Match facts

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

	Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virender Sehwag will be in no mood to exchange pleasantries when they face-off for the second time in the tournament (file photo) © Getty Images

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 …

Sehwag’s offside play against Chennai’s opening bowlers. Remember, he reached his fifty by the end of the seventh over in their previous game.

The battle between Muralitharan and Gambhir, one of the more accomplished players of spin.

Expect some early success from McGrath or Asif against Chennai’s openers.

Two young turks from South Africa facing-off. Albie Morkel, who is AB de Villiers’ team-mate at their domestic franchise, the Titans, may have the rare opportunity to bowl against him.

Dhoni playing an innings of substance to give a fillip to Chennai’s hopes.

Dinesh Karthik and Yo Mahesh, originally from Chennai, will be keen to get the better of their state-mates.

Team news

Chennai may need to re-work their starting line-up in view of their latest troubles. S Anirudha, who made just 1 on his IPL debut yesterday, may replace Parthiv at the top, with S Vidyut returning to No. 3. Morkel, after his unbeaten 29 off 19 which went in vain against the Deccan Chargers, may have done enough to earn a promotion. With Ntini not showing the bowling form expected of him, Chennai may consider the option of playing with only three foreign players and bring in P Amarnath.Chennai (probable) 1 Stephen Fleming, 2 S Anirudha/Parthiv Patel, 3 Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Albie Morkel, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 S Badrinath, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 Manpreet Gony, 10 Makhaya Ntini/P Amarnath, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.Despite coming into the game on the back of the loss, Delhi are likely to retain the same XI. They would not want to tinker with their top-half, and it will be difficult for Farveez Maharoof to earn a place as the team seems to be settling into the strategy of picking two batsman and two bowlers from among their foreign options.Delhi (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Manoj Tiwary, 8 Rajat Bhatia, 9 Yo Mahesh, 10 Mohammad Asif, 11 Glenn McGrath.

McGrath’s 4 for 29 against Bangalore are the second-best figures in the tournament.

Sehwag needs just 12 runs more to reclaim the Orange Cap, given to the highest-cumulative run-scorer, from Rohit Sharma. If he hits one more six, he will have 15 to his name, which will get him on par with Brendon McCullum and Adam Gilchrist.

Delhi feature in second and third spot for the highest partnerships in the tournament.

Quotes

“I am myself surprised as how good my body is feeling at the moment. It has been doing good so far, hope it remains the same in future.”
Glenn McGrath has some bad news for opposing batsman in the IPL”Of course, we missed Hayden and Hussey. They are world-class players. But nothing can be done, we have to look forward and win as many matches as possible. We hope the process starts from tomorrow itself.”
Kepler Wessels, Chennai’s coach, says the team should learn to live without their big-hitting Australian players

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.

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.”

ScorecardFile photo – Man-of-the-Match Kyle Coetzer struck 70 for Scotland in the win, a career-best in T20Is•Peter Della Penna

