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Western Storm 38 for 3 vs South East Stars – match abandonedTorrential rain washed out all hopes of a positive result between SE Stars and Western Storm in their Bank Holiday Monday clash at Beckenham.Only six overs were possible in which time the visitors reached 38 for 3 before the heavens opened, drenching the outfield and leaving pools of water on the bowlers’ run-ups.Umpires James Tredwell and Fiona Richards gave the ground every chance to recover, calling for a 4.45pm inspection, but a further shower left them no alternative but to abandon the game. Both sides take two points meaning Stars are still unbeaten while Storm are yet to win in the campaign.In the little play before the rain there was a lovely moment for Tilly Corteen-Coleman and a dazzling piece of fielding from Stars’ all-rounder Paige Scholfield.England U19 slow left-arm spinner Corteen-Coleman, currently on a pay as you play contract with Stars gave the hosts the perfect start, bowling Alex Griffiths with the first ball of the game.Shortly afterwards, Tash Farrant removed Emma Corney, the batter’s attempted pull shot coming off the toe end of the bat for Phoebe Franklin to take a good catch falling forward at mid-wicket.Then just before the rain arrived, Niamh Holland, who’d struck some fine boundaries square of the wicket chanced her arm on a short single to Scholfield and paid the price, the South African pulling off a direct hit despite only having one stump to aim at.

Two great spinners and their hugely accurate understudy pitting their skills against one of the slowest Indian Test pitches of recent times. A debutant and a No. 11 joining forces to try and eke out a draw. Nervous glances at light-meter readings.

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All these ingredients came together in a dramatic final session as an engrossing Test match between the No. 1 and 2 teams in the world concluded with bad light ending play 12 minutes before the scheduled close, with India one wicket from victory.And while the light situation may have helped them, New Zealand had to earn their great escape, with Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel seeing out 52 balls in a tense, unbroken last-wicket stand.They may have stopped just short of bowling India to a win, but R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel put in a tremendous effort in challenging conditions. The fifth-day pitch in Kanpur showed little sign of deterioration, and its slowness and lack of carry continued to negate the threat of its low bounce. There wasn’t a single bat-pad catch among the 36 wickets that fell over the five days, and only one was a catch in the slips – that too to a helmeted slip fielder stationed unusually close to the bat.It came down to how well the spinners could attack the stumps, and few do this as well as Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar. India needed six wickets at the start of the final session, and they grabbed five – all lbw or bowled – with Jadeja striking three times with quick, stump-to-stump balls on a perfect length laden with the threat of natural variation that could test either edge of the bat.He had removed Ross Taylor on the stroke of tea with one that slid on with the arm, and six overs into the final session he took out Kane Williamson – who saw out 112 balls to make 24 – with another low skidder that New Zealand’s captain played back to. Around these two key dismissals, New Zealand also lost Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell – who was bowled when a defensive shot rolled back onto his stumps off a footmark – Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee one after another, leaving India one wicket from victory with more than 40 minutes still remaining, in theory. One good ball was all they needed, but on this day it wasn’t to be.The final moments in Kanpur were quite gripping indeed•BCCI

Ravindra’s batting talent had won him a spot ahead of another allrounder who bowls left-arm spin in Mitchell Santner, and a left-arm seamer in Neil Wagner. The first four days had brought Ravindra no wickets in 16 overs, and a first-innings score of 13.Now, however, was his time. Jadeja had bowled him with a ripper out of the footmarks in the first innings, and he alternated between flighted balls in that area and quicker ones at the stumps. Ashwin kept switching from over the wicket to around to try and mess with his alignment. Ravindra, though, showed he had the judgment of length and the footwork to be able to survive this examination, and got the little bit of luck that any batter in his situation would need, particularly when a shooter from Jadeja snuck under the bottom of his vertical bat and hit his back pad. Nitin Menon gave him out on the field, but a review showed the ball had struck him outside the line of off stump.Ajaz, meanwhile, showed he could defend, keeping out 23 balls. The closest India came against him was when an Ashwin carrom ball from over the wicket straightened past his inside edge to hit his pad, but their review of the not-out decision showed the ball had pitched marginally outside leg stump.There was probably less than an inch in it, but such were the margins of this Test match.As big a role as Ravindra and Ajaz played in saving the game, the result was also hugely down to Tom Latham and the nightwatchman Will Somerville, who batted out the entire first session in a second-wicket stand lasting 32.1 overs.Latham carried on from where he left off in the first innings, batting in a bubble of pared-down efficiency, trusting in his back-foot game, defending right under his eyes, and shelving almost every shot other than the clip off the legs and the sweep. Apart from one failed and slightly desperate review from India – when Jadeja turned one sharply to beat his inside edge and strike his back pad well outside the line of off stump – India barely ever breached that bubble.Tom Latham and nightwatchman Will Somerville put up a 76-run second-wicket stand•BCCI

