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China will be taking part in the Asian Championships in Malaysia this July – a first such women’s tournament organised by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) – along with Nepal, Hong Kong, Thailand, Bangladesh, Singapore, UAE and the hosts. Rashid Khan, the former Pakistan fast-medium bowler who the ACC brought on board to train players in China, was surprised by the potential that Chinese women showed in playing cricket.”The girls in Asia seem almost the same,” Khan told the . “It’s not like the boys, where India and Pakistan are too strong for China to catch up in a short time. I want to give them my experience. That is my main focus here. They are playing cricket for the first time and they play in such a good manner. They are very talented.” With regard to men’s game China is cricket’s next big destination. But the spurt of interest among women in the country is unexpected though heartening.The Chinese Cricket Association (CCA), which joined the ICC and the ACC in 2004, hopes to set up a women’s national team soon and has slated Khan as the head coach of the side. “From my point of view, few countries are developing well in the women’s cricket,” said Liang Guanghua, the director of the Business Cooperation Committee of CCA. “The situations in India, Australia and England are a bit better.”Khan will hold a 40-day training camp at Shenzhen to prepare for the Asian Championships in July. “For me, every match is like I want to win the championships,” said Khan. The foremost thing that players needed to work on, Khan felt, was their batting.In November 2006 Khan was appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board to train young cricketers in China. The move was part of a joint effort by the ICC and the ACC to give a fillip to cricket in the country and the ACC teamed up with the ICC to provide US$400,000 to build the cricket infrastructure.A sign of cricket’s growing popularity among women in China is that there are 19 teams in the women’s National Championships this year as opposed to only six last year when the tournament was launched. Khan provides more evidence of the same saying that girls in China are keener to learn sports than boys. “They are very tough. In the physical side, they are better than Pakistan’s girls,” he said. Khan coached the China Under-15 in the ACC Trophy in December the same year and was previously junior selector and manager of Pakistan’s U-19 teams.Guanghua and Khan have an ambitious ten-year plan to make the women’s team internationally competitive. “It is a good chance for us. Most of the countries are at the same starting line.” But first there are obstacles that need to be removed. “There aren’t enough facilities here. CCA has to work hard to solve this problem,” said Khan.Guanghua added that more schools had to be encouraged to set up cricket teams and join the ICC’s promotion programme. “What has delighted me in the past years is that students are showing unexpected interest in the sport. I am sure in the next year we will see more schools in the national tournament.”

“They are keen to learn,” Khan said. “They are very much looking forward to cricket in China. The development is not very good yet, but they are hard working and there are many committed people.”The country is being looked as a potential golden goose and the ICC and ACC expect great returns on their investment. “Global revenues for cricket will increase by 30-40% in my estimation once China becomes an established cricketing nation, either as a venue, a participant or a breeding ground for future cricketers in the decades ahead,” said Syed Ashraful Huq, the ACC chief executive.Meanwhile, Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, foresees China playing the World Cup in 2015. “I have seen 15-year-olds in Beijing who, if given every chance to continue their progress, will become very good cricketers,” Speed said.