Scotland rode Kyle Coetzer’s powerful batting at the top of the order to a 37-run win over Hong Kong at Mission Road, earning a split of the two-match T20 series. Man-of-the-Match Coetzer scored 70 off 40 balls, a career-best in T20Is for the opener, to propel the visitors to 161 after being sent in.It was a solid bounceback in particular for Coetzer after falling for a duck the day before in Scotland’s nine-wicket defeat. His opening partner George Munsey fell without scoring in the opening over of Sunday’s rematch but Coetzer and Matthew Cross were undeterred in their aggression during the Powerplay.Coetzer maintained a brisk pace early before Cross targeted Hong Kong captain Tanvir Afzal in the sixth, clattering a trio of fours through mid-off and a fourth behind point to take Scotland to 54 for 1. Their 71-run stand ended when Nadeem Ahmed had Cross caught off the left-arm spinner’s first ball in the ninth over for 27, failing to clear Nizakat Khan at deep midwicket.Coetzer kept cruising after Cross departed though and eventually brought up his fifty off 29 balls, striking the left-arm spin of Anshuman Rath for his fourth six over mid-off. He hit six sixes in all, every one driven between mid-on and cover, in an impressive display of orthodox strokeplay. After pulling Aizaz Khan for his fifth four in the 13th, Coetzer tried the shot again but top-edged to Nizakat at deep square leg.Scotland stuttered from there, losing their next five wickets for 17 runs as Nadeem and Haseeb Amjad prevented a late surge following Coetzer’s excellent platform. Nadeem in particular kept Scotland off balance with his variations of flight and pace to claim 3 for 23, and helped to hold Scotland to 161 for 9.Any momentum Hong Kong had in the final five overs in the field was wiped out by a double-barreled seam assault from Safyaan Sharif and Bradley Wheal, who reduced the hosts to 7 for 4 after 15 balls of the chase. Jamie Atkinson was squared up first ball and edged Sharif behind to Cross before Wheal got a slice of good fortune when Rath missed a full toss after charging down the track to start the second and was bowled for 1.Wheal nearly had Mark Chapman two balls later as an inside edge missed the stumps before going to the fine-leg boundary but on the final ball of the over managed to have the prized scalp – caught flicking a thin edge down the leg side to a diving Cross. Sharif had Babar Hayat poking unnecessarily at a wide delivery to send a catch to Preston Mommsen at second slip three balls into the third over and from there Hong Kong were virtually out of the game.Hong Kong slipped further to 34 for 6 in the ninth when Richie Berrington struck off consecutive deliveries. Nizakat was caught hooking to deep square leg for 17 while Kinchit Shah drove a full delivery flat and hard to Calum MacLeod at head height on the long-off rope for 7.Afzal made the final margin appear more flattering after striking the fastest T20I fifty for Hong Kong, off 20 balls, including four sixes in a 30-run over off Rob Taylor in the 17th when he drove the left-arm medium-pacer repeatedly over mid-on and mid-off. He had been dropped earlier on 22 off a sharp return chance to the left-arm spinner Mark Watt as a drive burst through the bowler’s hands toward mid-off but Afzal’s fireworks finally came to an end in the 18th when Wheal returned to the attack and forced a mistimed drive to Taylor at mid-off. Berrington ended the match one over later with his third wicket after Amjad sent a catch to deep square leg.Hong Kong now have two weeks to prepare for their Asia Cup T20 qualifying round against UAE, Afghanistan and Oman. Scotland will fly through the UAE on their way home for three matches, including T20Is against UAE and Netherlands on February 4 and 5 in their final scheduled action before their first match at the World T20 against Afghanistan on March 8.

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.

Pep Guardiola will have to endure a double defensive setback in Manchester City’s quarter-final clash against Atletico Madrid.

The Lowdown: City’s UCL form

Sky Blues fans will be hoping for a strong start to the Champions League quarter-finals in which City kick off their first-leg against Madrid in tonight’s clash at the Etihad.

City destroyed Sporting Lisbon in the opening leg of round 16 with an emphatic 5-0 win, before coasting to a 0-0 stalemate in the return fixture.

Guardiola will be aiming to make amends for his side’s loss in the final last year, in which they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Premier League rivals Chelsea.

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The Latest: Guardiola’s team news

The Catalan boss is set to face a defensive headache in his team selection tonight as both Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker are unavailable for the game, after the latest team news emerged from Manchester Evening News.

Man City will be without centre-back stalwart Dias, who has been missing for around a month now, as the manager confirmed on Friday that he would need another ten days to two weeks to get back up to full fitness.

Walker will also serve the last of his three-match ban against the Spanish outfit, following his red card which he sustained against RB Leipzig.

The Verdict: Dias will be missed

Guardiola’s men will be ready to face a tough Madrid side tonight, who have scored 57 goals in La Liga this season – the Premier League leaders have been solid defensively in the English campaign, having lost just three top-flight games and conceded a mere 18 goals.

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Despite this, City would have been hoping that Dias could have made his return in time for the opening leg, as he has been a key figure in the side’s defensive success. He has earned himself praise as “a man mountain”, who could be considered “the best centre back in the world”, with fellow defender John Stones hailing his ‘outstanding’ impact.

The boss will have been praying throughout the international break that his defensive leader could have returned early enough to play tonight, but it looks as though Stones and Aymeric Laporte will have to step up.

