Agarkar shines as Mumbai squeeze Baroda

Baroda 167 for 5 trail Mumbai 645 for 9 decl. (Jaffer 150, Nayar 132, Tendulkar 108) by 478 runs
Scorecard

Mumbai buried Baroda under a mountain of runs on a flat track, and then watched irresponsible Baroda batsmen crumble under the weight. In reply to the hosts' 645 for 9 declared, Baroda got off to a good start, but their batsmen played irresponsible shots to be reduced to 157 for 5, a predicament from which there seems no way back. Not against Mumbai, renowned masters of the game of not letting the opposition back down once.

It has been thus right from the time Wasim Jaffer and Sachin Tendulkar came together to bat on the first morning. Abhishek Nayar carried their good work forward on day two, and while he could add only 10 to his overnight 122 on day three, their bowlers did the job, both with the bat and the ball. Nayar fell at 563 for 8, but Ajit Agarkar and Javed Khan attacked the tired Baroda bowlers with a 73-run stand in 13.1 overs.

Agarkar, the better batsman of the two, relied more on finding gaps and picking twos while Javed hit four sixes, one of which resulted in a lost ball. Javed holed out just before reaching fifty, but Agarkar brought up his 16th in first-class cricket. Not many expected Mumbai to declare - what with the possibility of a sixth day in the match - but they asked Baroda to bat for 25 minutes before lunch.

Those 25 minutes didn't bring much nerves as openers Saurabh Wakaskar and Aditya Waghmode continued with what has been a fruitful season. The same continued in the post-lunch session, although the openers remained content in defence, reaching 93 for 0 by tea. After tea, though, Mumbai's move of playing two left-arm spinners began to work. Debutant Vishal Dabholkar broke through soon after Wakaskar reached his fifty, and Baroda their hundred. He pushed at a length ball that didn't turn enough, and moving to his right at slip, Wasim Jaffer took a catch more difficult than the kind Yusuf Pathan kept dropping at slip.

Waghmode survived an easy stumping soon after, but his partner Abhimanyu Chauhan, who had shackled himself, didn't enjoy such luck. Dhawal Kulkarni had pushed him back with short balls, Chauhan was stuck at 0 off 20 balls, but the 21st was pitched up, and snuck through the gap created by his staying on the crease. Not that Waghmode made much of his luck: he went to punch a ball rising higher than the waist and angling away, and managed a nick to provide relief to wicketkeeper Aditya Tare, who gleefully accepted the chance.

Even before Yusuf Pathan could confound with his slash-slash-miss-miss innings, Kedar Devdhar fell lbw to Dabholkar. Agarkar came back to account for the reckless Yusuf, who toe-ended a pull shot to mid-on. Ambati Rayudu, who had been off the field with illness, came to bat at No. 7, but he is left with too much to do.

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Derbyshire eye up Chanderpaul

Derbyshire hope to pull off a coup by signing the world No. 2 Test batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, for part of the 2013 season.

Regarded as one of the weaker first-class counties for several years, Derbyshire have enjoyed a resurgence in recent times and were promoted to Division One of the County Championship for the first time in 12 years as champions of Division Two last season.

It was the first time they have achieved promotion having previously contested Division One cricket by default in the first season of split divisions. No other county had experienced so long in the bottom division.

The signing of Chanderpaul would underline the new ambition of the club. Chris Grant, the club chairman appointed in March 2011, swiftly demonstrated his desire to shake things up at the club by sacking John Morris, the long-serving director of cricket, in the middle of a game barely six weeks later. Karl Krikken was appointed in his place and led the side to promotion in his first full season in charge.

Chanderpaul would add solidity to a batting line-up that sometimes appeared fragile in 2012. Derbyshire gained more bowling bonus points than any other side in Division Two but finished only mid-table in terms of batting bonus points.

While the club have a strong unit of seamers, several of their "home grown" young batsmen - the likes of Ross Whiteley and Dan Redfern - are still developing and it was the overseas players, Martin Guptill and Usman Khawaja, who topped the county's batting averages in 2012.

Derbyshire have already added former Essex and Middlesex top-order batsman Billy Godleman and former Warwickshire wicketkeeper Richard Johnson to their staff. Godleman is the latest county player to seek the services of freelance coach and mentor, Neil Burns, who has been credited by Nick Compton and Monty Panesar as the man to have revitalised their careers.

Derbyshire are not the only county interested in signing Chanderpaul. It is understood that he, along with South Africa's Hashim Amla and Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq, is among Worcestershire's targets.

