Fletcher, bowlers help WI draw level

West Indies 165 for 6 (Fletcher 62, Simmons 36) beat New Zealand 126 (Williamson 37, Cottrell 3-28) by 39 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Following their demoralising Test series defeat, West Indies found solace in the format they relish the most by squaring the T20s 1-1 with an all-round performance in Roseau. West Indies were guilty of not putting enough runs on the board on Saturday, but they addressed that issue by posting a competitive 165 in an uninterrupted innings. Their bowlers choked New Zealand, with the spinners and medium-pacers proving difficult to hit. Never at any stage did New Zealand pose a threat and the lack of lasting partnerships led to their downfall.

Unlike on Saturday, when West Indies struggled to gain traction either side of a rain interruption, the batsmen found momentum via a solid second-wicket of stand of 66 between Andre Fletcher and Lendl Simmons and in the last five overs, when 56 were scored. Simmons described the pitch as one with tennis-ball bounce, with a few balls stopping on the batsmen, but West Indies saw through an edgy beginning and ensured they kept wickets intact for a late surge.

Fletcher was lucky to survive early in his innings when he set off for a single from the non-striker's end and was sent back by Simmons; Fletcher had given up but the bowler Trent Boult missed the mark. After that, Fletcher charged down the track to the seamers and targeted the straighter boundaries Simmons regularly shuffled across his stumps to target fine leg and third man.

Given how the batsmen struggled on Saturday, the pair showed greater intent to get on with it. Simmons moved across his stumps to Corey Anderson and scooped it for six over fine leg and in the same over, played a glorious extra cover drive. Anderson had the last laugh against Simmons when he caught him at long-on. Anderson caught the ball and threw it up as he back-pedalled outside the boundary but managed to jog back in and take it on the second attempt.

Boult came up with a more spectacular effort later in the innings when he had Pollard caught at deep midwicket. He plucked it one-handed, threw it up and caught the ball again with a full-length dive from outside the boundary. Those two postcard moments were the only takeaways for New Zealand in the match. Their slower bowlers, Ish Sodhi and Kane Williamson couldn't impose themselves in the manner in which Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine managed later on.

In the first ODI, West Indies managed only a paltry 6.80 in the last five overs but a day later, they cranked it up to 11.20. Fletcher sped towards his third T20 fifty with a scooped six over long-off. He was yorked by Boult for 62 but his exit didn't slow down West Indies as Darren Sammy and Andre Russell took the score past 160.

New Zealand decided to rotate the captaincy by putting Williamson in charge and although he top-scored, he failed to anchor the innings. Brendon McCullum swung his bat around but his soft dismissal increased the pressure on Williamson. New Zealand's other power hitters, Jimmy Neesham and Anderson didn't make an impact. Narine and Badree applied the stranglehold by not going for more than five an over.

New Zealand needed a massive 91 off the last ten but even at that stage, they still had three more Narine overs to contend with. They also had the awkward slower balls from Pollard to negotiate, and with every desperate swing and a miss from the middle and lower order, the asking rate climbed. Sheldon Cottrell, brought in for this game, got the in-form Neesham early to give West Indies the first advantage and there was no looking back.

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Ireland strikes in astonishing final over

Leicestershire 144 for 5 (Smith 65*) beat Derbyshire 143 (Durston 89, Ireland 5-22) by five wickets
Scorecard

Anthony Ireland starred in an extraordinary final over which involved a banned bowler and the fall of four wickets to set up Leicestershire's victory at Queen's Park.

Ireland's 5 for 22 beat his previous best figures of 4 for 11, also against Derbyshire - but he might never have bowled the over - or at least part of it.

Three of Ireland's wicket, plus a run out, came in the last over after Charlie Shreck had been ordered out of the attack for bowling his second full toss above waist height.

Derbyshire's dismal NatWest T20 Blast campaign continued when they lost to Leicestershire for the second time this season to remain rooted to the foot of the North Division.

Wes Durston blazed 89 from 63 balls, the fourth highest individual score for Derbyshire in the competition, but Marcus North was the only other batsman to reach double figures in a below-par total of 143.