Durham 406 and 205 for 6 dec (Benkenstein 86*) beat Yorkshire 194 and 122 by 295 runs
ScorecardDurham completed a massive 295-run victory over Yorkshire with a day to spare. With conditions helpful to the bowlers throughout, victory was always likely once they had built a large lead , but another excellent spell by Graham Onions ensured the players – and spectators – could take Saturday off.Yorkshire began well enough, winning the pre-lunch session as they fought back with determination. They were strengthened by the arrival of Matthew Hoggard, omitted from Lord’s, who replaced Ben Sanderson, who might have been given a little more chance to display his talent.Yorkshire claimed an early wicket, with Tim Bresnan trapping the makeshift opener Ben Harmison lbw for 6. He and Hoggard used the conditions very well, beating the bat frequently, with Bresnan again showing persistence and accuracy. The seamers worked their way through the Durham batting, with Neil McKenzie again failing; he played a poor stroke to be caught at third slip off Hoggard.Six wickets were down for 112, before Michael Di Venuto, the hero of the first innings but with an injured finger, was lured to the middle. Dale Benkenstein, the one early batsman to look comfortable, was still there, and finally Durham had found a pair to stick together. With increasing fluency they added 93, at which point Benkenstein declared to give his bowlers an hour to bowl before tea at the expense of having a chance to reach his own century.Yorkshire needed 418 to win, but the pre-tea spell settled the outcome. Steve Harmison was less wayward than in the first innings, but again Onions was the destroyer supreme. He found a wicked length and looked every bit as dangerous as he had the first time round.In his first over he brought a ball back sharply to trap Adam Lyth lbw, stuck on the crease; in the same over he came very close to winning a similar appeal against Anthony McGrath, and two overs later repeated it successfully; then he had Jacques Rudolph beaten and edging to the keeper. None of these three scored, and Yorkshire were shattered at 10 for 3.Andrew Gale tried to counter-attack, with some success, scoring 19, but then flashed unwisely to be caught by the keeper off Harmison on the stroke of tea . Joe Sayers, who had managed to avoid Onions much of the time, hung in with determination to see off the front-line bowlers; then, perhaps relaxing when Ben Harmison replaced his brother, edged an innocuous-looking ball to be well caught by Kyle Coetzer at third slip. The wicket just followed the posting of the 50, which came up in the 25th over.Adil Rashid and Gerard Brophy both threw away their wickets to innocuous deliveries, but Bresnan again showed his fighting spirit, while Darren Gough hit lustily for 18 before pulling a ball from Mark Davies on to his stumps. The extra half-hour was taken, and Harmison wrapped things by yorking Deon Kruis, uprooting his off stump. Bresnan, putting his team-mates to shame by performing well in all four innings of the match, walked off undefeated with 32.Onions’ figures of 3 for 23 quite fail to reflect his destructive bowling; on this form, he is a bowler of true Test-match quality. Harmison’s 3 for 39 will have encouraged him. Yorkshire’s first Championship defeat of the season was a humiliating one.

Spectators at the Gabba will not be evicted for shouting no-ball when Muttiah Muralitharan bowls in the first Test but they will be removed immediately if they start monkey chants. Andrew Symonds was subjected to the animal taunts during the one-day tour of India last month and while Cricket Australia does not expect any reprisals it has adopted strong anti-racism measures for the series against Sri Lanka and India.Comments from Ricky Ponting about poor crowd behaviour will be shown on big screens at the Gabba and 70 closed-circuit television cameras will be used to monitor the spectators. A “dob in a yob” programme is also available for fans to report any offensive actions, but that won’t include screaming no-ball at Murali, who was called for throwing at the MCG in 1995.Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, said he was not aware of any racist behaviour directed at the Sri Lankans on his previous tours. “Crowds have been tough on certain players, but we’ve never had an incident,” he said. “Racism is something I firmly believe is not part of cricket. People should have the freedom to express themselves in the middle no matter their background or religion.”Peter Young, Cricket Australia’s anti-racism officer, said players “expect to cop an earful” from the crowds in Australia. “It’s what happens in any major sport here,” he said. “But we’re not expecting a problem with racism.”Cricket Australia has met with Sri Lankan officials and adopted the stance following discussions with the ICC. “There is no place for racism in cricket,” Young said, “and we are implementing a global policy.”

Scorecard
Greg Thompson, the Ireland captain, took 5 for 26 from his ten overs as his team completed a 69-run win over Bermuda in Johor to head into the 13th place playoff final against Zimbabwe on Saturday.Set a target of 237, Bermuda lost their openers – Regino Smith and Pierre Smith – for just six runs on the board. Runs came at a slow trickle, and when Deunte Darrell fell for a 49-ball 7, Bermuda were slagging behind the required-rate at 59 from 23 overs.Bermuda captain Rodney Trott and Malachi Jones, their opening bowler, made a recovery with a 65-run stand for the fourth wicket. They took their side to 122 in the 32nd over, before the legspinner Thompson struck. Trott was dismissed for 53, which came off 73 deliveries, while Jones made a brisk 49 off 40.Thompson ended any hopes of a Bermuda win with three more wickets, which left them at 144 for 8, needing 93 more at nearly nine an over. Bermuda’s innings folded up for 167, Thompson the wrecker-in-chief with figures of 10-1-26-5.Trott was also the pick of the bowlers for Bermuda, taking 4 for 37 as Ireland made 236. James Hall scored an attacking 75 and added 137 runs for the third wicket with Paul Stirling, who made 59.Ireland batsman Christopher Dougherty was given an official reprimand by match referee Mike Procter, after being found guilty under Level 1 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct. Bowled by Trott for 25, a disappointed Dougherty knocked the stumps with his bat before heading to the dressing room.