38-year-old Chanderpaul has enjoyed sustained success in his previous stints in county cricket. In 2011 he played for Warwickshire, scoring three centuries and averaging 89.83 in five matches to help the club finish second in the County Championship, and he has had three spells at Durham, helping them to titles in 2008 and 2009 and averaging 58.26 for them in first-class cricket. He also played for Lancashire in 2010.

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Glamorgan dispense with Metson

Colin Metson, whose appointment as Glamorgan managing director coincided with a turbulent period in the county's affairs, has been sacked after his downgraded role of cricket and community manager was made redundant.

Metson returned to Glamorgan with the county in crisis after the resignation of cricket manager Matthew Maynard, president Peter Walker and captain Jamie Dalrymple because of a managerial restructuring.

But Metson's power was soon on the wane and he was shunted away from first-team duties at the beginning of the 2012 season and given a lesser role in the community development programme. That role has now been made redundant and he will leave Glamorgan at the end of the week.

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Life's biggest achievement - Chatterjee

Over time, when they look back at the history of the game for inspiration, they would do well to consider Soumik Chatterjee's unbeaten 34, made on one leg and with plenty of bravado. Unable to walk, the Services captain had been carried off by four of his team-mates from the dressing room to the team bus on day one, after he'd badly damaged his left knee while fielding. He'd dragged himself out to the middle to bat at No 11 in the Services first innings, and lasted one delivery. In the second, with Services 54 for 5 in their chase of 113, Chatterjee hobbled in again and went on to play the most significant innings of his career, which led to what he called the biggest achievement of his life.

"This match is my life's biggest achievement," Chatterjee said of Services' Ranji Trophy quarter-final win over Uttar Pradesh. "Maine ye socha tha ki aaunga toh jitaake aaunga, warna baahar nahi aaunga [I won't come back without winning it for the team]. Yes, I was injured but I knew that if I made up my mind, I could win the game for the team.

"It was a matter of having a partnership for five-six overs. When that happens, the other side loses the advantage. I knew that if I and Rajat [Paliwal] could play out five-six overs, the game would be ours."

Chatterjee was asked whether he had thought about the chance of aggravating his injury when deciding to come out to bat. Scans had revealed serious clotting around the knee. "There was no risk. Even if I lose my life, I will always be there for team," he replied in the emotional aftermath of victory.

When Chatterjee came out to bat, the immediate reaction among journalists watching the game was that with his perceived inability to run, he would end up squeezing out any remaining momentum from the chase. But to everyone's disbelief, he soon started limping and then, unable to bear the pain, hopping on his fit right leg for singles.

Wing Commander Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, said it was a collective decision by himself, the coach and Chatterjee to send in the captain at No 7. "We were not sure whether he would be able to run," Bhaskar said. "It was all down to him, how he felt out there when he started batting."

While Chatterjee was sure he would be able to recover in time for the semi-final starting on January 16, Bhaskar was more realistic. "It is a call we will have to take," Bhaskar said. "We will see how his treatment goes."

There is still more than a week left for the semi-finals, and for the moment, Chatterjee was grateful to all his team-mates. "All 11 players of the side are special and I give credit to all of them," Chatterjee said. "We won because of all of them. Not only the 11, but all the 15 (in the squad) and the 17, including the coach and the manager, and also the four who have sat out, I credit them all. We won because of all their hard work."

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No commitment yet on tour to Pak

BCB president Nazmul Hassan met Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, during the third India-Pakistan ODI in Delhi in a bid to restore bilateral relations, but no firm commitment of a future tour was made during the meeting. Last week, Bangladesh had pulled the plug on a proposed tour to Pakistan in the wake of the the security situation in Pakistan, about which the ICC has also expressed its concern.

"The BCB president assured Mr. Ashraf that he will have detailed discussion on the Pakistan tour with the board's ad hoc executive committee on his return to Bangladesh after attending the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur," Jalal Yunus, the BCB's media committee chairman, said. "The two boards also decided to work closely to find out an appropriate time to tour Pakistan."

"They also talked about participation of Pakistani players in the second edition of Bangladesh Premier League."

After the BCB voiced its reluctance to tour Pakistan, the PCB retaliated by questioning its players' availability in the BPL scheduled to begin on January 18. The domestic Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is also going to run during the same time but the BCB are confident that the Pakistan players will show up.

"When the request was made to send the Pakistani players to the BPL, the PCB president neither agreed nor denied so we have to wait and see," Yunus said.

