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Match facts

Thursday, May 8, 2008
Start time 16.00 (local), 10.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

The Chennai Super Kings, who blazed away in the early stages of the IPL, only to plunge into a batting crisis, will face a severe examination against the Delhi Daredevils in the first return match of the tournament. The loss of their Australian imports – Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey, continues to hurt, while Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s best knock has been 65 against the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Delhi will be the favourites after their nine-wicket mauling when they last met, and they will be eager to recover from the blip against the Mumbai Indians (the only occasion they were bowled out). They have the added incentive of taking second spot in the league tables if they win.Delhi have a well-stocked batting arsenal at their disposal. At least two of their top three batsman – Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and Shikhar Dhawan – have fired in their victories. In comparision, Chennai’s best three batsmen in terms of aggregate (with the exception of Hayden and Hussey) – Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Albie Morkel – haven’t had the same say in Chennai’s matches. Chennai have added concerns – Parthiv Patel has not made a significant knock in seven outings, while Stephen Fleming has proved to be an inadequate replacement for Hayden at the top. Raina has looked in superb touch but not capitalised on his starts. Another issue is that poor starts have led to their last two setbacks, as they failed to reach 50 or 100 at more than a run-a-ball.A look at the bowling also shows the wide gulf between the two sides. Glenn McGrath has formed a telling opening combine with Mohammad Asif, while Yo Mahesh and Rajat Bhatia have done a more than decent job following-up. Chennai have a major headache in Makhaya Ntini, who is yet to take a wicket. Muttiah Muralitharan has not been the sensation he normally is, while Joginder Sharma’s dibby-dobblers are now being found out by opposing batsmen. After taking just seven wickets in their last three games, Chennai’s bowlers will need to buck up.

Tournament position

Delhi P6/W4/L2/NRR +0.761
Chennai P7/W4/L3/NRR -0.005

IPL form (last five matches)

Delhi WLWWL
Chennai WWLLL

Watch out for …

Scorecard

Clinton Perren smashed 82 from 37 deliveries to set up a Queensland victory in the first Twenty20 match of the season. Despite the extraordinary bowling of Tasmania’s Michael Dighton, who claimed 6 for 25, the Bulls’ 202 was enough as a Nathan Rimmington hat-trick ended Tasmania’s hopes.Perren blasted seven sixes and six fours and together with Nathan Reardon, whose 54 came from 31 balls, did the damage before Dighton kept the Tigers in the game. Dighton, a batsman who has not taken a wicket in 49 first-class matches, kept the scoring down in the late overs after the front-line spinners Daniel Marsh and Xavier Doherty proved expensive.But the visitors could not match Queensland’s run-rate and were dismissed for 164 in the 19th over. Rimmington, who finished with 5 for 27, picked up four wickets in five balls to end the fight. George Bailey made 41 from 26 balls and Michael Di Venuto scored 36 from 19 but tight bowling from Rimmington and Ashley Noffke made the chase difficult.

Black clouds scudding over New Road put another dampener on Worcestershire’s slender hopes of escaping to victory over Second Division champions Northamptonshire.Needing a win to have any chance of promotion, the home side could ill afford a complete wash-out for the second day in succession following downpours overnight and again this morning.Already facing an uphill task at 50 for five in reply to Northants’ 260, they were close to accepting their promotion challenge is over when the umpires abandoned the third day after lunch.Coach Bill Athey said: “It’s looking less and less likely because we really needed a couple of batting bonus points as well as a win.”The bad weather also knocked Glenn McGrath’s prospects of becoming the leading wicket-taker in the County Championship.Tied on 68 with Shane Warne after the first innings here, he lost ground when his Australian team-mate struck twice in Yorkshire’s second innings at Southampton on Thursday.