Leicestershire lost their openers cheaply but Greg Smith settled any nerves with a unbeaten 65 from 56 balls to guide his team to their third victory of the season with four balls to spare.

The Foxes' decision to put the Falcons in on a white pitch was rewarded when Ireland struck twice in his first two overs, with Chesney Hughes losing his middle stump to an inside edge and Gareth Cross missing a drive.

Derbyshire's position would have been even worse if Ben Raine had not spilled a low catch when Durston clipped Shreck low to mid-wicket with 39 on the board, and he made them pay by driving and pulling his way to 50 off 33 balls.

Wayne Madsen was lbw reverse-sweeping Scott Styris, who combined with Jigar Naik to concede only 45 runs in eight overs despite Durston swinging a full toss from the New Zealander into the crowd behind the mid-wicket boundary.

Durston and North added 56 in nine overs, but Derbyshire could not break free and Naik held a low return catch to remove North before Durston's fine innings ended when he drove Raine to long-off.

That sparked the disintegration of the innings in bizarre fashion as Ireland took full advantage of Shreck's misfortune by taking three wickets in four balls as Derbyshire lost their last four in five for two runs, Mark Turner run out off the last ball.

It left Leicestershire a relatively easy chase on a small ground but they lost Niall O'Brien in the third over when he drove North low to short extra cover and after pulling Chesney Hughes for six, Josh Cobb top-edged a cut to Alex Hughes at cover.

At 39 for two, Derbyshire sensed an opening but Smith and Eckersley mixed placement with aggression to leave their side needing 69 from the last 10 overs.

The pair added 52 in seven overs before Eckersley needlessly skied a big drive at North to long-on, where Alex Hughes made no mistake.

Smith and Matthew Boyce took the visitors to within 24 of their target before Boyce swung Durston into the hands of deep mid-wicket.

But Smith completed a well-paced 50 from 48 balls and although Styris pulled the first ball of the final over to deep mid-wicket, it was too late for Derbyshire.

Ireland said: ``I didn't expect to be bowling the last over when Charlie Shreck started it but that's what can happen. It was a good performance and Greg has been in good form for us with the bat this year so it was nice to see him get us over the line at the end.''

Derbyshire skipper Madsen rued the calamitous end to his side's innings - as well as the last-over drama, they lost Durston to the last delivery of the 19th and Scott Elstone two balls before that.

Madsen said: ``I felt we were probably 10 or 15 short. Wes played brilliantly but we weren't able to get those extra runs at the back end. I thought we bowled really well in the first six overs but ultimately we were short, another 15 runs and we would have won today.''

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Kieswetter still gives Somerset hope

Somerset 155 (Kieswetter 60, Petersen 38*) beat Hampshire 116 by 39 runs
Scorecard

Craig Kieswetter continued his superb form in the NatWest t20 Blast with a half-century to help Somerset claim a vital 39-run win over second-placed Hampshire in the South Division.

Kieswetter, who this week signed a new three-year contract with the county, passed 50 for the sixth time in 10 matches in this season's competition and his 60 guided Somerset to a score of 155 for 4 batting first at the Ageas Bowl.

That was less than the visitors looked like getting at one stage, but proved more than enough as tight bowling and good fielding helped them dismiss Hampshire for 116 with 22 balls to spare.

It was only Somerset's fourth win of the season but it still enabled them to complete the double over 20-over specialists Hampshire and move up to fifth in the standings.

Somerset chose to bat first on a blameless wicket but lost captain Marcus Trescothick in the second over, nicking Chris Wood to wicketkeeper Michael Bates for two.

Hampshire could hardly have wished for a better start, but Kieswetter then shared stands of 55 for the second wicket with Peter Trego (25) and the third with Alviro Petersen, who was 38 not out at the conclusion of the Somerset innings.

Kieswetter's 60 - which left him second only to Surrey's Jason Roy in the NatWest t20 Blast runscoring charts - came off 44 balls and included five fours and two sixes before perishing to Matt Coles while attempting another extravagant drive.