Meanwhile, Dave Richardson, the ICC CEO, has said that the PCB has a lot to do to encourage teams to tour Pakistan. "It's premature to say whether it's still safe to tour Pakistan or not. They've got a difficult situation there. They still have a lot of work to do in convincing the international world that it is safe to go to Pakistan," he said.

In March when the BCB had first announced of its desire to tour Pakistan, the ICC had issued "special dispensation" for cases that required local match officials in a bilateral series if they can't send neutral officials.

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Harbhajan Singh fined for dissent

Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh has been fined 50% of his match fee for showing dissent at the umpire's decision on the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Jharkhand in Jamshedpur.

The incident occurred in the fifth over after tea. Harbhajan, who replaced Manpreet Gony, changed the angle by going round the wicket to Sunny Gupta. The ball lobbed off the pads and went to silly point where the fielder plucked a sharp chance. A huge appeal followed but the umpire CK Nandan turned it down. Harbhajan was so furious at the decision that the other umpire Sanjay Hazare had to step in from square leg to calm him down. Harbhajan showed his disapproval by not just gesturing at the umpire but also kicking the turf in disappointment.

"Harbhajan was found guilty under the article 2.1.3 of the BCCI's Code of Conduct for the players. As a result, he has been fined 50% of his match fees for a Level 1 offence," the match referee Sunil Chaturvedi said after conducting a hearing that involved Harbhajan, both the umpires and Punjab coach Arun Sharma.

Chaturvedi was seen going through the video footage of the incident. It was followed by a hearing, which lasted 20 minutes.

Article 2.1.3 of the BCCI's Code of Conduct for players deals with "(a) excessive, obvious disappointment with an Umpire's decision; (b) an obvious delay in resuming play or leaving the wicket; (c) shaking the head; (d) pointing or looking at the inside edge when given out lbw; (e) pointing to the pad or rubbing the shoulder when caught behind; (f) snatching the cap from the Umpire; (g) requesting a referral to the TV Umpire; and (h) arguing or entering into a prolonged discussion with the Umpire about his decision."

The clause ends with: "It shall not be a defence to any charge brought under this Article to show that the Umpire might have, or in fact did, get any decision wrong."

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Jaggi ton lights up curtailed day

Jharkhand 310 for 6 (Nemat 100, Jaggi 126*) v Punjab
Scorecard

Poor visibility in Jamshedpur, due to fog, meant that only 40 overs were possible during the second day, resulting in over two sessions of play lost due to bad weather over two days. In that period, Ishank Jaggi scored his maiden hundred of the Ranji season to help Jharkhand remain in the game. Had it not been for Jaggi's resilient knock, combined with flair and caution, the Punjab openers could well have had a look in before the premature end to the day's proceedings.

If the half hour delay on the opening day was bad, the second day was worse. Play began 80 minutes after the scheduled start of 9am, reducing the first session to 70 minutes. When the teams returned after lunch, they took the field for only two balls, before returning indoors for almost an hour and a half. Another 65 minutes of play was followed by tea and the final session only lasted 40-odd minutes.

Walking in with Jharkhand at an uneasy 97 for 3, Jaggi had to resort to defensive tactics during the opening day. His overnight partner, the opener Rameez Nemat, was undone by a Harbhajan Singh top-spinner three balls after celebrating his maiden first-class ton. Following the dismissal, Jaggi preferred to play his shots instead of just blocking the ball. As a result, he ended up scoring 76 out of his team's tally of 115 on the second day to remain unbeaten on 126.

Jaggi had to move down the order from his preferred No.3 position with the inclusion of three openers in the XI. He drove the Punjab spin duo of Harbhajan, who appeared to be at his best after a while, and legspinner Sarabjit Ladda at the start of the day. He was rewarded for his approach as he managed seven boundaries in the first session, in contrast to his five during the course of the first day.

Soon after a prolonged lunch break, Jaggi flicked Siddarth Kaul to the square leg fence to bring up his seventh first-class century. Then on, it was the Kaul show with the second new ball. The medium-pacer first forced Kumar Deobrat to nick one to Uday Kaul behind the stumps. Four overs later, he forced the wicketkeeper SP Gautam to edge to Amitoze Singh at first slip. Jaggi and Sunny Gupta then avoided any further damage till the weather had the final say.