Day 4
ScorecardKarachi Urban became the new Quaid-e-Azam Trophy champions as they defeated Sialkot by eight wickets, on the fourth day at the Multan Cricket Stadium.After being asked to follow-on, with a deficit of 220, Sialkot averted an innings defeat as they scored 288 in their second innings. Karachi Urban polished off the required 69 with little fuss, losing just two wickets.Sialkot resumed their overnight 175 for 3, and Tariq Mahmood’s stubborn resistance – he scored 29 off 203 balls in over four hours – kept the opposition bowlers at bay. Shahid Yousuf made amends for his first-ball duck in the first innings with a worthy 70 the second time round. He faced 105 balls and hit nine fours and two sixes. The rest didn’t contribute much as four wickets fell for only 15 runs.Yousuf found an able ally in Kashif Raza (25) as the pair added 78 for the eighth-wicket. The last three wickets fell at the same score of 288. For Karachi, seamer Tanvir Ahmed and offspinner Tahir Khan picked up three wickets each.Karachi Urban then reached their victory target in just 12.3 overs. Hasan Raza, the Karachi Urban captain, was declared the Man of the Match after his unbeaten 161 in the first innings.Babar Naeem (Rawalpindi) was declared the best batsman of the tournament, Tahir Khan (Karachi Urban) was adjudged the best bowler and best fielder while Zulfiqar Jan (Peshawar) bagged the award for the best wicketkeeper.Sialkot won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for the first time last season. No Karachi team had qualified for the tournament’s final in the last five years. This is the 18th title by a Karachi team, a record.

England 172 for 8 (Buttler 33, Afridi 3-15) beat Pakistan 169 for 8 (Plunkett 3-33) by three runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEngland withstood a late assault from Pakistan’s batsmen to secure the T20I series against Pakistan with a match to play.With 18 balls left of this match, it appeared England were certain of victory: Pakistan, with six wickets down, required 47 to win and the new batsman had only reached double-figures once in his last seven T20I innings.But that batsman was Shahid Afridi. And though the powers may be waning, he remains a dangerous player. Inspired by a full house audience, he thrashed Chris Woakes for three sixes – one of them off a no-ball – in five deliveries to revive his side’s hopes.While he then fell, slicing a drive to third man where he was well held by a nerveless Liam Plunkett, Sarfraz Ahmed took up the challenge. With 25 required from the final two overs, he swept David Willey for four before, in attempting to complete a quick two from the next delivery, he saw the fielder’s throw defeclt off his bat and scurry away for four overthrows. It left 11 required from the final over.Woakes held his nerve, though. Sarfraz, attempting to sweep a yorker pitched well outside off side, dragged the ball on to his stumps and while Sohail Tanvir clipped his first ball for four, he was unable to maintain the strike. With four required for victory from the final ball – and three for a super over – Anwar Ali heaved at a length ball outside off stump and failed to make contact. England had, for the second time in as many days, won in Dubai.Despite the result, this was a much-improved performance from Pakistan. Boosted by the return of Ahmed Shehzad, who missed the first game due to illness, and Shoaib Malik, who missed it with a finger injury, they set their highest ever T20I Powerplay score – 54 for 1 – in the UAE.They were led from the front by Afridi. Introducing himself into attack during the Powerplay, he claimed the wicket of Alex Hales, surprised by Afridi’s pace, first ball and later brought himself back to deal with the dangerous James Vince. He finished with 3 for 15 from four overs of rapid spin bowling.Perhaps they were unlucky, too. Certainly Umar Akmal, well caught down the leg side by Jos Buttler, looked unfortunate to be given out as replays suggested the ball made contact only with his leg.But there were still those familiar errors in the field. Tanvir dropped two catches – one of which he parried for six – and there were too many times that England were able to steal a single or turn a one into a two. The addition of six wides to the England total also proved crucial.The first of Tanvir’s drops was off Vince. For the second match in succession, he looked a player with the skill and composure to enjoy a good future at this level and here he punished the error by going on to contribute the highest score of the match. To rub salt in the wound, he hit the next three deliveries he received after the drop for six, four and four.There were several other important contributors in the England order. Jason Roy skipped down the wicket to thrash two sixes over the top in the opening overs, while Buttler hit three – a vast pull, a huge drive and a top-edged hook – in his cameo.This was a fine game for Buttler. Captaining for the first time in international cricket – England made four changes to the side that won the first game as they sought to take a look at more players ahead of World T20 selection – he ensured his side just about held their nerve towards the end and completed two neat stumpings and claimed one fine catch.England will be delighted, too, that despite rotating their squad – Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan and Reece Topley were all omitted from this side – they showed they had the skill and composure to beat a Pakistan side that, before this series, were unbeaten in six T20I games. Joe Root, Willey and Woakes all came back into the side alongside Buttler.It was another good game for Plunkett, too. He took three wickets, an important catch and again bowled with impressive pace to suggest he will be hard to overlook for the World T20 squad.It was noticeable that, each time Buttler required a wicket, it was Plunkett to who he turned. He responded by having Mohammad Hafeez caught off a leading edge, before Shoaib Malik misjudged a well-disguised slower ball and pulled to deep midwicket.When Pakistan’s openers made a bright start, it seemed England were 10 or so short. But the introduction of spin slowed Pakistan’s progress – they managed only 11 for two wickets in the first four overs when Adil Rashid and Stephen Parry combined – and with Rashid bamboozling Sohaib Maqsood with a googly and conceding just 18 in his fours overs, Pakistan had left themselves too much to do by the time Afridi strode out to the middle.

