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Match facts

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Bengaluru, April 25, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)3:28

Hogg: No changes for RCB despite record low

Form guide

• Royal Challengers Bangalore (eighth): lost to KKR by 82 runs, beat Lions by 21 runs, lost to Rising Pune by 27 runs

• Sunrisers Hyderabad (third): lost to Rising Pune by six wickets, beat Daredevils by 15 runs, beat Kings XI by five runs

Head to head

This season
Last year’s finalists faced off in the season’s opening fixture in Hyderabad. Fifties from Moises Henriques and Yuvraj Singh helped Sunrisers post 207. That total was 35 runs too many for a Royal Challengers outfit sans Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.Overall:
Sunrisers lead 6-4 and have won their last three games against Royal Challengers. That being said, the hosts lead 3-2 at the Chinnaswamy.

In the news

Royal Challengers are languishing at the bottom of the table after seven games, following their rout for 49 – the lowest total in IPL history – in their last game at Eden Gardens. Sixteen points was the magic number teams needed in IPL 2016 to qualify for the playoff stage and Royal Challengers would need to win six of their last seven matches to get there.Sunrisers Hyderabad don’t have as much to worry about. They were done in by an MS Dhoni special in their previous match – a last-ball finish – but seem to have their overseas four set in stone, especially after Kane Williamson has scored 110 in his first two games at a strike rate of nearly 170. Yuvraj Singh missed the last game due to illness, but should return to the XI at the Chinnaswamy. Ashish Nehra, who has a superlative record against Virat Kohli, may get a look in if Sunrisers pay attention to the numbers.

The likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Mandeep Singh, 5 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Samuel Badree, 9 Tymal Mills, 10 S Aravind, 11 Yuzvendra ChahalSunrisers Hyderabad 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Moises Henriques, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Deepak Hooda, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Siddarth Kaul/Ashish Nehra, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Strategy Punt

• Sunrisers Hyderabad may give Ashish Nehra a start and a shot with the new ball – he is the only bowler in the IPL to dismiss Virat Kohli more than four times (six).

Stats that matter

• Sunrisers have lost all three of their away games this season. Royal Challengers, though, no longer can call the Chinnaswamy their fortress. They have lost two of their three matches at home.
• Before 2017, the Chinnaswamy had the highest run rate (8.61) among all grounds. This season, it has the lowest run rate (7.41). Alternatively, Bangalore had the worst average (28.37) for bowlers before 2017. This year, it has favoured the bowlers the most among all venues – a wicket falls every 19.57 runs. Bengaluru is also the only venue to have not seen a 180-plus total this season.
• Royal Challengers’ middle-order batsmen have the worst average among all teams in 2017. Their Nos. 4 through 7 average 18.45 and have the poorest strike-rate (125.51).
• Moises Henriques is one of two batsmen – the other being Nitish Rana – to have struck three fifties this season. He has scored 193 in six innings at an average of 64.33. He has already gone past his tally from 15 innings in 2016 – 182.
• Ashish Nehra has dismissed Kohli six times in 54 balls. Kohli has had a hard time getting runs off his senior from Delhi: he has only scored 60. For context, no other bowler has dismissed Kohli more than four times in the IPL.
• Kohli’s batting partners enjoy facing the Sunrisers bowlers, though. De Villiers has scored 61 runs off 28 balls against Nehra while Gayle has scored 104 runs off 70 deliveries off the season’s leading wicket-taker, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:41

De Kock stalls New Zealand despite finger trouble

Injured tendon? The liability New Zealand hoped to exploit became a blaring irritant to their hopes of levelling the series as Quinton de Kock – with a strapped finger on a splint – produced 90 runs of the highest quality. That he has turned 12 of his 29 innings into scores of 50 or more is testament to why South Africa wanted him in their XI for this Test, no matter what.

NZ’s rare opening stand

• 3 Fifty-plus opening stands by New Zealand in 38 Test innings against South Africa since 2000. Before this, they had averaged 17.43 in the last 37 innings.

• 36.50 Average runs per wicket added by South Africa’s last four wickets this series. Their first six wickets have averaged only 32.69. South Africa added 124 runs after the fall of their sixth wicket in Hamilton, and 265 runs for their last four wickets in the first innings in Wellington.

• 29.22 Average of South Africa’s batsmen at No. 8 or lower in this series, as opposed to New Zealand’s average of 14.60. South Africa’s tail has had a significant bearing on this series given that the two teams’ top-orders have similar averages.

• 76.27 Quinton de Kock’s strike rate in his 118-ball 90; the other South African batsmen scored at 52.63. De Kock had rescued South Africa with quick runs in Wellington too – a 118-ball 91 after coming in to bat at 94 for 6.

• 4-93 Matt Henry’s best figures in Tests, on debut at Lord’s in 2015. His figures in South Africa’s first innings equalled that effort.