More than a year since they were suspended from international cricket, the USA have named their side for their comeback in the ICC World Cricket League Division Five which takes place in Jersey next month. The side will be captained by Steve Messiah, who led them during their last outing in August 2006.The USA were, at that time, in the World Cricket League Division One, and were it not for the suspension imposed by the ICC they would almost certainly have been in the mix at the ICC World Cup Qualifiers next year. As it stands, they will need to win promotion from Division Five and Four and then win the Division Three event next January to be invited to the qualifying tournament for the 2011 World Cup.The event in Jersey will also feature Afghanistan, Bahamas, Botswana, Germany, Japan, Jersey, Mozambique, Nepal, Norway, Singapore and Vanuatu. The top two sides will be promoted to Division Four which will be held in September.USA squad Steve Massiah (capt), Imran Awan, Orlando Baker, Lennox Cush, Rahul Kukreti, Rashard Marshall, Mohamed Masood, Sushil Nadkarni, Steve Pitter, Niraj Shah, Kwawaja Shuja, Wahab Syed, Aditya Thyagarajan, Carl Wright,.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Magnificent half-centuries from Shoaib Malik, the captain, and Younis Khanpropelled Pakistan to a formidable total and a miserly three-wicket spellfrom Shahid Afridi then choked the life out of the Sri Lankan chase asthey romped to a facile 33-run victory at the Wanderers. Sri Lanka hadstarted superbly, with Dilhara Fernando producing an impeccable spell of 2for 17, but their subsequent nightmare was best summed up by the plight ofthe legendary Sanath Jayasuriya, pummelled for 64 in his four overs andthen knocked over for just five.Malik and Younis added 101 at a tremendous clip after Pakistan werestruggling at 33 for 3. Once again, they gotno sort of start, with Salman Butt and Imran Nazir failing to make animpression yet again. Nazir pulled Fernando for a six behind square, butwas utterly clueless about a slower ball from Chaminda Vaas that he gentlybunted to cover.Butt got another start, but was cleaned up by a tremendous delivery fromFernando that was timed at 144.5 km/hr. And after Mohammad Hafeez had comein and clipped Vaas for two fours, Fernando delivered another scorcher, ayorker that crashed into leg stump at searing pace.But with Vaas bowling out and Fernando taken out of the attack after threesuperb overs, the pressure eased. Younis got going with a pull for fouroff Lasith Malinga, and Malik greeted Jayasuriya’s entrance with a hugeswipe that just cleared the man at long-on. Even then, Pakistan hadreached just 69 at the halfway stage, scarcely the sort of total thatwould have given Mahela Jayawardene too many headaches.It started to unravel for the Lankans after that though, with GayanWijekoon and Jayasuriya repeatedly lofted through or over midwicket as therun-rate mounted alarmingly. Younis struck a couple of meaty sixes overmidwicket on his way to a 32-ball 50, and Malik followed suit in just 27deliveries courtesy some scorching strokes down the ground and through theleg side.Both men departed lofting Malinga into the deep, but there was still timefor a 17-run cameo from Afridi, and a crisp contribution fromMisbah-ul-Haq, who followed up his splendid knock against India will twomighty sixes in Jayasuriya’s final over.Sri Lanka’s pursuit of 190 started in disastrous fashion, with UpulTharanga top-edging Mohammad Asif to third man before he’d opened hisaccount, and there was further drama in the opening over when a Jayasuriyamiscue was dropped by Sohail Tanvir at short fine leg.Tanvir redeemed himself in the best possible fashion though, yorkingJaysuriya with his very first delivery. That left Kumar Sangakkara andJayawardene to rebuild the innings, and Sangakkara set about it with amagnificent six over backward point off Asif. His defiance didn’t lastthough, and an unfortunate dismissal – bowled off the arm while going forthe pull – really appeared to have put the skids on Sri Lanka.