Division One

Mark Ealham struck a typically bullish 92 for Nottinghamshire on the second day against Kent at Trent Bridge, as the home side were dismissed for 496. After losing David Hussey, who added just eight to his overnight 156, Ealham took command of proceedings, crunching eight fours and lofting two over the boundary. In reply, Ryan Sidebottom nipped out Rob Key, the Kent captain, and Martin van Jaarsveld as the visitors trail Nottinghamshire by 381 runs.Despite being bowled out 30 runs adrift of Warwickshire first innings, Durham’s bowlers hit back before the close reducing the visitors to 65 for 4 on the second day at Chester-le-Street. Durham’s day began poorly when Gary Scott fell for 34, but Dale Benkenstein (79) and Ben Harmison (65) – the younger brother of Steve – starred in a fifth wicket partnership worth 118. Durham’s tail soon folded, largely due to Paul Harris who ended with impressive figures of 6 for 94 as Warwickshire gained a slender first-innings lead. However, Mick Lewis grabbed three quick wickets to leave Warwickshire struggling albeit with a lead of 95.

Division Two

The gloomy skies and interruptions in play couldn’t stop HD Ackerman notching his second double-hundred of the season as Leicestershire took command of the second day at Leicester against Northamptonshire. Ackerman, who made a brilliant 309 earlier in the summer, was finally dismissed for 216 ending a superb 211-run partnership with Paul Nixon who remained unbeaten on risk-laden 144. When play was cut short for the day, Leicestershire finished on 525 for 8.A mere 29 overs were possible at a very wet and gloomy Taunton between Somerset and Gloucestershire, but it allowed enough time for Wes Durston to bring up his sixth Championship fifty of the season. Torrential rain forced the players back into the pavilion at 11.50, and they didn’t return until well into the afternoon. Somerset’s tail soon folded – they lost their last four wickets for 18 runs – before bad light forced the players off the field for the final time.