Somerville played the part of annoying nightwatchman to perfection, frustrating India by facing, and surviving, more balls than his top-order partner. While India caused him problems – as a control percentage of 71 would suggest – they didn’t translate into clear chances. Umesh and Ishant Sharma found his outside edge twice each, but none of them carried to the cordon.After all their pre-lunch frustrations, it took India just one ball of the second session to break the partnership. Umesh began from around the wicket to Somerville with short leg and leg gully in place. The short ball came as expected, and Somerville took on the hook only to hit it uppishly to Shubman Gill sprinting in from long leg.That was the start of an engrossing six-over spell from Umesh, who attacked the stumps with leg-side catchers in front of the stumps and engaged Williamson in a tense contest. He got through it, but along the way enjoyed a bit of luck to survive what may have been the ball of the Test match; it reversed in, hit the seam, and straightened off the deck to go past the outside edge, all from a tight line that forced Williamson to play.Though it always seemed improbable that New Zealand would go after their target, there was a brief period when Latham and Williamson showed what seemed like outright urgency. Latham missed a premeditated reverse-sweep, and Williamson stepped out to hit Axar over the top. Latham had only scored two of his 35 pre-lunch runs through the off side, but he showed a greater willingness to try and play Axar’s left-arm spin against the turn as well.The slowness of the pitch and the quality of the bowling, however, dampened the scoring rate. Ashwin replaced Axar, and struck in the sixth over of his spell. He had tested both edges through the day by varying his angles, release positions, and seam orientations, all while maintaining an impeccable length, but the wicket ball wasn’t a particularly threatening one. It was wide of off stump, and it kept slightly low to bowl Latham off the inside edge as he looked to punch with an angled bat.Williamson and Taylor then downed shutters as India’s bowlers probed away, with the latter taking 23 balls to get off the mark. As soon as he’d done that, however, Jadeja dismissed him with a classic Jadeja delivery; bringing the batter forward to defend, and turning less than expected to beat the inside edge and strike the front pad.The wicket broke the door open for India’s spinners, but light, Ravindra and Ajaz ended up having the final say.

Mumbai Indians threatened to defend 129 on a sluggish Sharjah track, but Shreyas Iyer dented their playoff chances and strengthened Delhi Capitals’ own chances of a top-two finish with a smart innings in the company of R Ashwin. Iyer absorbed the pressure created by the fall of three wickets within the first five overs of the chase and ushered Capitals home with five balls to spare.

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Despite the defeat on Saturday, Mumbai could still sneak into the final four, but in addition to needing to win their remaining two games against Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, they must also rely on favours from other sides.It was Capitals’ depleted attack that set up the victory. While Avesh Khan and Anrich Nortje defied the slowness of the pitch with a hair-raising display of pace and guile, left-arm fingerspinner Axar Patel thrived with his more subtle variations.Not a favourable match-up? No problem for Axar
The Capitals left out offspin-bowling allrounder Lalit Yadav to welcome back Prithvi Shaw, which meant they had only five bowling options at their disposal. It proved enough, with the seamers dovetailing beautifully with Axar.It was Avesh who produced the first breakthrough when Rohit Sharma – believe it or not – miscued a pull to deep third man.Axar then ran into two left-handers and trumped both of them. He first dangled one away from Quinton de Kock’s reach and had him carving a catch to backward point. Then, he zipped one away from Saurabh Tiwary from around the wicket, drawing a top edge. Axar also had Suryakumar Yadav holing out later with a dipping full-toss, ending with 3 for 21 in his four overs.5:00