That left Somerset on 115 for 3 but Petersen and James Hildreth saw their side somewhat sedately through to the last ball of the innings at which point the latter was caught on the mid-wicket boundary to leave Hampshire needing 156 for victory.

The hosts would have fancied their chances of chasing that target down but suffered a nightmare start as captain James Vince went to the first ball he faced, playing around a Trego delivery to be trapped lbw.

The wickets then continued to tumbled as Hampshire's top order collapsed in an uncharacteristic panic, and midway through the eighth over they were 41 for 6.

Jimmy Adams fell to a catch at mid-on, Will Smith lifted Alfonso Thomas to Petersen at midwicket and then came a double run-out catastrophe in the sixth over to swing the match irreversibly Somerset's way.

First Glenn Maxwell was left stranded going for a second and then Michael Carberry, who might have been responsible for Maxwell's exit, went the same way, beaten by a throw from short fine-leg chasing a cheeky single.

When Sean Ervine strayed from his crease when facing leg-spinner Max Waller's third delivery and was stumped by Kieswetter, Hampshire were as good as finished, and so it proved despite a lower-order fight.

Coles and Wood battled bravely in an innings-best stand of 42 for the seventh wicket before Coles holed out to Waller, also at mid-wicket and Hampshire were 88 for 8 when Wood lifted Thomas to Dirk Nannes in the deep.

Abbott and Bates took Hampshire past the 100 mark but the end was not long in coming, to the dismay of a large home crowd, as Nannes wrapped things up with the wicket of Bates

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Flintoff turns up a crock of gold

Lancashire 229 for 4 (Prince 68, Buttler 55) beat Worcestershire 179 for 7 (Mitchell 46, Oliver 44, Flintoff 2-36) by 50 runs
Scorecard

On a glorious afternoon by the Severn, Andrew Flintoff pulled off a comeback that cricket never expected to see. Nearly five years after he succumbed to injury and played his last professional match, after nearly five years largely spent in TV adventuring and other forms of celebrity, he conquered a supposedly terminal knee injury and, however briefly, took to the field again.

Lancashire even celebrated with a team batting record and a victory to go top of the table.

The crock had turned up a crock of gold.

The clash of the top two teams in the North Division was always likely to be a crowd puller, with or without the presence of Flintoff. Nonetheless, his return to competitive cricket probably left a few at New Road wanting, particularly if they had been anticipating an explosive exhibition of big-hitting from the former England all-rounder.

In the event, they did not see face a single delivery, his ability to strike a cricket ball a very long way not required as Lancashire's established top-order made short work of some rather ordinary bowling to run up their record total since the short format was introduced.

Flintoff's presence may have reminded a few of them that the previous record of 220 for 5, set at Derby in 2009, had been largely down to him, with an individual innings of 93 from 41 balls. That match, in fact, would prove to be his last for Lancashire in T20 before injury forced him out of the game.

This time he had to bite back his frustration as Ashwell Prince with 68 from 43 deliveries, and Jos Buttler (55 off 28) built on the flying start provided by Tom Smith's 30 from 20 balls to set Worcestershire a daunting task, left to fidget in the Lancashire dug-out, ready to come in at six down, not even strapping on his pads until the 19th over.

But if there was a measure of frustration, therefore, for the 36-year-old, who looked in good physical shape, there was satisfaction later in the shape of two wickets from four improving overs with the ball as Worcestershire's efforts were stifled and Lancashire moved into the lead in the North Group with three matches to go.

Lancashire had been 61 for 1 after the Powerplay overs, but finished the innings even more impressively, adding 102 from the final seven overs as Buttler struck the ball cleanly and with power, hitting three towering sixes.

In the event, the Lancashire's total worked in Flintoff's favour, creating almost the ideal circumstances for him to bowl, some five years after he last played competitive cricket, in the final Test of the 2009 Ashes series at The Oval.

Worcestershire made an encouraging start to their pursuit of the target, scoring 50 without loss from the opening five overs, but it meant Flintoff could ease himself back without the pressure he would have felt in a low scoring match.