In other news: Manchester City: Pep Guardiola in awe of Ilkay Gundogan

ScorecardCheteshwar Pujara hit 15 fours and a six in his unbeaten 116 to help Saurashtra nudge ahead•AFP

Cheteshwar Pujara dipped into an imprint that has defined his standing as a Test batsman, and provided the critical nudge that advanced Saurashtra’s position in the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Vadodara, even if only slightly. Pujara’s unbeaten century, his 31st at the first-class level, that spanned over five hours and saw him rebuild, consolidate and drive the innings forward helped Saurashtra end Day 2 on 254 for 5, which amounted to a lead of 20.Pujara played central roles in two partnerships, the second of which was an unbroken 93-run alliance with Chirag Jani that helped Saurashtra set themselves up for a bigger lead. Pujara was also the recipient of some luck as he was dropped on 37 by wicketkeeper KB Arun Karthik off Krishna Das, after he got a thick inside edge.For Assam, the Das duo of Krishna and Arup produced long, tireless spells without any discernible drop in efficiency.It was Arup, the quicker of the two, who left the batsmen frazzled early on. Avi Barot, the slightly thick-set opener, counterpunched with some robust drives on the rise but his partner, Sagar Jogiyani, was clearly in trouble against Arup’s pace. The inevitable happened in the 13th over as a length delivery from Arup had Jogiyani moving gingerly, and his reticent poke was held by Gokul Sharma at first slip.Krishna, meanwhile, was testing the batsmen by bowling outside off stump to a 7-2 field with a straight-ish mid on to boot. He wasn’t averse to trying out different angles, which accounted for Barot, who was trapped lbw. This was followed by a relative lull in the proceedings as Pujara and Arpit Vasavada sought to establish order. At one stage, Krishna had bowled nearly 15 overs on the trot and conceded only 23 runs, but Pujara was willing to wait.It was Sheldon Jackson, though, who forced the pace as he drove the seamers for boundaries on either side. With Assam’s bowlers persisting with a shorter length, Pujara fancied the cut. But when they compensated for it by bowling straighter, Pujara brought his wristy flicks, propelled by a strong yet supple bottom hand, into play.As the day neared its end, he hiked his scoring rate, moving from 87 to 98 in one over. This time he brought out the whole range; the back cut, the flick and the on drive with a rapid, forceful downswing. Within no time his hundred was being cheered on by a small crowd.Assam, for their part, sought to extract the most out of their seam bowlers, their prime wicket-taking options, but in that ended up overworking them. It wasn’t until the 51st over that left-arm spinner J Syed Mohammad was employed, and he struck with his fifth ball as his quirky, round-arm finish accounted for Jackson, who was evidently thrown off rhythm.The batsman’s attempted drive off a wide delivery lobbed up to point. Similarly offspinner Swarupam Purkayastha was introduced only with a few overs left in the day. Arup later admitted that they could have bowled a lot fuller, especially with the older ball.Assam, however, had begun the morning with gusto as overnight batsman Amit Verma and Goswami galloped along to 41 runs in eight overs. At 234 for 7, they must have surely fancied at least 30 more runs, but it took Saurashtra and Jaydev Unadkat all of one over to snuff out Assam’s first innings.Goswami, who scored 22 off 34 balls, played one onto his stumps, and two balls later it was Krishna’s turn to walk back to the dressing room. Verma was the out the very next delivery two short of his hundred to give Unadkat his sixth wicket, his second five-for in as many matches.