But after Jayawardene clipped Tanvir for a beautiful six over square leg,Chamara Silva concentrated his energy on Asif’s final over. A pull and acut started it, and when Asif bowled a no-ball, the free hit was hookedfor six over fine leg. With Shoaib Malik watching frustrated, Asif wasrather harshly called for another no-ball. This time, Jayawardene edgedthe free hit for four as 22 came from the over.Chamara Silva greeted Mohammad Hafeez with a sweep for four, but it wassoon apparent that the slow bowlers would be Pakistan’s trump card. BothHafeez and Shahid Afridi gave next to nothing away, and the pressurefinally told when Jayawardene mowed an Afridi delivery to Umar Gul at deepmidwicket. He had made 28, adding 53 with Silva.Silva was the last hope, but after heaving and then deftly cutting Afridifor two fours to move to 38, he was flummoxed by a full delivery thatcrashed into the stumps. Jehan Mubarak and Gayan Wijekoon both failed totrouble the scorers, and the Pakistani tactic of saving Gul for the endwas amply justified as the match was efficiently closed out.Tillakaratne Dilshan took three sixes from the penultimate over bowled byHafeez, but that was of no more than nuisance value after an emphaticstatement of intent from Malik’s men. For Sri Lanka, it was a rude wake-upcall, and they will now most likely have to beat Australia to make thelast four.

An unbroken 56 run ninth wicket stand between Vijay Prajapati andRajiv Dutta lifted Tripura to 213/8 on the first day of their EastZone Ranji Trophy clash with Bihar at the Keenan Stadium inJamshedpur. Play was called off five overs before the scheduled closebecause of bad light.Bihar won the toss, put the visitors in and quickly took control,Dheeraj Kumar bowling Pranab Debnath with the fourth ball of the day.The wickets which fell regularly were shared among five bowlers. Thestoutest resistance was provided by Mridule Gupta who swiftly moved to61 (84 balls, 9 fours) before having his stumps rattled by seamerMihir Diwakar. The end of the innings appeared near when the eighthwicket fell in the 58th over but Prajapati (37) and Dutta (23) heldout for the last hour and a half.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:39

Manjrekar: India should have eyed 350-400 on this pitch

Considering they were effectively operating with a three-man attack, South Africa did incredibly well to take seven wickets on a pitch that was better for batting than the one in Nagpur. However, the surface was not docile enough to afford India the luxury of facing an inept fourth bowler, and the lack of support for South Africa’s frontline meant the batsmen could score freely when the first-choice bowlers were taken off or were tiring.India ended the day on 231 for 7, the highest total of the series, but they might have struggled to make 200 had Imran Tahir not been in awful form. The two new bowlers in South Africa’s XI, offspinner Dane Piedt and seamer Kyle Abbott, were incisive and displayed impressive stamina, taking four and three wickets apiece, and though Morne Morkel did not strike he offered control. Tahir, however, was bowled for only seven overs on the first day because he conceded 36 runs, serving up a buffet of full tosses and long-hops. The real damage to South Africa was in the overs Tahir could not bowl, because the rest were less threatening to face and easier to score off as they tired: Piedt bowled 34 overs, Morkel 17, and Abbott 17 for only 23 runs.The only Indian batsman good enough to battle through the hard periods and cash in on the good times was Ajinkya Rahane, who achieved his maiden half-century in India in his seventh innings and was approaching a fifth Test hundred, when bad light ended play six overs before stumps. His brisk partnership of 70 with Virat Kohli steadied India after a top-order wobble, and his rear-guard stands with Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin ensured India survived the day. A first-innings total of 250 will prove challenging on this surface, especially if a team has four reliable bowlers to defend it.Batting was difficult in the morning, when the ball was new and there was some moisture in the pitch, but Shikhar Dhawan managed to anchor India through the first session for the loss of only one wicket. He took 18 balls to score his first run. India scored only 6 in the first 30 minutes, and 16 in the first hour.Abbott had figures of 8-3-11-0 in his first spell; the variable bounce made facing him trickier. One good-length ball to Dhawan passed the off stump a little above the knee. Another short-of-a-length delivery climbed on M Vijay and was collected by wicketkeeper Dane Vilas at head height, but the ball immediately after kept low, forcing a crouching defence from the batsman. Vijay was later smashed on the right elbow by one that rose from a length, and wrung his hand in pain.Abbott had Vijay caught at slip in the 12th over but he had over-stepped, his foot erring by the smallest of margins. Vijay scored only two more runs, though, before he nicked a delivery from Piedt that drifted away from him but did not spin, to Hashim Amla at first slip.In the third over after lunch, Piedt broke Dhawan’s resistance with a classic one-two combo. The first ball drew Dhawan forward and spun away from the left-hander from around the wicket, passing the outside edge. The next delivery slid on with the arm, beating Dhawan’s inside edge as he played for the turn, trapping him lbw. Abbott then found the gap between Pujara’s bat and pad, the delivery angling in to uproot off stump after grazing the inside edge. India had gone from 60 for 1 to 66 for 3.In the middle period of the second session, however, Rahane and Kohli batted superbly, putting away loose deliveries and taking frequent singles to ensure pressure did not build. Their 50-run partnership came off 67 deliveries and they looked set to cash in on South Africa’s weak support bowlers, when Kohli suffered a freak dismissal.Kohli slog-swept Piedt, making clean contact. Instead of racing to the boundary, though, the ball thudded into the thigh of the fielder at short leg and lobbed back up towards the pitch. The wicketkeeper Dane Vilas reacted quickly and dived forward, taking the catch at full length and ensuring that Temba Bavuma, who was hopping about in pain, had something to celebrate.That wicket resulted in two more in quick time. Rohit Sharma was dropped at slip by Amla off Abbott on 0, but two balls later he tried to slog Piedt over deep midwicket, and got a leading edge to Tahir at long-on. Abbott then bowled Saha off the inside edge in the final over before tea, reducing India to 139 for 6. Rahane went into the break on 31 off 62 balls, having scored only one run off the 20 balls he faced since Kohli’s dismissal.India’s best session was the one after tea, during which they scored 92 runs for the loss of Ravindra Jadeja. Rahane and Jadeja added 59 for the seventh wicket, and scored freely against a tiring Piedt. Rahane slog-swept and pulled the offspinner for a six and a four in one over to pass 50, while Jadeja punished loose deliveries from Tahir and Duminy.South Africa had two moments of misfortune, too, after Jadeja was caught deftly by Dean Elgar at midwicket for 24. Ashwin was given not out when Piedt appealed for a bat-pad catch though the ball had brushed his glove, and then Rahane, on 78, was dropped by Amla at slip, capping a frustrating day in the field for the South African captain. Both those moments deprived Piedt of a fifth wicket, and allowed India to end the day in a far better position than they should have been.