His first ball almost brought a wicket, Richard Oliver giving the treatment to a wide long hop but living dangerously. Steven Croft flung himself full length at point, getting fingertips to the ball as Flintoff looked on in hope. In fact, the ball kept going and went for four, to be followed by a six that landed deep into the crowd at long-on as the left-handed Oliver, the former Shropshire captain who has been a hit in this format in his first season in the professional game, looked to take an aggressive approach.

Croft's achievement in making his 96th successive T20 appearance - an English record - was almost adorned by becoming part of the Flintoff story. Instead, it passed by almost unnoticed.

No more was seen of Flintoff until the 13th over, by which time a tall order had become taller still for the home side. Oliver and Daryl Mitchell had made a strong start but once they had both fallen to Croft's off-breaks, the required rate began to creep up and wickets were lost.

Needing to keep the runs flowing, by then to make up lost ground even, the 19-year-old Tom Kohler-Cadmore enjoyed a moment he will not forget, pulling his first ball from Flintoff over the mid-wicket boundary for six. Three balls later, though, he had become the first comeback wicket, bowled swinging extravagantly at a straight one.

Victory was essentially in the bag, with half of Worcestershire's wickets gone and the target a near-impossible 63 off four overs, when Flintoff returned for his third and fourth overs, which were much tidier than the first two and brought a second wicket when Alexei Kervezee holed out to long-on.

Flintoff was detained signing autographs afterwards but regrettably declined to connect with the wider public by speaking to the media, although he later tweeted his pleasure: "It's a bit like sex, always better 2nd time!".

Buttler, himself a little awestruck after keeping wicket to one of his boyhood heroes, offered a more measured, if less colourful appraisal.

"It was tough for him at the start, because they were always going to go hard with such a big total to chase and he needed a few balls to loosen up," Buttler said. "But he came back well in the last two overs and pushed one or two through.

"I had to pinch myself a bit, to think I was in the same team as such a legend of the game. I'll never forget watching the 2005 Ashes and the way he played there and to be in the same dressing room as him is a great experience."

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R Sridhar appointed Andhra Ranji coach

R Sridhar, the former Hyderabad left-arm spinner, has been appointed coach of the Andhra Ranji side for two years.

Sridhar, who began his coaching career in 2001, has been part of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and was the India Under-19's assistant coach during the World Cup in February in the UAE. He has also worked with Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2014 as the franchise's fielding coach.

"I thank Andhra cricket for this wonderful opportunity to further my coaching career in Andhra, a state with which my relationship goes a long way back," Sridhar said in a press release.

Sridhar will be looking to guide the side to better performances in domestic cricket. Andhra finished seventh in the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy season, winning just one game. In limited-overs tournaments, the results were equally middling. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, they finished last in the South Zone group and failed to progress to the Super League. Although their Vijay Hazare campaign also ended on a similar note, Andhra were third on the South Zone table, behind Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Sridhar's first-class career spanned 12 years in which he played 35 matches, taking 91 wickets. In 15 List A games between 1992 and 1998, Sridhar took 14 wickets.

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Pragmatic victory for MCC on nostalgia-filled day

MCC XI 296 for 3 (Finch 181*, Chanderpaul 37*) beat Rest of the World XI 293 for 7 (Yuvraj 132, Collingwood 40)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

In the end, there was no Sachin Tendulkar hundred, no Brian Lara classic. The sun did not shine until it had begun to set and Shane Warne did not bowl. The contemporary cricketers showed the old stagers that reputations count for little. Thomas Lord, a wheeler-dealer who considered moving his now-famous cricket ground for a third time during the 1800s and had to be bought out of his stake, might have approved of the lack of sentiment.

Tendulkar's MCC XI won the match, in honour of the Lord's bicentenary, though the Marylebone Cricket Club was always going to be the winner on this occasion. Warne, the Rest of the World captain who had been feeling the love all week during the build-up, felt something more acute on arriving at the crease to bat, his first delivery a beamer from Brett Lee, his old Australia team-mate, possibly a few clicks slower than in his pomp but still a dangerous prospect.