Three-time finalists Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) completed a hat-trick of away teams winning after round one of the group stage of SA20 2025-26. All six teams have been in action over the last 24 hours and there’s a clear trend from the first three games. Not only have the visitors won on each occasion, but the team batting first has too.SEC claimed their opening win over Paarl Royals, who went unbeaten at Boland Park last season, but whose lack of bowling firepower was exposed. SEC’s innings was bookended by big partnerships as Jonny Bairstow and Quinton de Kock posted 66 for the first wicket and Matthew Breetzke and Jordan Hermann put on 73 for the fifth wicket as SEC totalled 186 for 4. That was the third-highest SA20 total at this venue.Royals used six bowlers, and mystifyingly gave Jersey international Asa Tribe only one over which cost one run. Everyone else conceded eight runs an over or above. In response, Royals were in early trouble at 7 for 2 after two overs and collapsed to the lowest score in the SA20 of 49 to suffer the second-biggest tournament defeat. SEC, with a bonus point, are now top of the table. An experimental No.3 De Kock and Bairstow raced to 51 from the first five overs and shared a first-wicket stand of 66. They were relatively untroubled before some David Miller brilliance separated them. Bairstow tried to hit Ottneil Baartman over mid-off but chipped the ball to the left of Miller, who took a diving catch to give Royals their first wicket.In an XI that includes Breetzke and Tristan Stubbs, SEC opted to promote Marco Jansen to No.3 but the plan didn’t work. Jansen scored four off the first nine balls he faced before he timed a cover drive off Bjorn Fortuin to get going.Fortuin then delivered the ball as slowly as he could, Jansen was through his slog sweep almost before the ball had even reached him. He could do nothing as it spun away and bowled him. This was the first time Jansen had batted at No.3 in T20 cricket. SEC went from 66 without loss to 89 for 3 in 21 deliveries.Breetzke and Hermann take down Baartman and finish strong With four overs left to go, SEC were looking for a big finish and it was up to Breetzke and Hermann to provide it. Royals turned to former SEC superstar Baartman and he started with a short ball that Breetzke latched onto immediately to start the 17th over with a four. Baartman adjusted to fuller lengths once Hermann was on strike and he went over extra cover for four. Baartman went short again and Hermann pulled over square leg for the fifth six of the innings.Jordan Hermann helped SEC finish strongly•SA20

That was the over that got Breetzke and Hermann going as their partnership grew to 73 off 41 balls. Baartman had the last laugh when he bowled Breetzke with his penultimate ball to dismiss him for the fifth time in 13 innings. Hermann continued on regardless and brought up a 26-ball fifty. SEC scored 57 in their last four overs.Jansen strikes early; remains tournaments most successful bowler Jansen is the most successful bowler in the SA20 tournament history, and it took him only three balls to make an impression on this edition. He pitched the ball up and found Lhuan-dre Pretorius’ inside edge.Pretorius, who was last season’s leading run-scorer wasn’t sure if he made contact, he reviewed and UltraEdge confirmed the contact. He was dismissed for a duck and Jansen’s haul across 36 matches at the SA20 extended to 48, five more than Baartman.Nortje’s puts his name in lights With Kagiso Rabada racing against the clock to prove his fitness for the T20 World Cup squad, Anrich Nortje made sure he cannot be ignored with a statement performance of pace and bounce on an otherwise benign surface to claim 4 for 13.Nortje was brought on in the last over of the Powerplay and had an enterprising Tribe caught off a top edge as he tried to pull a cross seam delivery. Nortje was brought back on in the 11th over and bowled Delano Potgieter with a brutish ball, full and shaping away to destroy the stumps.In the same over, Fortuin was rushed by another short ball and caught by de Kock behind the stumps. Then Nortje iced the cake when he bounced Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who fended the ball to de Kock. With three wickets in his third over Nortje left Paarl Royals 48 for 8. Five balls later, their opening game was done, with 49 balls remaining in the innings.