Both camps would hope for better weather in the coming days so the match will not have to be extended by an additional day in case the first innings is not completed within five days. On a day when uncertainty prevailed over who would be ruling the state of Jharkhand, there was no doubt whatsoever that the winner on the cricket field at the Keenan Stadium was the weather.

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Warm welcome for Pakistan team

Pakistan returned home to a rousing welcome after winning the ODI series against archrivals India and drawing the Twenty20 series 1-1. Large throngs of people waited outside the Lahore International Airport to greet the team on their success in the historic tour.

Pakistan, after dominant performances throughout the series, came close to taking the ODI series 3-0 in Delhi. But India fought back and avoided what would have been their first whitewash since 1983-84. Pakistan, however, flourished throughout the series and were, distinctly, the better side.

"The significant part of the series was the young lot stood up to take the team's veins," Misbah said. "Throughout the series, the young and new players contributed in the victories.

"I will give credit to the whole team but there were few youngsters like [Mohammad] Irfan, Junaid [Khan] and Nasir Jamshed - who have really impressed. They have proved themselves against world's best batting line-up and have outclassed them. They have a bright future and if they continue to perform like this, they will go way forward."

Nasir Jamshed, 23, led the batting with consecutive centuries in Chennai and Kolkata and ended up as the leading run-getter in the series with 241 runs. His Man-of-the-Series-winning performance helped him climb 45 places in the ODI rankings to a career-best 31st.

"It was the great tour for me not because I have scored runs but the centuries I scored helped my team to win the matches," Jamshed said. "Riding on my current form I would like to continue the runs feast in the upcoming South Africa tour."

Mohammad Hafeez, the T20 captain, too had a magnificent series. He became the number one allrounder in ODIs following success with both bat and ball in the series.

"It was series we have been waiting desperately," Hafeez said. "The team played with full focus and proved how good we are. It's the victory of the whole nation and the highlight of the series were the trio - Irfan, Junaid and Nasir."

As the team, along with the PCB chairman, Zaka Ashraf, emerged at the arrival gates, the chants of Pakistan Zindabad (Long live Pakistan) and the beats of traditional drums resonated in the chilly winter evening. In a brief ceremony at the gates, Ashraf garlanded both the captains - Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafez - and said that it was a special win beating India in India.

"It's a unique honor for us that we defeated India in their own country," Ashraf said. "Our team is very disciplined and organised, the way our captains have performed, I think they deserve congratulations from everyone in the country. The way they have fought in India, they deserve appreciation."

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Warne and Samuels in ugly clash

Melbourne Renegades 1 for 147 (Finch 67*) beat Melbourne Stars 9 for 146 (Wright 29, Sheridan 3-36) by nine wickets
Scorecard

Shane Warne and Marlon Samuels were involved in an ugly confrontation as Melbourne Renegades secured a home semi-final in the Big Bash League in front of a record crowd for domestic cricket in Australia.

Aaron Finch's 67 off just 47 balls helped the Renegades to a nine-wicket win with seven balls to spare in front of a crowd of 46,581 which turned out for a fiery Melbourne derby.

Cricket Australia's delight at the success of the much-debated derby formula will be overshadowed by the ill discipline on the field as tempers flared between Warne, the Melbourne Stars captain, and Samuels, the enigmatic Renegades West Indies all-rounder, with several incidents likely to be looked at closely in the coming days.

CA officials are expected to announce details of a disciplinary hearing on Monday, although they will first check on the well-being of Samuels, who damaged an eye-socket after top-edging a ball from Lasith Malinga through the grill of his helmet and needed treatment at a Melbourne hospital. His tournament is assumed to be over.

Samuels angered the hosts during the Melboune Stars innings when he grabbed David Hussey as he was trying to turn for a second run - and Warne let him know all about it when he came out to bat.

In a verbal tirade picked up by Fox Sports microphones, Warne criticised Samuels for his unsporting behaviour at the end of the leg-spinner's second over, grabbing the West Indian by the shirt in illustration and jabbing his finger in his face.

Tempers reached boiling point the following over when Warne fielded a drive by Samuels and flipped the ball straight at the West Indian from close range as he stood in his crease. Samuels reacted angrily at the provocation, throwing his bat over Warne's head as the umpires rushed in to calm the situation.

It was a clear display of gamesmanship by Warne, who was trying desperately to pull his charges back into the match after they were restricted to just 146 having won the toss and electing to bat.The Renegades privately criticised Warne's behaviour as deliberately provocative and theatrical.