A broken hand kept Warne off the field during the chase, depriving a capacity crowd of one of the most tantalising of the many sights they came to revel in.

There were still flashes of genius, though the more prosaic business of scoring runs and taking wickets was largely carried out by those still plying their trade. Aaron Finch's unbeaten 181 guided MCC home, trumping a flowing century from Yuvraj Singh. Without Warne, the Rest of the World were quiescent, Paul Collingwood their most penetrative bowler. If Tendulkar had not decorously chosen to rest Saeed Ajmal after his initial burst of 4 for 5, the party may have ended early.

At the start of the MCC innings, having been set a target of 294 on an accommodating pitch, the concourses emptied. "Sachin is about to bat." One punch down the ground from a fractionally full Peter Siddle delivery confirmed the touch was still there. Silence descended when he played back to Muttiah Muralitharan, on 44 from as many balls, and missed. Murali cracked a mischievous grin.

When Collingwood removed Lara and Rahul Dravid with successive deliveries it was left to Finch and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to hammer out victory on the anvil of pragmatism. The romantics may have experienced just a touch of disappointment.

The players took the field in old-fashioned whites and MCC cable-knit sweaters, with only the colours of their caps - Tendulkar's XI in dark blue, Warne's wearing canary yellow - to distinguish sides. While the sky above was grey, Lord's itself was a palette of colour, from elderly gents in egg-and-bacon ties, young men in red trousers and tweed, to windcheater-clad families and numerous fans wearing India shirts.

Lord's is glibly referred to as the home of cricket but there was something especially welcoming about the atmosphere. After 200 years of hosting MCC matches, the doors were thrown wide open.

As exhibition fixtures go, this was one that promised much in the way of artistry. Warne had joked beforehand that he didn't much fancy having another bowl at Tendulkar or Lara - and Lee ensured sure he didn't have to - but a full house was keen to see famous rivals locking horns again, even if the pervasive goodwill inevitably diminished the intensity.

Lee charging in to Virender Sehwag was just the stuff; Finch tossing up his occasional left-arm spin to Collingwood perhaps less so. This was not so much getting the band back together as asking several different bands to recombine and try to master a diverse selection of hits. The innings of Yuvraj and Finch aside, it was not quite "All the Old Showstoppers" by the New Pornographers; but like the Rolling Stones - or the strolling bones - this gig was always going to pull the crowds in.

Before the match had even begun, people thronged the cordoned-off walkway from the Nursery Ground nets, smartphones held aloft in tribute. Lara's passage caused a palpable ripple, before vigorous chants of "Dravid! Dravid!" broke out at the appearance of Sachin's old mate.

The game was hymned by a contented buzz around the ground, the most intense applause reserved for any Tendulkar activity - though the two individual century-makers brought large sections of the crowd to their feet. It was Tendulkar who ended Yuvraj's six-studded stay, having brought himself on to bowl in the last ten overs. After the match, as Tendulkar signed autographs in front of the Tavern Stand, one of the advertising hoardings gave way beneath the press of bodies. No wonder he feels at home here.

There was also a warm reception for Kevin Pietersen, a batsman who craves full-house approbation but whose only England role nowadays is as a member of the The Expendables. A stroke-filled hundred may have caused embarrassment for the ECB on their own patch - even before Andrew Strauss' indiscretion in the Sky commentary box - but Pietersen walked past an Ajmal doosra to be stumped for 10.

As Ajmal ran through the top order, it seemed likely the MCC would have to hastily arrange a beer match to fill the time left in the day (at Lord's, it would of course be a champagne match). Tendulkar took pity and brought on Finch to bowl, easing Yuvraj and Collingwood into a stand that eventually yielded 131.

Lee began proceedings at a sedate 70mph, that winsome smile never far away. Adam Gilchrist's rapier-like flashes through the off side were accompanied by some firm punches from Sehwag - as well as the odd play-and-miss - and the fifty opening stand was raised inside seven overs.