As the national selectors sit down to pick separate Indian squads for the upcoming tours of Ireland and England, the task will be anything but easy, given the number of options available to them. It’s a familiar muddle, further complicated by last-minute injury worries over a few fast bowlers, which in turn raises questions about the fitness standards. While no player, with the exception of Manoj Tiwary, has definitely been ruled out of the tour, the challenge that awaits the selection committee is to pick two sets of 15 players.Of all the slots in the Test squad for England, perhaps only the wicketkeeper’s seems secure, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni the number one choice for both teams. Dinesh Karthik lends a great deal of flexibility in his dual role as reserve wicketkeeper and opening batsman. The gamble of sending Karthik in with Wasim Jaffer paid off at the fag end of the tour of South Africa and during the Test series in Bangladesh, relieving the team management of at least one major headache.Karthik’s presence leaves the committee needing to pick just one reserve opener. Gautam Gambhir, in and out of the squad, scored a century in the one-dayers against Bangladesh and should receive strong backing despite missing out on selection for the Tests against Bangladesh. However, doubts remain over the efficacy of his technique in seam-friendly conditions, and that could just leave the door ajar for Aakash Chopra, Gambhir’s fellow Delhi opener. Chopra was impressive on the tour of Australia in 2003-04, and his calming influence helped Virender Sehwag play his natural game. Chopra’s name did the rounds recently and his experience as a league cricketer in England could make his selection a credible one.Perhaps the biggest conundrum for the committee is Sehwag. He flattered to deceive in Bangladesh, and in the Afro Asia Cup, failed to convert good starts. Impressive in patches, he could be slotted into the middle order, though he will have to fight for a place with Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. The man left on the outside to look in may be VVS Laxman, and it’s his misfortune that he has been tossed around, never sure of his place.It’s in the bowling department that the selectors have a plethora of options. Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel have been declared fit for selection, albeit at the last minute. Munaf still remains the most brittle of the lot, and if the committee opts for more backup, Ajit Agarkar could get a look in. Sreesanth, VRV Singh, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma are the other options, with Sreesanth having been the pick of India’s bowlers in South Africa.As has been the norm in recent times, the committee might stick to the policy of picking two specialist spinners, with Anil Kumble leading the pack. Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar will compete for the offspinner’s slot, and it will be interesting to see if Harbhajan eventually wins the confidence of the selectors. He was impressive in the final match of the Afro Asia Cup, taking 3 for 48 in a high scoring game in Chennai. Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner, didn’t get a game in Bangladesh and if the selectors opt for a left-armer to partner Kumble, it could be a toss up between him and Murali Kartik, another player who has been in the wilderness for a couple of seasons.The Ireland one-dayers might just be about giving opportunities to fresher faces, but all thoughts will invariably be on the Test squad chosen for England. Australia were the last team to win a series there, all of six years ago, and there won’t be room for either sentiment or experimentation when it comes to writing down those 15 names.