Brathwaite: Mumbai were below par with the bat, made it tough for the bowlers

Nortje and Avesh wreck Mumbai’s middle order
Mumbai’s middle order largely strolled through the middle overs, not managing to score even a single boundary for 35 balls between the 11th and 17th overs.After pounding the deck with heavy lengths in the early exchanges, Nortje cut his pace down to 123kph and had Kieron Pollard chopping on in the 15th over.Avesh yorked both Hardik Pandya and Nathan Coulter-Nile and although the last over, bowled by Ashwin, went for 13 runs, Mumbai were kept to a sub-130 total.Iyer and Ashwin get the job done
That total, however, looked a whole lot bigger once the Capitals lost their top three early. It was Pollard who had launched a familiar Mumbai comeback when he swooped in from mid-on and nailed a direct hit to run out Shikhar Dhawan for 8. Rishabh Pant then chanced his arm and swung his way to 26 off 22 balls before Jayant Yadav – specifically picked, ahead of legspinner Rahul Chahal, to counter the left-handers in Capitals’ line-up – bested him.There might have been jitters in Capitals’ camp when Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult also struck to reduce them to 93 for 6 at the start of the 14th over. Iyer and Ashwin, however, settled them by calmly knocking off ones and twos.Iyer, who had arrived in the powerplay, didn’t hit a boundary until the 17th over, when he swiped Coulter-Nile over midwicket. He meted out similar treatment to Bumrah in the 18th to effectively get the dirty job done.

Dispute and discontent over a Sheffield Shield “debacle” in Brisbane has highlighted the immense challenge confronting Cricket Australia (CA) this summer.Stunning details of Tuesday’s sudden postponement of a Shield match between Queensland and Tasmania, set to feature star Marnus Labuschagne and a stack of Ashes hopefuls, have been laid bare.Queensland Cricket (QC) chief executive Terry Svenson first learned of what he termed a “rushed” and “panicked” decision via a groundsman at Ian Healy Oval.Svenson told he then called CA counterpart Nick Hockley, who at that stage was also unaware the game had been aborted because of Covid-19 cases in Brisbane that prompted Tasmania’s squad to flee the state.There is hope the sides’ first four-day match of the season will be played next week, with discussions between CA, QC and Cricket Tasmania (CT) continuing.But the circumstances that led to the postponement, which legend and QC board member Ian Healy lashed as an “absolute debacle” that “disrespected” the integrity of the Shield, underlined how this season’s schedule – domestic and international, male and female – remains a precarious beast.England are expected to name a men’s Ashes squad soon but the prospect of the final Test being staged in Perth has significantly diminished. The Shield chaos will have done little to soothe the various concerns of Joe Root’s squad.The AFL and NRL navigated another season of lockdowns, border closures and coronavirus-related scares.Part of CA’s problem is that it is trying to appease multiple state governments but also state associations – effectively its shareholders – in addition to players and foreign cricket boards. Common ground can often be hard to find.”We should still be playing,” Svenson told Healy on the latter’s radio show. “We have to be better at making decisions like this and not panicking.”That decision to postpone and ultimately cancel the match was done before we heard from the Premier and CHO [chief health officer].”There’s a flaw in the decision-making process. There has to be a sign-off process. Surely if there’s a material change in the game, has to be the CEO of Cricket Australia and the relevant state CEOs. That’s what I’ve appealed to Nick to do and Nick is aligned with my view.”Healy was stunned by the visitors’ haste. “Tasmania decides ‘we’re out’ … can you imagine the [Canterbury] Bulldogs flying home and deciding not to play a [NRL] game without Peter V’landys knowing? It’s unbelievable,” he said. “What the hell were Tasmania thinking?”CT made its decision because of fears that players could be forced to quarantine upon returning home, while it was also worried about future travel to South Australia and Western Australia.”To some extent, I certainly understand that,” Svenson said. “I would have liked to have seen them hang around for another 24 hours.”CT counterpart Dominic Baker claimed “players were happy to come home”, having debriefed with captain Matthew Wade on Tuesday.”He said the sentiment of the group was, if we can get out and get back, that’d be preferable. They don’t want to be sitting around, doing nothing,” Baker told . “No doubt there would be a level of frustration amongst the group.”