Sehwag, wearing his now customary spectacles, was beaten through the gate as Lee warmed up to medium pace, before Ajmal's introduction triggered a slide to 68 for 5. This may have been a birthday celebration but Ajmal was in no mood to clown around, sinuously defeating each of Gilchrist, Tamim Iqbal, Pietersen and Shahid Afridi in the space of three overs. The situation called for something a little less starry; out strolled "Brigadier Block".

Collingwood was dropped on 29 by a substitute fielder - an MCC Young Cricketer named Jordan Price, who will always be able to tell his grandchildren that he shelled a dolly in front of the grandstand. Yuvraj, still short of his hundred, then survived a thin nick that Chris Read could not hang on to. When a Yuvraj top edge fell between a non-moving Finch and a slow-moving Lara in the covers, the sense that this was a glorified club match returned. But what is life without a little glory?

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Strauss 'mortified' at Pietersen slur

Andrew Strauss, the former England captain, has made a shame-faced public apology to Kevin Pietersen after he was inadvertently caught on air describing him as a "c***" from the back of the TV commentary box at Lord's.

Strauss, part of the commentary team for the MCC's bicentenary celebration match against the Rest of the World, thought he was off air, but the feed was still being broadcast on some channels and viewers using the Fox Sports app in Australia caught the expletive.

It was not long before Strauss' faux pas was being gossiped around the world with former England captain Adam Hollioake one of the first to exclaim with surprise on Facebook.

"I apologise unreservedly, particularly to Kevin Pietersen," Strauss said, as his error became public knowledge. "I am mortified and profusely sorry."

His co-commentator, Michael Atherton, another former England captain, remarked: "I think that's covered it; let's move on." But there will be no moving on for a while as Pietersen's supporters will find just cause to rail against the double standards they perceive to be at the heart of English cricket.

Sky TV also felt obliged to apologise for Strauss' stray remark - although only for the bad language. It tweeted: "Earlier comments were made during a break of play which were heard overseas. We apologise for the language used."

Two years ago, Pietersen famously incurred the ECB's wrath by texting that Strauss was a "doos", an Afrikaans word that strictly speaking means "box" but which has similar connotations to Strauss' remark. Except some linguists might point out that "doos" can also be slang for idiot, whereas c*** pretty much leaves nothing to the imagination.

Pietersen's comment on Strauss came midway through a Test at Headingley against South Africa in 2012, and was made to a South African player who, whether by accident or design, allowed it to reach the public domain. The ECB saw it as evidence of an outright rebellion against an England captain; Strauss has written that he never entirely trusted Pietersen again after that point.

Strauss, twice an Ashes-winning captain, retired following South Africa's 2-0 win in that series. He reflected soon afterwards on the brouhaha in his autobiography, Driving Ambition. He wrote: 'For me, he had crossed the line. He seemed to be at best destabilising and at worst undermining our carefully cultivated team environment."

Both insults were, in essence, private communications that entered the public domain. The difference is that Pietersen and Strauss were team-mates in the first instance, charged with maintaining at least the pretence of unity.

Pietersen's comments effectively cost him his international career. He had to undergo a theatrical "process of reintegration" before he was allowed back into the England fraternity. Then he began to show impatience with the careworn captaincy of Alastair Cook, Strauss' successor, during a demoralising 5-0 whitewash in Australia and he was removed for good at the end of the series with the ECB stating it wanted to rebuild the "team ethic and philosophy".

Paul Downton, the MD of England cricket, has since called Pietersen "a man of too many agendas" and claimed he did not have a single supporter in the side - a claim furiously dismissed by Pietersen.

There were immediate calls from Pietersen supporters for Strauss to suffer the same fate. But Strauss has retired; such an outcome is impossible. 'Then sack him from his Sky contract,' will come the cry. Such a taste for revenge would make the response even more disproportionate, but modern life, with every dot and comma analysed on social media, is laced with a desire for blood.

Predictably, Piers Morgan, chat-show host, former tabloid editor and Pietersen confidant, was the first to do just that. Prior to Strauss' apology, he tweeted: "If Strauss story is true then he'll have to be fired, surely? Or is a commentator calling @KP24 a 'c**t' on air acceptable @SkyCricket?