The Himachal Pradesh allrounder Rishi Dhawan is likely to accumulate a lot of frequent flyer points and bowl a lot in the nets, but the India cap looks as far as it did before he was selected for the Australia tour. On pitches where Australia are playing no specialist spinners, and where the India spinners have been moderately effective, captain MS Dhoni feels the only way Rishi can play is if a specialist batsman is dropped, and if that happens, Dhoni said, India will be playing with “six bowlers”.Despite going for 239 in 37 overs for three wickets to outfield catches, spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are being considered better on hopelessly unhelpful tracks than Rishi on tracks with good bounce. This should come as a strong message to the selectors.Dhoni was asked if he had given a thought to going horses for courses as opposed to playing his best bowlers on paper. He responded: “If you see what is important is to see that we played the first game with our best bowling attack. In this game, too, Ishant [Sharma] was fit and we thought he will get good bounce. We feel it is important to play with a proper bowling set-up. And at the same time you cannot neglect the batting.”When it comes to whether we can play the extra seamer, if your frontline three seamers are going for runs, it is slightly difficult for somebody like a Rishi to come in. He may bowl well, but I am saying it will be slightly difficult for him to be successful with the fielding restrictions. He is not someone who bowls very quick. At the same time in the middle overs you need to bowl a lot of dot balls. That’s where you have to decide whether you are better off playing with the two spinners.”The only option you have is, you will have to sit out Ashwin because Jadeja gives you that cushion of batting. It is a difficult one. I still feel 3-2 (seamer-spinner) is the best combination. If somebody was there who could bowl a bit of seam-up, that obviously helps. As of now we don’t really have [one]. We can’t really look at Rishi because to play him we will have to get rid of a proper batsman. Then we will have to play six bowlers. Six bowlers is a bit of luxury to have in cricket nowadays.”Australia, on the other hand, have handed out debuts to two fast bowlers and have stuck with them. They have rotated two other quicks, but have been blessed with the presence of a proper allrounder in James Faulkner and a batsman who can bowl in Glenn Maxwell. The only “allrounder” in the Indian squad is not being considered much of a bowler. In the absence of any evidence against proper batsmen, Dhoni’s assessment of Rishi is the only considered one we have even though it goes against the view of the selectors.At any rate Dhoni seems to have stopped asking for better from his bowlers. After India lost defending 309 in Perth, there was a clear change in the way they batted in the middle over in Brisbane. They had now set themselves up for 340, but lost their way in the end, and the bowlers gave up the defence of 308 just as easily in Brisbane as they did in Perth. Now Dhoni says there are only two choices left: either score in excess of 330 or just choose to chase. And he said that while answering a question about the extras – 11 wides and a no-ball.”In both the games we have given a fair amount of extras,” Dhoni said. “That takes that number of runs off the total. On good wickets it does matter. As far as Ishant is concerned, I think the breeze was flowing in circular motions. I felt that made it slightly difficult for him. I feel even if we cut down the extras we will have to score more runs. There are two options: either put pressure on [our] batsmen and score 330 or chase down the score, give them the batting first. These are the only two options we have got. We will have a look and decide what suits us the best.”If India are to score those extra 30 runs a quick start from Shikhar Dhawan can go a long way, but he has thrown his wicket away twice. Even if Dhoni wanted to drop him, he wouldn’t be able to because the selectors have given him only five established specialist batsmen. The only way for that to happen would be for Ajinkya Rahane to open, the idea of which Dhoni likes; he is not entirely convinced with the idea of Rahane the middle-order batsman.”Jinx has improved a lot in his batting,” Dhoni said. “But also the wickets are good here. What is important is to see him when the wickets slow down and he is pushed to play the big shots. When ball comes on he loves it, and plays very good strokes. I feel he has improved a lot. We will wait and watch and see what the best position for him is. I have personally believed he is very good opener because he plays proper cricketing shots. He cuts and pulls, but he plays proper shots. He can accelerate whenever he wants to. Also once he starts with the new ball, he is quite good by the time the middle overs start. So far it is good he has done well in both the positions. We will see how it goes.”For now, though, Shikhar has the captain’s confidence. “Shikhar is someone who loves to play his shots,” Dhoni said. “If somebody plays shots from the very start, there will be periods when he won’t score runs. You can say it was a rash shot, but that’s the time you are supposed to back your stroke-players.”