Almost as if to make up for their horror final day at Lord’s, England had the first day of their fantasies at Headingley. James Anderson cast a swing-bowling spell over the top order, reducing India to 21 for 3 in the 11th over, to immediately send the opposition into defence mode. Although Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane threatened, briefly, to rebuild, the supporting England seamers then came in and wiped out the last seven India wickets for 22 runs, to have them 78 all out – the third-lowest total India have ever made after choosing to bat first.When England bowled, conditions seemed exceedingly seamer-friendly, the pitch and the atmosphere allowing the ball to move just enough and late enough to get new batters nicking, rather than missing. But then when India’s quicks had the ball, the surface appeared half-decent – even good – to bat on. Rohit – India’s top-scorer – batted out 105 balls for his 19; Haseeb Hameed needed only 43 deliveries to get to the same score. Hameed later progressed to a half-century off his 110th delivery, before finishing on 60 not out. Rory Burns made an unbeaten 52. England finished the day with the match firmly in their grip. They had ten first-innings wickets still in hand, and were 42 runs ahead.Although Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, Sam Curran, and the two England openers, imposed themselves at various points in the day, it was the maestro, Anderson, who set the tone. A dusting of grey hairs at his temple, and yet evermore skilful, he laid traps for KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara, which both batters could not resist. He bowled a string of inswingers at Rahul, all slightly short of a length, to get the batter playing back slightly, defending balls in front of his stumps. Then he snuck in a full delivery outside off, which seamed slightly away off the seam, to take Rahul’s edge as he reached for it. A similar ploy worked for Pujara too. Although Pujara’s was a poke rather than a big drive, the dismissal – edging an awayseamer to the wicketkeeper – was the same.For Kohli, Anderson plugged away in the channel, and then delivered a wobble-seam ball that pitched just outside off and moved away – Kohli venturing a big drive only to also be caught by Jos Buttler. He was out for 7 off 17, leaving India reeling while Rohit was attempting his best cave hermit impression – leaving, blocking, and dead-batting.Rohit and Rahane then threatened to right India’s innings, batting out 15 overs together and putting on 35, but Rahane edging Robinson behind on the penultimate ball before lunch ended what turned out to be India’s best partnership by far.James Anderson is pumped up after dismissing Virat Kohli once again•Getty Images

After lunch, India careened into a chasm. Pant was out to Robinson – again nicking behind (this was Buttler’s fifth catch out of five). A few overs later, Rohit’s patience ran out and he tried to pull a short ball from Overton over the leg side, but managed only to bunt it to a catching mid-on. Next ball, Mohammed Shami was squared up, and he sent a catch to third slip.The following over, bowled by Curran, brought another double strike – Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah both out lbw, both pretty plumb. India lost four wickets while the score was 67, and were all out soon after, having slipped from 56 for 3.Perhaps India felt their bowlers would be able to replicate England’s success in such conditions, particularly after their heroics on the final day at Lord’s, but they began with far less discipline than the England attack had shown. Ishant Sharma, who opened the bowling ahead of Mohammed Siraj and Shami, was especially wayward, frequently straying into the batters’ pads, and rarely finding movement on a line outside off stump. Bumrah was much better, and even drew an edge at one point that fell short, but was not especially menacing either.Hameed and Burns did not have to be particularly patient through the early overs, getting frequent enough deliveries that could be scored off, but were nevertheless solid when the good balls came as well. They were not beaten as often as India’s batters were with the new ball. And they were more confident with their scoring strokes. Hameed was particularly severe on errors of line, dusting off an excellent cut shot repeatedly.Later, Burns hit the most memorable shot, however, thumping Siraj over deep square leg for the day’s only six. Hameed got to his half-century with an edge through the outstretched hand of Rohit at second slip – the fielder getting some flesh to the tough chance, but unable to hold on. Burns, got to the milestone in the penultimate over of the day, punching the 123rd ball he faced through mid-on.Such was England’s dominance on day one, India will probably need a dramatic session or several to get themselves back into the match.