"After all, Strauss himself axed KP from his England team for allegedly saying similar things about him that weren't even broadcast."

That Pietersen and Strauss, despite their shared South African roots, do not get on is not news. Everybody knew as much. That a stray insult was made when Strauss presumed he was off air would also not normally be news. But any suspicion of double standards in this tawdry, overblown soap opera is news and, as such, Strauss' remarks need to be made public.

When Pietersen, to his horror, was outed in 2012, he tried to influence public opinion by issuing a fulsome apology on YouTube, only to make the ECB even more angry because of his presumption.

Strauss will suffer his shame privately. There will be shame because he knows his public perception will have faltered as a result. There will be shame, too, because he made his slip during the MCC bicentenary match and because as a natural conservative, a proud believer in tradition, to have slipped up at Lord's will feel even worse.

He can no longer hold the moral high ground. Until today, it is a privileged position from where he has observed this whole, shoddy, tiresome business. He is now down in the gutter, wallowing around with the rest of us.

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'Expect Kohli to get at least three hundreds'

Sanjay Manjrekar analyses the strengths and weaknesses of India's middle-order contenders touring England

"He's not prepared to fail"

One of the smartest batsmen around, a lot is riding on the very confident Virat Kohli. With no apparent weakness, he should avoid playing away from his body early on in his innings till his feet start moving well. Given the opposition bowling attack and the kind of form Kohli is in, there should be no surprises if he notches up lots of runs on the tour.

After a dream start to his Test career, Rohit Sharma has had a bit of reality check on the South Africa and New Zealand tours. Maybe he is suffering from insecurity regarding his place in the team, which have led him to misjudge length on certain occasions. Relying more on defence and rotating the strike when early on at the crease should serve him good and if he gets going, he will surely be difficult to stop.

"Vulnerable to getting out lbw"

Ajinkya Rahane shows good balance on the crease and can accelerate at will to score quick runs. Playing on the up, trying to fetch balls outside off stump with loose hands and playing across the line should be avoided to succeed. Given his appetite for big runs, if Rahane gets going early on in the series, he is bound to end up with a very successful one.

"He is still the man to score under pressure"

Compared to other Indian batsmen, MS Dhoni does not seem to have a problem against pace and bounce, which should work in his favour. A known weakness against the ball pitched outside the off stump could be exploited by the opposition, but if Dhoni could rattle bowlers by playing big shots early in his innings, it could get him going.

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Fresh purpose invigorates Poynton

Tom Poynton should have been playing this match. He should have been training hard for the coming three days, big days considering how bleak things have been for Derbyshire of late. The India Test team is in town for a tour game, and this is a great opportunity for the county and its players to be in the news for positive reasons. Derbyshire's 24-year-old wicketkeeper, though, sits on the sidelines, dressed in a blue suit and a striped tie with neatly parted hair.

Yet it is an incredibly good news that Poynton is here. Before the start of the season, on April 4, a Ferrari went off Caldwell Road, near Roliston, and crashed into a tree. The car belonged to Derbyshire's chairman, was being driven by Poynton's father, Keith, with Tom sitting next to him. Keith, a local businessman and a coach at junior levels, a popular figure in Derby and known for his colourful socks, did not survive the crash; Tom was injured so badly he was ruled out of the entire season.

"It's like having your world turned upside down in a moment," Tom says of the accident. One moment, a likeable young wicketkeeper looking forward to a season with a young team trying to get back into Division One of the County Championship, the next a severely injured and bereaved man with no prospects of cricket for a year.

Poynton says there was no point wallowing about what he could not do. It was now about what he could do. So he moved temporarily into the club's management, into the commercial and marketing side of the game. One of his projects is centred on the big fixture against the Indians. He is managing the Cricket Derbyshire India Club project, an initiative "to integrate better with the south-Asian community in Derby", which is estimated to be around 25,000-strong. Before this match, the club organised a dinner event hosted by Isa Guha, had Ravi Shastri down as guest, and are now looking forward to a crowd of at least 3000 at the County Ground.

