for such a rotation policy, as witnessed by resting Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden for the Twenty20 against New Zealand, but Clarke says the likes of England will have to build larger pools of players to pick from. “It’s not unreasonable to consider that England could field some highly effective XIs against some of the Test sides.”Those who want less international cricket are therefore likely to be disappointed. “Everyone recognises we have to fund the game,” says Clarke. “And funding is increasingly about academies and bigger grounds. And, if we are going to have bigger grounds, then we have to give them games to stage.”Larger grounds, he believes, will allow tickets to be graded more affordably which, given the exorbitant prices being charged at Lord’s and The Oval in 2008 – up to £103 – would be welcomed by the publicPrior to his election Clarke was best known for brokering the controversial TV deal with BSkyB. In less than a year the ECB will be finalising its next four-year broadcasting deal and he expects it to be very different. “Everything’s changed. Twenty20 is a fascination for broadcasters because the time-frame is almost equivalent to that of a football match. I would expect a different approach to highlights and a different approach to Pro40.”He recently helped the ECB secure a five-year deal with ESPN-Star to show English cricket in Asia. “We are now in negotiations with two broadcasters in other parts of the world just for the Twenty20 Cup and the Pro40,” he says. “I hope to build supporter bases for county cricket in the subcontinent, like football has done.”
Scorecard Sameer Khajuria spun Jammu and Kashmir to a five-wicket win against Jharkhand at Jamshedpur. Khajuria, an offspinner, returned amazing figures of 7 for 39 from 18 overs as Jharkhand, trailing by 77 on the first innings, were bundled out for 183 the second time around. Requiring just 107 for victory, J&K stumbled to 56 for 4 and then 72 for 5, but finally made it across the finish line, thanks to an unbeaten 36 from Dhruv Mahajan. Scorecard Strong performances by the middle order allowed Railways to escape with a draw against Assam at Guwahati. Assam were assured of at least two points after Railways were forced to follow on, and when Railways lost three early wickets in the second innings, there was even a chance of an outright victory for Assam. However, Shreyas Khanolkar fought back with 60, Jai P Yadav made 48, while Sushant Manjrekar and Raja Ali shared an undefeated 120-run stand to lift Railways from a shaky 133 for 5 to more safe waters. Scorecard Kerala took two points from their drawn game against Madhya Pradesh at the Fort Maidan in Palakkad. With Kerala already having taken the first-innings lead by close of play on the third day, the last day’s play was only of academic interest. Kerala were finally bowled out for 345, a lead of 38, while Madhya Pradesh used the last two sessions for batting practice, with Monish Mishra finishing on an unbeaten 69. Scorecard Madhusudan Acharya, the offspinner, and Sandeep Singh, the right-arm fast bowler, shared seven wickets between them as Vidarbha thrashed Goa by ten wickets at Margao. Resuming their second innings at 87 for 4 on the final day, Goa were shot out for 156, with only Swapnil Asnodkar (59) and Rohit Asnodkar (48) making substantial contributions. Acharya finished with 4 for 52 while Sandeep took 3 for 64. Vidarbha got to their target of 27 in less than five overs to take all five points. Scorecard Sarandeep Singh led a spirited fightback by Himachal Pradesh after they had conceded the first-innings lead, but Orissa hung on to force a draw and taken two point from their clash at Dharamsala. Sarandeep took 5 for 53 as Orissa were bundled out for 166 in their second innings, with only Pravanjan Mullick (79 not out) offering resistance. Set a target 218, Himachal finished on 80 for 4. Scocecard Services rode on a solid bowling performance and an undefeated 115-run stand between their openers to clinch a convincing ten-wicket win against Tripura at the Palam A Stadium in Delhi. None of the Tripura batsmen managed a half-century in their second innings as they were bundled out for 154, with Manish Jha, a right-arm fast bowler, taking three wickets. Services knocked off the target of 115 without losing a wicket, with Soomik Chatarjee, the left-handed opener, remaining unbeaten on 62.