South Zone

Hyderabad upset Tamil Nadu by 36 runs at the Rajinder Singh Institute Ground in Bangalore to make the knockouts. Hyderabad’s 333 for 9 was set up by an opening stand of 151 between T Suman and Ravi Teja. Suman hit 122 off 117 with 17 boundaries while Teja contributed 69 off 78. There were three cameos down the order that lifted Hyderabad well above 300. Tamil Nadu began with a big opening partnership as well, when S Anirudha and Abhinav Mukund put on 135 in quick time. Anirudha’s dismissal for 77 off 70 led to wickets falling regularly even as Mukund kept scoring at the other end. It was Teja who did the damage with his legbreaks, taking his maiden List A five-for. His victims included S Badrinath, Arun Karthik and eventually, Mukund, who was the sixth man to be dismissed with the score on 257. Teja also took the last wicket to fall as Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 297 in the 48th over to be knocked out of the tournament.

Robin Uthappa made a century and Abrar Kazi took four wickets as Karnataka finished on top of the South Zone points table with a 56-run defeat of Andhra at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Uthappa, who cracked 104 off 95, added 78 upfront with Mayank Agarwal (42) and 117 with Ganesh Satish (67). Karnataka were in a dominant position at 195 for 1 in the 31st over but fell apart after Uthappa’s dismissal . They managed 275 in the end but it was to prove more than enough. Only opener Prasanth Kumar (61) challenged Karnataka’s attack as the rest subsided in several wasted starts. Kazi ended with 4 for 33 as Andhra were dismissed for 219.

Goa beat Kerala by 98 runs in an inconsequential match at the Aditya Academy Ground in Bangalore. Reagan Pinto (65) and Rohit Asnodkar (45) laid the base for Robin D’Souza to smash an unbeaten 44 off 29 which took Goa to 250 for 8. Kerala had a disastrous start to their chase when they were reduced to 26 for 4. Robert Fernandez (52) and P Anthaf (44) took the score past 100 but once they were dismissed, Kerala crumbled to be bowled out for 152 in the 40th over. Sher Yadav took 4 for 21 for Goa.