Sussex have confirmed that Ross Taylor will re-join them as an overseas player for the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast.Taylor, the former New Zealand captain, was by some distance the most productive Sussex batsman in the competition last year. He scored 394 runs, at an average of 56.28 and strike-rate of 133.10, with his highest score of 93 not out coming in victory over Gloucestershire at Bristol, taking just 48 deliveries and including eight sixes. Eleven men scored more runs in the competition in 2016, but none of them had as high an average or played as few games.Despite Taylor’s form, Sussex failed to progress beyond the group stages of the competition. His return, alongside the long-term signings of Stiaan van Zyl and David Wiese (both as Kolpak registrations; Wiese also had a spell at the club in 2016) and Laurie Evans, a destructive T20 batsman from Warwickshire, should strengthen them.Taylor will be available for the entire T20 campaign which, in 2017, does not start until July.”We are thrilled to have Ross joining us for the T20 competition,” Mark Davis, the Sussex head coach, said. “He was outstanding in the competition last season and to have him back is brilliant for the club. Not only is Ross a world class player but a fantastic role model to our younger players.”

ScorecardFile photo – Rob Nicol dominated an opening stand of 71 to set up Auckland’s successful chase of 176•Getty Images

Half-centuries from opening batsmen Rob Nicol and Glenn Phillips steered Auckland to a seven-wicket win, as they chased down 176 in their Super Smash clash against Otago. Auckland also benefited from handy cameos by Colin de Grandhomme (30 off 14) and Jeet Raval (21 off 12) as they chased the target with two overs to spare at the University Oval in Dunedin. Otago had put up 175 for 7 after winning the toss, riding on contributions from the middle order.Nicol dominated the opening partnership of of 71, scoring 51 of those himself. He was stumped off Rhys Phillips’ leg spin in the ninth over, having struck three fours and as many sixes in his 36-ball knock. Glenn Phillips then shared partnerships of 51 with Raval for the second wicket and 38 with de Grandhomme for the third. He saw his team through by staying not out on 62 off 44 balls that included five fours and two sixes.Earlier, Otago’s middle order pulled them from 13 for 2 in the second over to 175. Hamish Rutherford, the captain, struck 42 off 27 balls and shared a 36-run fourth-wicket stand with Josh Finnie, who top-scored with an unbeaten 45. A late cameo from Brad Wilson who blitzed 30 off 15 balls gave them a strong finish.Pacers De Grandhomme and Donovan Grobbelaar took two wickets each, while left-arm spinner Ben Horne took one. The win, Auckland’s fifth in nine matches, took them to second place on the points table.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGraeme Cremer followed his hundred in the first innings with a dogged 43•Associated Press

Graeme Cremer soaked up 175 balls and 121 dots to lead another lower-order rally and raise Zimbabwe’s hopes of saving their 100th Test, but Sri Lanka dug deep into their reserves to secure a hard-earned victory with 45 balls to spare.When the last hour began, Zimbabwe needed to bat out 15 overs with Cremer on 41 and No. 10 Carl Mumba on 3. Both batsmen played close to their bodies with a straight bat, blocking single-mindedly, and leaving Sri Lanka on the tenterhooks. They negotiated four more overs before Cremer jumped out of the crease and attempted an injudicious flick against the turn, off Rangana Herath, and was stumped for 43. He had faced 351 balls across both innings, the second-most by a No. 8 in a Test behind Wasim Akram’s 363, which incidentally came against Zimbabwe in 1996.Nineteen balls after the key wicket of Cremer, Dilruwan Perera knocked out Chris Mpofu’s off stump to wrap up Sri Lanka’s 225-run victory.Cremer entered the fray at 100 for 6, seven overs after lunch, after Zimbabwe had lost their last five wickets for 32 runs. He first added 39 for the seventh wicket with Sean Williams in 19.4 overs before marshalling Mumba in a 38-run ninth-wicket stand that lasted 19.1 overs.Cremer endured a nervy moment when he padded up to a straight delivery from Herath, but umpire Ian Gould turned down the bowler’s appeal, with ball-tracking backing up his decision, indicating the ball would have missed off stump. Cremer shook that off and soldiered on. His first boundary came off his 53rd ball when he drove a Suranga Lakmal half-volley through extra cover.It was Williams who laid the groundwork for Zimbabwe’s fightback. He showed restraint, taking 21 balls to get off the mark, before unfurling his range with paddle-sweeps and even reverse-sweeps against the spinners.Williams went onto make 40 off 92 balls, before Herath struck with the fourth ball after tea, getting him to nick to slip. Herath sensed an opening and broke through six overs later when he had Donald Tiripano lbw for a 21-ball duck. It was a dubious decision from Gould, though, with replays detecting an inside edge onto the pad. He should have been out off the previous ball he faced – a Herath arm ball struck his front pad in front of middle and leg – but Gould did not budge.Sri Lanka secured victory with 45 balls left in final session of the final day•AFP