In what many will regard as another distasteful aspect of the stand-off, Warne was again wearing a microphone for the benefit of TV viewers and with the game going on used it to defend his actions to commentators.

"What are you meant to do when someone throws a bat at you?" he asked.

The night went from bad to worse for Samuels as he tried to hook a short ball from Malinga and top-edged it into his face. He was forced to retire hurt with blood streaming from an eye wound with only Malinga among the Stars players making obvious attempts to check on his welfare.

Warne later told the Herald Sun: Warne later tried to downplay the drama, saying he didn't expect to be disciplined by Cricket Australia. "I tried to throw the ball to Bobby Quiney and the next minute I decided to get out of the way of that bat," he said. "I'm more disappointed that we lost, that was just a heat of the moment thing. That's just the way it goes, I hope he's OK.

Samuels, acclaimed for his matchwinning display in the final of World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in Australia, has been a marked man in Australia. Darren Lehmann, the Brisbane coach, was fined for questioning the legality of his quicker ball, a theme later picked up by the Adelaide coach Darren Berry.

For Renegades, it was another impressive all-round team performance with a number of contributors with the ball leading to an easy win.

Aaron O'Brien continued his great form, conceding just 22 runs off his four overs and taking the valuable wicket of Brad Hodge. He was backed up by Darren Pattinson (2 for 12), Will Sheridan (3 for 36) and the ever-reliable Muralitharan (1 for 27) as the Stars limped to a score well below par given the pace and consistency of the pitch.

The Stars had four batsmen reach 20 but not one of them was able to convert it into a bigger score. All-rounder James Faulkner hit two massive sixes to start the final over before the Renegades took a team hat-trick to stem the flow of runs.

Finch and Alex Doolan (30 off 28) were brutal early against the Stars fast bowlers and quickly took the game away from the hosts with a 70-run partnership in just 49 balls.

The Stars will look to re-group quickly ahead of their do-or-die clash with the Sydney Thunder in Melbourne on Tuesday. The task won't be made any easier by the loss of Malinga, McKay, Hussey and Maxwell to international duty. With the Heat, Hurricanes, Strikers and Scorchers all battling for the final three spots in the semi-finals, nothing less than a win will do for the Stars.

Despite securing top place, the Renegades have problems of their own, with Finch joining the Australian team for the series against Sri Lanka and Doolan (ankle) and Samuels (face) both under injury clouds ahead of their game against the Sydney Sixers in Sydney on Wednesday.

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Shadab Nazar routs his home state

"We don't want star players. We want performers," Wing commander Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, had said before the start of their quarter-final against Uttar Pradesh, when asked about the big-name players in the opposition. Performance was what he got from his players on day one. Leading them was fast bowler Shadab Nazar, a corporal in the Air Force, who routed UP for 134 on the way to his third five-for in his debut first-class season.

Nazar, 25, ironically hails from UP and played age-group cricket for the state. He was part of the same sports hostel set-up in Lucknow where Suresh Raina and RP Singh come from, before he was recruited by Bhaskar into the Air Force. Today, he showed no mercy to his former state-mates as he bustled in with a run-up full of energy and found generous bounce from the Holkar Stadium pitch to claim 5 for 51.

Nazar's been with Services for six years now, but broke into their first-class side only this season, though he played a couple of one-dayers in early 2010. He's already become a potent part of the side's fast-bowling attack, along with Suraj Yadav and Nishan Singh, and has played all their nine games so far in the season to pick up 30 wickets at an average of 23.56.

"It doesn't matter how big the batsman's reputation is. In the end, it is all about putting the ball in the right areas," Nazar said. He added more zip to the Services attack as soon as he was introduced first change and dismissed three of the top six UP batsmen. "My approach was to just keep it on a tight length," he said.

Nazar felt the pitch had eased out slightly after the morning session in which UP lost seven wickets but it was still not easy for the batsmen. Bhaskar said the deliveries that zipped through had decreased in number but were still enough of a threat.

The UP attack has delivered four outright wins in the season and it was quite an achievement for Services to earn a lead of 20 runs by stumps with five wickets in hand. Even more so, considering they had to redo their batting order following the unavailability of the captain Soumik Chatterjee, who hurt his knee while fielding in the deep. Chatterjee was taken for an MRI scan, the results of which were awaited. The seriousness of his injury was evident when, unable to walk, he was carried from the dressing room to the team bus by his team-mates.

What part, if any, Chatterjee will be able to play in the remainder of the match was unclear but for a determined Services side, it is just one of the several odds they have to tackle.

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