North Zone

Delhi secured progress from North Zone with what ended up being a tense win against Haryana at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Delhi were cruising at 174 for 3 in the 41st over, chasing 214, but a couple of wickets caused a slowdown, and the game went into the final over before captain Rajat Bhatia struck the winning runs to maintain Delhi’s 100% record in this year’s tournament. It did not look like the game would be that close when Mohit Sharma was in the middle. He scored 68 off 65 balls, and after a slow start seemed to have put Delhi on course for an easy win. A couple of strikes from Haryana kept them in the game but their total of 213 was not enough.The below-par total was a result of Haryana losing three wickets in the first 20 overs, and their middle order not being able to accelerate. Parvinder Awana took two early wickets, and then returned to take another, to finish with figures of 3 for 31 from his 10 overs, with three maidens. Sachin Rana and Rahul Dewan put together a partnership of 75 to help Haryana recover from the early losses, but the runs came slowly. Haryana left the acceleration too later – Kuldeep Hooda played a couple of big shots right at the end – and their total was not big enough.

Punjab gave themselves a good chance of qualifying for the next round, with a 131-run hiding of Services, at the Model Sports Complex in Delhi, that earned them a bonus point. It was a comprehensive performance from Punjab: the top order fired to get them to a total of 288 for 6, and the bowlers skittled Services for 157. Gurkirat Ahluwalia, playing only his fifth List A game, scored 108 off 103 balls, and was given company first by Ravi Inder Singh, who scored 51, and then India Under-19 star Mandeep Singh, who got 62 off 65 balls.Services were out of the contest as early as 10.3 overs into the chase, by when they had slipped to 23 for 3. Ravi Inder Singh kept the middle order in check with his offspin, and finished with 3 for 38. Services lumbered to 157 in 43 overs before being bowled out.

Jammu & Kashmir’s winless run continued as they lost to Himachal Pradesh by three wickets at the Model Sports Club in Delhi. J & K did well to get back into the game, after Himachal were 152 for 3 chasing 212, and pushed the game till the penultimate over. Left-arm spinner Raman Dutta took 3 for 32 and helped make the game close, but Himachal’s top three had done enough to ensure the target was achieved. J & K had lost wickets regularly in the first innings with No. 10 Ram Dayal top-scoring with 34 not out off 25 balls. The wickets were shared around by Himachal’s bowlers. Rahul Singh was the most successful, taking 3 for 39.

Central Zone

A century by Shivakant Shukla helped Railways beat Rajasthan in Nagpur and finish top of the Central Zone table. Shukla’s 122 guided Railways’ chase of 246 and got them home with three overs and seven wickets to spare. Rajasthan lost early wickets after being put in but Robin Bist and Puneet Yadav helped them recover. Yadav’s 81 came off 91 balls, but Bist took 110 balls to reach 74, which meant Rajasthan’s run-rate did not rise much above four till the 40th over. Yadav and Raman Chahar accelerated towards the end but the total of 245 was not enough to challenge Railways, who finished the group stage with a 100% record.

A 37-run ninth wicket partnership gave Vidarbha a two-wicket win against Madhya Pradesh at Jamtha, but MP still qualified ahead of Vidarbha on account of having scored more bonus points in the group stages. Urvesh Patel was Vidarbha’s hero, as he helped them recover from 144 for 6 to chase 234 in 44.5 overs. Amol Ubarhande had given Vidarbha a platform with a half-century, but his dismissal in the 22nd over started a slide. Urvesh Patel stayed solid at one end as Vidarbha slipped to 163 for 7 and then 197 for 8. He found support in Nos. 9 and 10, and moved to 86 not out to take his team to victory. MP had reached 233 thanks to Rameez Khan’s 97, and though they lost they are still in the tournament.*

West Zone

Yusuf Pathan smashed ten sixes in making an unbeaten hundred as Baroda beat Saurashtra by 52 runs at the Bandra Kurla Complex ground in Mumbai. Yusuf built on the start given by Kedar Devdhar and Aditya Waghmode who put on 75 upfront. There weren’t any big contributions from the middle order apart from Yusuf, who kept hitting sixes all around the ground. He was finally bowled on 114 off 78 deliveries with six fours and ten sixes. Baroda set a stiff target of 316 and Munaf Patel immediately jolted Saurasthra, bowling Sagar Jogiyani off his fourth delivery which jagged in from short of a length. Shitanshu Kotak and Cheteshwar Pujara could not carry on for long but Sheldon Jackson kept Saurashtra in the game with his maiden List A hundred. Jackson benefitted from a few dropped chances but did not back off from playing his strokes in making 117 off 120 with seven fours and five sixes. As with Yusuf, there wasn’t much help for Jackson from the rest of the line-up and Saurashtra were dismissed for 263 in the 45th over. Left-arm spinners Bhargav Bhatt and Swapnil Singh finished with three wickets each.