The cloud cover that had built up during tea moved off and Sri Lanka then strained every sinew. Herath brought out the carrom ball from wide of the crease, and even tried to shake things up with part-time legspinner Kusal Mendis. The second new ball ultimately snuffled out Zimbabwe’s dogged resistance.In the morning Lakmal swung the first new ball and teased Zimbabwe’s openers in the channel outside off after Sri Lanka had declared overnight, keeping in view the rain threat and setting Zimbabwe a target of 412 in 98 overs. Brian Chari struggled to even put bat on ball in the early exchanges, failing to get fully forward or go fully back against Lakmal’s awayswingers and Herath’s arm balls. To compound his woes, Chari attempted to sweep Herath against the turn, but the top edge did not carry to fine leg or deep square leg.It was the extra pace of teenage debutant Lahiru Kumara that ended the tentative 31-run opening partnership. In his first over, an inducker at 141kph burst through Chari’s defences and sent the off stump cartwheeling.Once the swing faded, Lakmal briefly peppered the batsmen with short balls from around the wicket with a leg slip, forward short leg, and square leg placed halfway to the boundary, but it was reverse-swing with the old ball that provided him the breakthroughs. In the space of three balls, he coaxed a couple to veer back into Hamilton Masakadza and Malcolm Waller to trap both lbw.It came after Dilruwan had struck twice in nine balls to remove Tino Mawoyo for 37 and Sean Ervine for an eight-ball duck. Mawoyo was adjudged lbw by Simon Fry, though the slider from Dilruwan was comfortably missing leg stump with the angle from over the wicket. Ervine, though, was pinned plumb in front by a full delivery that drifted in and then turned away.Zimbabwe lost four wickets for only six runs and later Herath worked his way past Cremer and the tail to give Sri Lanka their first away Test win after seven matches, on captaincy debut.

A bonus-point victory increasingly looked a possibility for Karnataka after they ground Delhi on the second day of their Group B fixture at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Resuming on 131 for 3, Karnataka almost batted the entire day to make 414. When the last wicket fell, in what was to be the final ball of the day, they had opened up a lead of 324.Despite five of their batsmen unable to kick on after crossing fifty, their good performance with the ball on the opening day – Delhi were bowled out for 90 after S Aravind’s four-for – meant Karnataka had made enough ground to push for seven points.Karun Nair, the captain, and Kaunain Abbas, playing in just his second first-class match, put together 89 for the fifth wicket after Ishant Sharma struck in the second over of the day when he had nightwatchman Abhimanyu Mithun poking an away-swinger to the wicketkeeper. For close to a session, Delhi’s spinners were rendered ineffective on a surface that had considerably eased out as both batsmen milked singles quite comfortably.Halfway through the second session, Delhi’s bowlers had respite against the run of play when Nair and Abbas fell. Stuart Binny briefly entertained in his 32, before chipping a simple return catch to Vikas Tokas. Karnataka’s batting depth then surfaced, with Shreyas Gopal (46) and CM Gautam adding 77 for the eighth wicket. Karnataka added 47 for the last two wickets, before Varun Sood, the left-arm spinner, picked up the last wicket to finish with 4 for 80. Gautam remained unbeaten on 63.Shahbaz Nadeem’s first five-for this season helped Jharkhand nudge ahead•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Shahbaz Nadeem’s 7 for 74 helped Jharkhand snatch a two-run lead over Rajasthan in Vadodara. That, after Rajasthan, in reply to Jharkhand’s 209, put together 100 for the first wicket, courtesy fifties from Manender Singh and Vineet Saxena. Nadeem scythed through the middle-order with his left-arm spin as Rajasthan lost their last seven wickets for 61. Jharkhand lost Anand Singh early, but Virat Singh’s 35 and Pratyush Singh’s 33 not out helped extend the lead to 75, with eight wickets in hand when stumps were drawn.Jaydev Shah became the first Saurashtra captain to score a double century as Maharashtra’s bowlers, who nearly conceded a lead despite scoring 600-plus against Delhi last week, were run ragged again. Jaydev (217), who has scores of 193, 64 and 0 so far this season, put on 174 for the sixth wicket with Chirag Jani (100 not out), before Saurashtra declared on 657 for 8.There were contributions from Sheldon Jackson (105) and Cheteshwar Pujara too. Pujara, returing to the domestic circuit in a bid to get match ready ahead of the Test series against England, made 93. He was the first man to be dismissed on the day, in what was to be a rare moment of cheer for Maharashtra. They ended on 18 without loss, trailing by 639.No play was possible between Vidarbha and Assam in Trivandrum because of rain and a wet outfield. Vidarbha, who chose to bat, will resume on 254 for 3, with Ganesh Satish (93) and Ravi Jangid (31) at the crease. Sanjay Ramaswamy, the opener, made 83 and shared a 131-run second-wicket stand with Ganesh to consolidate Vidarbha’s innings on the opening day.