England 23 for 1 trail Australia 497 for 8 (Smith 211, Labuschagne 67) by 474 runs

For about two overs on the second day at Old Trafford, Steven Smith looked fallible as he resumed his comeback innings after yesterday’s preamble half-century. Stuart Broad found his edge with his first ball of the day, then induced that rarest of aberrations, a waft outside off from his second.Moments later, it appeared that Smith’s neurotic focus had found the root of his discomfort – a rogue van’s windscreen, visible through the slenderest of gaps in a gate behind the bowler’s arm, and winking at him with unfathomable persistence, much as the North Star might after one too many disco biscuits.But even after a towel had been lodged under the wipers to block out the glare, Smith was unable to settle immediately, and three balls into Jofra Archer’s first over of the day, he pumped a low full toss at a catchable height through the bowler’s outstretched fingers and away to the boundary for four. A final, flighty fence past leg stump followed. And there and then, England knew, deep in their souls, that their window of opportunity had clanged shut.Fidget, shuffle, nudge, smack. Rinse. Repeat. Back and across, coiled like a pinball launcher, way outside off if needs be, to clip a perfectly decent ball off the hip, or to pongo onto the front foot for another freakishly emphatic drive, bat pointing to the precise patch of grass that he had targeted, rubbing in his genius while simply completing the arc of his stroke.For the remainder of his 263-ball, 497-minute stay, Smith batted as if he had never been away – which, but for that delivery from Archer at Lord’s, he might indeed never have been. Once again, he encountered an opposition that ran out of plans and patience in equal measure, as he found sufficient support from, first, Tim Paine and then Mitchell Starc to leave England praying for more rain to assist the series-extending draw that is surely now the limit of their ambitions.By the time he eventually fell for 211, reverse-sweeping the part-time spin of Joe Root (having frogmarched England’s frontline bowlers to the brink of that inevitable declaration), Smith had racked up a nonsensical haul of 589 runs in four innings, at an average of 147.25 that would have been closer to 200 but for his brave but unwise decision to resume that Lord’s knock while displaying the early signs of concussion.Steve Smith celebrates his century•Getty Images

And by the close, the ease of Smith’s own progress had been put into stark perspective by the agonised extraction of England’s own erstwhile No.4, Joe Denly. Promoted to open due to Jason Roy’s clear unsuitability for the task, Denly endured for 23 balls and four sketchily gathered runs, before stabbing Pat Cummins into the midriff of Matthew Wade at short leg, who snaffled the rebound brilliantly in one hand, diving to his right.The difference between Australia’s focus and England’s was as visible in that final half-an-hour with the ball as it had been for so long with Smith’s bat. Starc, armed with the new ball after stewing on the sidelines for three Tests, looked as “cherry-ripe” as Archer in particular has looked fatigued in this contest, while his fellow quicks, Josh Hazlewood and Cummins, were no less eager to show what can yet be achieved on this surface.But it was the energy in the field was the most palpable difference. For if England could be excused for being blown off-track by the howling gales of the first truncated day, today’s (largely) blue skies robbed them of any mitigation. They needed to be at their best on a pivotal day of the series, but they were by and large as poor as they’ve been all summer.Smith’s first century of the day, his third of the series, was a formality – ushered through with a misfield at square leg, and celebrated with a pointed wave of the bat that doubled as a “hello, I’m back”. It was his fifth in his last eight innings against England, his 11th in Ashes cricket, and his 26th in 67 Tests all told. Comparisons with Don Bradman have long been sacrilege in Test cricket, but the relentless weight of these numbers are starting to scotch all complaints.There was, however, one moment that stood head and shoulders above all England’s other errors. Jack Leach has had a storied summer – that 92 as a nightwatchman at Lord’s, that most glorious of 1 not outs at Headingley last week. And with the ball, all things considered, he was probably second only to the toiling Broad as England’s most probing option of the day.But when, with Smith on 118 and showing another fleeting glimpse of mortality against his relative kryptonite of left-arm spin, Leach found the edge of his bat with a flighted, dipping, ripping delivery that sent every data analyst in the game into raptures, the moment was immediately lost as replays showed that he had overstepped by a good half an inch.A spinner’s no-ball is one of cricket’s unforgivable sins, and traumatically for Leach it was only his 13th out of more than 15,000 in his career. But what a delivery to serve one up on. Smith turned on his heel, marching back to resume his innings through a phalanx of crestfallen fielders, who were immediately torn a strip by a livid Joe Root, desperately trying to lift some flat-lining standards. But once again, that window of opportunity was already shut.The absence of Smith, after all, would have meant the presence of another not-Smith – but even the less impossible task of making dents in the rest of the batting order proved to be beyond England, at least at the first grasp. Earlier in the day, Matthew Wade had gifted his wicket with a foul slog to mid-on, where Root clung onto a swirling chance that left him white with relief, but when the under-pressure Tim Paine arrived to replace him, the equally under-pressure Roy dropped a shocker at second slip, the ball barely hitting the heel of his palm before plopping to the turf to leave Broad, the bowler, apoplectic.Paine is without a first-class century in 12 years, and is increasingly lacking in mandate as Australia captain now that Smith, for all his sins, is so clearly restored as the team’s front-man. His removal for 9 would have left him with a highest score of 34 in seven innings. But instead he found the resolve to grind through to a cathartic half-century, albeit that he required another let-off to get there, as Sam Curran – briefly on the field for Ben Stokes – dropped a low pull at mid-on on 49 as Archer bent his back in the best spell of his wicketless innings.Paine didn’t last much longer – he nicked a fine legcutter from Craig Overton’s first ball after tea to depart for 56 – but his presence had augmented Smith’s dominance of a stand of 145, and though Pat Cummins didn’t linger long, Starc’s eagerness to get involved in the series manifested itself in the ideal tailender’s innings.His 54 from 58 balls included seven fours and two sixes, but began as a keen supporting role, just 6 runs from 23 until Smith’s double-century gave him licence to unleash the long handle. Broad was hacked for four fours in a row to kickstart a helter-skelter finale that might have carried on to the close against a despondent attack, had Paine not waved them in with half-an-hour of the day to go.By then, of course, Smith was gone – an event so rare that it would have justified on of the Don’s bespoke “He’s Out!” billboards, had the Manchester Evening News deemed it worthy to publish a special edition. His nudge behind square off Broad pushed him ever further into into the elite of Ashes combatants, with only the Don himself (EIGHT!) and Wally Hammond (4) having recorded more double-hundreds in the game’s oldest rivalry.Either way, his series tally is 589 runs from four innings, one of which was effectively sawn off by concussion. And now, after this latest masterclass, the only dizziness on display is that being induced by the vertigo of his statistics, and the bewilderment of an England opposition that must now be believing that Headingley was a fever-dream after all.