"What can you do?" Poynton says of the days after the accident. "No point in me sitting and getting down about it. You have to put your energies elsewhere. I simply can't play, whatever I do, however much I want to change the fact, I can't. My energy is better directed to use the opportunity in a different way.

"And the club have given me that, by sort of working behind the scenes in the commercial and marketing side of the game. Which has been a fantastic experience. I am not going to play cricket forever. Nobody is going to play cricket forever. There is a life after cricket, and I have got the opportunity to get that experience now. And that's the way I have got to look at it. I have to turn it into a positive in some sort of way."

There could not have been a more deserving recipient of Poynton's services than Derbyshire cricket. "I wanted to give something back to the club," he says. "The club, during the time of the accident, the chairman, the chief executive, the physio, the support staff, were outstanding. The chief executive, Simon Storey, came to the hospital with me on the night that it happened because he lost his father when he was young himself. That says something about the characters involved at the club.

"I know that things aren't necessarily going brilliantly on the pitch at the moment, but I know that the support staff and the management that are involved are absolutely the right guys. Complete credit to Derbyshire as a county and to themselves. I have no doubt that it will be translated on to the pitch in a few years."

The experience been enriching for Poynton. "It has been a fantastic experience," he says. "You now see what goes behind the scenes on a game day. Normally I turn up at a different time, I will train, I will warm up. The passion that the backroom staff show, which I have witnessed now, is quite touching. It is not always that the guys perhaps appreciate or are aware of how much effort goes in on their behalf. I am going to filter the experience down to the younger players of the team. I think it will just make them more rounded."

Talking about "youngsters", about helping them become more rounded, engaging fans who have turned up to watch India practise, Poynton sounds a man much wiser than a typical 24-year-old athlete. Sometimes life leaves you no choice but to become wise.

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Indians prepare for another gentle workout

Just a week ago, Rahul Dravid was a former India captain and a cricket pundit. He was speaking about the need for intense and competitive warm-up games. Although Dravid mentioned only the recent trend of counties putting up their 2nd XIs, it has not helped that India insist on using their whole squad as opposed to picking an XI, robbing these matches of their first-class status. A week later, Dravid is now part of the support staff, a batting consultant in the lead-up to the first Test, which begins in Nottingham on July 9.

Dravid's presence in Derby on the eve of the warm-up game against Derbyshire is unlikely to make the game any more intense. India will play all their 18 players, with only 11 batting and 11 on the field at any given time, and the game is against Derbyshire, who might not need to play a second team to bring the intensity down: they are a place from the bottom of the second division, lost three players last week, and were pummeled by Durham in a Twenty20 on Sunday.

Yet there is an incentive for India to get their intensity up. In their previous tour game, against Leicestershire, who are placed bottom of Division Two, their bowlers conceded 349 for 5 in 62 overs. Two of the five wickets were "retired out". Ishant Sharma and Pankaj Singh were the only two to get wickets. Even as the pressure grows on England after their defeat to Sri Lanka, the focus in the visitors' camp is squarely on their bowlers.

With these quick bowlers, much maligned and missing their bowling captain Zaheer Khan, the intensity was high during India's only training session between the two tour games, on Monday. The lot of them reported at the ground an hour before the rest of the team, along with Duncan Fletcher-led support staff, Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara. There were no batsmen to bowl to, but the purpose of coming early was to put them through an endurance test. All of them had to do five laps of the ground, without stopping to catch a breath or walking in between before picking up again. Times were kept, charts prepared for Fletcher to examine properly. Almost all of the bowlers seemed winded by the effort. There was no respite, though: after a break for lunch and a team meeting, they went through a full bowling session at the nets.

Mohammed Shami, though, was not part of the endurance test as he worked separately with physio Evan Speechly and strength and conditioning coach Sudarshan VP. His workout was not nearly as intense as the others', he didn't bowl much, but there were no injury concerns to report. Shikhar Dhawan, who had taken a blow and retired hurt in Leicester, was back fit too.

After this game, India move to Nottingham for their preferred mode of preparation, four days of intense training sessions, before the series begins.

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