ScorecardSuccessful overseas batsmen in India have often been successful by lofting the ball over the infield. Even in the days of in-and-out fields, when Alastair Cook scored 562 runs including three hundreds in 2012-13, the most runs by a visiting batsman in a four-Test series in India, he relied on the lofted shots both for runs and also to get rid of the close-in fielders. On their first day of play on the Indian tour, New Zealand batsmen used the loft liberally to suggest it will be the shot they will go to often in the Tests.Albeit on a non-threatening track against a non-threatening attack, New Zealanders made their intent clear as everybody apart from Martin Guptill got a hit in in their score of 324 for 7 declared. There was no hanging about either as they gave Mumbai 13 overs to play before stumps, and took a wicket during that period. The declaration gave them a good chance of having a proper second innings.Two of the wickets were retirements to allow others a chance to bat. Incidentally, the two who gave up their batting, Tom Latham and BJ Watling, were the ones who batted at a more sedate pace. Apart from the two, and Henry Nicholls, everybody struck at more than 70. Apart from Guptill, who scored 15, everybody crossed 20, including fifties from Kane Williamson and Latham. Targets in particular were the spinners, whose 49 overs were taken for 230 runs. Two of these spinners were part-timers, and two others yet to make their first-class debuts.Another heartening news for New Zealand will be that their lower order and lower-middle order – crucial on raging turners – was among the runs. Watling looked comfortable in his 21, Mitchell Santner and Mark Craig ran away to 45 and 33 not out, and Ish Sodhi scored a slightly streakier 29.Every batsman that faced spin played the lofted shot early in the innings. That leaves out Guptill, who got out even before spin came on, but he had started the day with a hooked six in the first over of the match. A Mumbai attack missing its spearhead Shardul Thakur and with left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar – average of 31 – as its best spinner was then punished. Williamson stepped out repeatedly to loft Dabholkar over mid-on. He went back to taking singles once the fielder was pushed to long-on, but went aerial again as soon as Dabholkar called the fielder back up. Latham once swept Dabholkar for four from way outside the off stump. The intent – on a friendly surface against friendly bowlers – was clear.Balwinder Sandhu, with healthy swing but at a gentle pace, was the only shining light for Mumbai. He got the wickets of Guptill and Williamson in the first session with outswingers. As the day wore on, though, Mumbai made more and more use of spinners. Ross Taylor made use of the cut shot before lofting legspinner Parikshit Valsangkar into the sightscreen. Facing his first over of spin, Nicholls came down the wicket to loft left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil for two fours. Santner did the same to Gohil as soon as he came out to bat. Craig reserved the same treatment for Dabholkar.New Zealand had just one three-day warm-up game to get used to the conditions before going into the first Test in Kanpur. As has become the norm world over, the hosts did them no favours by giving them a pitch that looks nothing like the raging turners that teams expect in India nowadays. Also they had a second-string Mumbai side to face with their best players playing for India A in Australia. New Zealanders’ success with their ploy of using their feet and the lofted shots needs to be seen in that light, but one thing was clear: they showed enough signs they are not here to play passive cricket, which South Africa, at times, might have been accused of in India’s last home season.