Wolves are in talks with Burnley over the possible transfer of striker Steven Fletcher to Molineux.

Fletcher, 23, scored 13 goals for the relegated Clarets last season following his £3million arrival from Hibernian and was named his new club’s player of the year.

The Scotland international has been linked with several other Premier League clubs since Burnley’s fate was sealed but Wolves are believed to be leading the chase to sign him.

Earlier in the week, the Molineux club sanctioned the departure of striker Chris Iwelumo to the Clarets.

However, Burnley boss Brian Laws is refusing to accept defeat in his bid to persuade Fletcher to remain at Turf Moor.

“We don’t want Steven to go, but if he decides to leave we will replace him,” he told his club’s official website.

“People may read into the fact that Chris Iwelumo is a possible replacement for Fletcher, which is not the case.

“We need power and strength because the Championship is a very physical league, hence Chris’s arrival.

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“But I’m still looking for a goalscorer to complement my squad.”

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Blackburn Rovers duo Ryan Nelsen and Brett Emerton have spoken of their delight ahead of the club's trip to Australia later this month.

The Ewood Park-based outfit will take part in the inaugural Sydney Festival of Football where they will take on Rangers, AEK Athens and their Aussie hosts as they get their preparations for the upcoming Premier League campaign started.

Speaking to reporters, New Zealander Nelsen said:"The World Cup was an incredible experience, something I will remember forever, but now it's back to business with Blackburn Rovers.

"I'm really looking forward to heading across to Sydney for the Festival of Football and I know the lads back in the UK are too.

"It's an exciting concept and there are certain to be no easy games with Rangers and AEK Athens amongst the strongest clubs in Europe."

Meanwhile, Emerton, an Australia international added:"Events like these are vital if Australia is to host the 2022 World Cup.

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"Everybody knows Sydney is a beautiful city, but there are football purists out there that would rather the game's showpiece event go elsewhere.

"This is an opportunity for Sydney to stand up and show the world we are a footballing country worthy of hosting the World Cup."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email