The National Cricket League (NCL), Bangladesh’s premier domestic competition, got underway with the defending champions in the four-day event, Dhaka, holding onto a draw against Khulna at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur .Batting first, Khulna declared at 303 for 9, relying on Shakib Al Hasan’s 78 and Abdur Razzak’s aggressive 78 coming in at number 9, to lift them from 64 for 4 and 170 for 7. Dhaka were in trouble on day one when they closed at 17 for 2 and things didn’t get any better the next day as Mashrafe Mortaza took four wickets on an unresponsive pitch to bowl Dhaka out for 174. Captain Habibul Bashar’s painstaking 67 stretched Khulna’s lead to 313 and the onus was on Mohammad Ashraful, who survived a torrid examination under fading light against Mortaza on day three to rally his side with 242 still required. Ashraful set the right tone on the final day and for the first time in the game, Khulna were feeling the pressure. But things evened up when Mortaza dismissed the Bangladesh skipper for 85 with the scoreboard reading 197 for 4. The pace trio of Mortaza, Syed Rasel and Dolar Mahmud were relentless and Dhaka lost two more wickets without adding much to the total. It was left to Mehrab Hossain (Jr.) and Mosharaf Hossain, the number 10 batsman, to hold fort as they passed a nervy last 14.5 overs to force a draw.But Khulna won the one-day match that followed. A watchful 71 from opener Imrul Kayash, 56 from Shakib Al Hasan and some feisty blows from Mortaza carried Khulna to 240 for eight. On a wicket where the bounce was on the lower side, Dhaka’s reply got off to a poor start. Javed Omar (3), Al Shahariar (1) and Ashraful (1) falling with 13 on the board, while Rasel and Mortaza were the pick of the bowlers once again. Rasel’s swing and nagging line got him a five-for while Mortaza picked up three as Khulna won by 39 runs.Barisal defeated the more-fancied Chittagong by five wickets at Bogra’s Shahid Chandu Stadium. They were led by a fine all-round performance from Sajidul Islam, who took seven wickets in the match and scored a vital unbeaten half-century in their first innings. Batting first, Chittagong were dismissed for 176, Islam finishing with figures of 4 for 42 and his new ball partner Talha Jubair taking three wickets. The only resistance came from Aftab Ahmed (61) and Nazimuddin (47). Islam returned to haunt Chittagong on day two, scoring an unbeaten 64 to take Barisal from 174 for 8 to 274 after Tareq Aziz’s five-for triggered a middle-order collapse. Shahriar Nafees top-scored for Barisal with 79. Chittagong fared much better in the second innings with half centuries from opener Tamim Iqbal and Nazimuddin and useful knocks from the top-order giving Barisal a target of 220. With almost the whole day to get those runs, Barisal’s approach was composed and despite losing captain Nafees for 1; Hannan Sarkar (49), Raqibul Hasan (55) and Raisul Islam (54 not out) ensured the chase was a cruise.Barisal were brought back to earth in the one-dayer when their 224 was overhauled with 14 overs to spare thanks to a spanking 92-ball 133 by Tamim. However, the Chittagong win was somewhat overshadowed by the confrontation in the middle between Tamim and Jubair which apparently involved physical contact. Both players were later disciplined by the match referee and were suspended for two four-day matches or four one-dayers of the ongoing NCL.Rajshahi hosted Sylhet at the Divisional Stadium and underlined their strength by winning both the four-day and one-day matches. Play started an hour late because of rain and Khaled Mashud’s decision to bowl first was justified as Sylhet were reduced to 95 for six by pacers Delwar Hossain, Farhad Reza and Mohammad Shahjada. Sylhet crawled to 141 all out by close. Despite opener Jahirul Islam’s 67, Rajshahi were in a spot of bother at 190 for eight on day two. Mashud’s gritty 82 that took 241 balls and his 80-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Hossain, tilted the balance as Rajshahi reached 301. Sylhet, 160 behind, needed their top-order to fire if they wanted to stay in the game but only captain Rajin Saleh (68) stuck around for any length of time as left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo got into the act with four wickets. Rajshahi’s reached the 99 required with eight wickets to spare.

The one-day match was a closer contest, with Rajshahi edging home by two wickets chasing 169. The small target became a stiff one for Rajshahi when they slumped to 98 for 8, but Mushfiqur Rahman had other ideas and maintained his cool in a match-winning unbeaten 50. He was involved in an unbroken 71-run stand for the ninth wicket with Mohammad Shahjada, who smacked a six and three fours as Rajshahi scampered home in the last ball of the 48th over. Earlier, Slyhet crawled to 168 with Sharifullah top-scoring with a 90-ball 56.Player of the week Mashrafe MortazaAfter a disappointing tour of Sri Lanka and the World Twenty20, Mortaza regained his form in the opening round tussle against Dhaka at Mirpur, where he never held himself back on an unresponsive pitch. His four for 36 in the first innings was followed by an even more terrific effort in the second innings, where he bowled 24 overs on the final day. The shape away from the bat with the new ball and the deadly reverse-swing at great speed with the old one had the Dhaka batsmen gasping. In the one-dayer, Mortaza continued to impress as he hit 35 off 25 balls and then destroyed Dhaka with figures of 3 for 35.

Points table

National Cricket League

Note: Points include bonus points for batting and bowling and points for the first-innings lead in the drawn gameNational Cricket League one-day