Ankit Bawne and Akshay Darekar starred as Maharashtra defeated Mumbai by 15 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. Bawne made an unbeaten 93 to take Maharashtra to a competitive 254 for 8. Sangram Atitkar chipped in with 54. Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar took two wickets each for Mumbai. Mumbai’s top order failed again with only Nayar (42) managing to make more than 20. Anupam Sanklecha and Darekar soon had Mumbai reeling at 130 for 6 before Iqbal Abdulla and Ankeet Chavan started the repair job. The duo hit fifties to take Mumbai past 200 but Darekar had both batsmen caught by Nikhil Paradkar and dismissed Kshemal Waingankar for a duck to end the innings on 239 in the 49th over. With this result, though, Maharashtra and Mumbai have both progressed to the knockouts.

East Zone

Assam entered the knockouts with a 46-run victory over Jharkhand at Eden Gardens. Dheeraj Jadhav made yet another century this season and R Sathish was not far behind with a quick 82 as Assam surged to 301 for 9. While Jadhav was relatively patient in his 107 off 120, Sathish clubbed nine boundaries in racing to 82 off 59. Shiv Gautam and Saurabh Tiwary did for Jharkhand what Jadhav and Sathish had done for Assam. Gautam struck 124 off 129 while Tiwary made 76 off 83 in helping Jharkhand recover from 27 for 2. The rest of the line-up, though, did not turn up and the third-highest score by a Jharkhand batsman was just 11. Deepak Gohain led Assam’s assault with 4 for 46 while Abu Nechim, back after injuring himself during the Duleep Trophy semi-final against North Zone, claimed 3 for 68.

Bengal also made the knockouts from East Zone with a 30-run win over Tripura in a low-scoring game at the Jadavpur University Complex in Kolkata. Wriddhiman Saha held a faltering innings together with a patient 66 after Rana Dutta and Sanjay Majumder had rocked the Bengal top order. Saha took Bengal to 198 in the end. Laxmi Shukla and Sanjib Sanyal grabbed four wickets apiece in Tripura’s chase which seemed to be over at 80 for 8 in the 22nd over. Manisankar Murasingh (66) and Dutta (24 not out) more than doubled the score, though, in an 86-run partnership to bring the visitors back. Sanyal ensured Bengal would come out on top when he had Murasingh caught in the 37th over. The innings ended on 168 in the next over when Bengal captain Sourav Ganguly trapped Majumder lbw. Ganguly had gone lbw as well, for 8.*February 27, 2012 9:49 GMT: This report originally said Vidarbha had qualified ahead of Madhya Pradesh from Central Zone. It has been corrected.

The confusion surrounding Praveen Kumar, the Uttar Pradesh allrounder, has been put to rest with the player confirming that he was joining the Bangalore Royal Challengers for the forthcoming Indian Premier League.Both Delhi and Bangalore had claimed they had snapped Kumar but he clarified to Cricinfo that he would join Bangalore franchise for US$ 300,000. Rajeev Shukla, a vice-president of the Indian board, had said Kumar was to join the Delhi Daredevils but TA Sekar, the cricket operations manager for the Delhi franchise, also confirmed the same.It is learnt that Kumar was first signed up by Bangalore before Delhi entered the picture with a bigger offer. The Bangalore franchise objected and raised a complaint with the IPL governing council. The IPL then stepped in and said that the initial agreement had to be upheld and Bangalore decided to match Delhi’s price and rope in Kumar.Kumar is currently part of India’s one-day squad that’s taking part in the CB Series in Australia. He was the only member of the squad not part of the 77 players included in the IPL pool. Kumar’s stocks rose after his fine domestic performances this season and the fact that he fell in the Under-22 category added to his demand.