On a pitch supporting seam movement and under clouds promising swing, South Africa’s 314 was a better-than-par total. To Tom Latham, it might have looked like a monstrous one. He had not passed 10 in the series, and suddenly had 28 overs to survive against Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada. By stumps, however, he had put on the highest opening partnership of the series with Jeet Raval. The determination both men showed, making 67 runs in the process, was necessary, considering they had let South Africa off the hook. A team that had been 190 for 6 should not have made it to 314.Apart from undermining themselves, New Zealand were also fighting their weather. Forty nine overs were lost on the first day and a few more went down the drain at Seddon Park on the second. Both delays were caused by showers that did not last that long.Perhaps the only reason Kane Williamson thought better of leaving the field to investigate who was sabotaging his team with repetitive rain dances was the wickets his bowlers were able to give him. Matt Henry, on comeback, was responsible for four of them. His strength is bowling a full length and controlling his line well enough to test batsmen outside off stump. So much that in 75 deliveries to right-handers, barely any slipped down the leg side.De Kock, being left-handed, coped far better as he made 26 runs off 28 deliveries from New Zealand’s stand-in spearhead. And if Henry couldn’t make him budge, what chance did the rest have? De Kock launched Jeetan Patel’s offspin for a six over midwicket. He carved cuts behind point when there was little room, and his pull shots were outstanding. He finished with 90 off 118 balls – an innings in defiance of a pitch that wasn’t all that great for strokeplay.It was slow as Temba Bavuma found out, toe-ending a pull to first slip. The humidity and cloud cover ensured there was consistent swing too. Knowing that – and perhaps the fact that a draw was enough to win another trophy – Faf du Plessis reached into his closet and put on his Adelaide gear: do as you please but you won’t get past me. It wasn’t that he was particularly troubled by the bowling. At a drinks break, when a chair was run out for him, the only way du Plessis could have looked more at home was if his dog Giorgio had been by his side and there a braai in the background. So calm was du Plessis, just sipping on his water and chatting with his partner.New Zealand needed something magical to remove the South African captain, and they got it soon after he got to his 12th Test fifty. Latham, at short leg, saw du Plessis premeditating a lap sweep and began moving quickly to his right. He had already covered a yard or so when the ball came within his reach, and then, it was a matter of letting his reflexes take over and hoping they were good enough. Latham stuck out his right hand and secured a catch to give Mitchell Santner a wicket. The left-arm spinner had to wait 61 overs to get into the mix.Williamson was far more partial to his quicks, and Henry would feel unlucky that he still does not have a five-for in Tests. He nabbed Philander, who became the sixth South African to the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets, with a teaser outside off stump. Latham did his bit again to enable the wicket with a fine catch, low to his right at second slip.Henry found the edge again the very next ball, but it fell short of the cordon and Keshav Maharaj survived. Later, an inswinging yorker only just missed making a mess of Morkel’s leg stump. Neil Wagner knocked over Rabada in the next over to finish the innings and deny his team-mate his fifth.

Knights have won South Africa’s first-class competition with an innings and 121-run victory over Lions in Johannesburg. The trophy is the franchise’s first since the 2010-11 40-over competition and third in the first-class format since the franchise era began in the 2004-05 summer.Knights wrapped up victory before lunch on the third day to bring an early end to what was a thrilling final round. All six teams were in with a chance of claiming the cup in a hotly contested competition that has seen Knights become the first side to win four matches.Although Knights’ bowling was the hallmark of their success this season – spearhead Duanne Olivier finished with 52 wickets at 18.13, the leading wicket-taker – it was their batting that triumphed on the final weekend. After choosing to bat at the Wanderers, Knights posted an imposing 443 and Lions could not match that score over two innings.The runs came from the top five with Luthando Mnyanda and Diego Rosier sharing a first-wicket stand of 112 before Beuran Hendricks broke through. Rosier followed him three overs later but another big stand – of 94 between Theunis de Bruyn and Pite van Biljon – followed. De Bruyn, Knights’ captain, scored 72 and sits near the top of the runs charts – making a strong case to continue travelling with the South African Test team as their reserve player – while van Biljon went on to score 119. Rudi Second’s 45 further frustrated Lions as Knights closed out the first day on 408 for 7. They only added 35 runs on the second morning and Hendricks finished with five but the damage had been done.Poor first-innings totals had been a concern for Lions throughout the season and they could not get poorer than this. They were shot out for 87 to underline the quality of Knights’ attack. Opening bowlers Olivier and Marchant de Lange – an off-season acquisition from Titans – combined pace and bounce to take five between them before change-bowlers Shadley van Schalkwyk, who sits in the top 10 on the wicket-takers’ charts, and Mbulelo Budaza took the second five. Reeza Hendricks’ 35 was the top score with Rassie van der Dussen the only other batsman to get into double figures.Sensing success, Knights asked Lions to follow on and although their second innings was better it was not still not good enough. Test opener Stephen Cook and Hendricks put on 101 for the first wicket and Hendricks topped up to make 112 but the rest fell away. Lions lost their last eight wickets for 66 and Olivier did most of the damage. His 4 for 59 scythed through the middle order, where only Mangaliso Mosehle made a score over 20. Depending on the outcome of the Titans-Warriors match, Lions could finish last.They will take some positives from a campaign in which they lost several players to national duty, in that Dominic Hendricks was among the top-ten scorers and Wiaan Mulder, the schoolboy allrounder, sat just outside the top ten on the wicket charts. But Knights’ glory was much greater. Olivier and de Lange lie first and second on the bowlers’ list. Bloemfontein could not be prouder.Titans ensured a second-place finish in the Sunfoil Series as Heino Kuhn’s unbeaten 165 helped them chase down a target of 315 against Warriors with four wickets to spare. The star performance, however, came from allrounder Shaun von Berg, who took a match haul of 10 for 203, including a six-for in the second innings, and struck a crucial century at no. 8 to lift Titans from 83 for 7 to a first-innings score of 227 and a lead of 40.Von Berg took 4 for 59 in the first innings with his legspin to help restrict Warriors to 187, complemented by the pace-bowling pair of Malusi Siboto and Rowan Richards who took five wickets between them. Siboto and Richards’ support for von Berg extended into Titans’ first innings as well, as they shared crucial partnerships of 55 and 70 for the eighth and ninth wickets respectively to haul the total past 200.Warriors did better in their second innings, thanks largely to Colin Ackermann’s 150 at No. 3 and a 60 from Simon Harmer who shared in a 137-run partnership for the seventh wicket, which helped take Warriors’ lead past 300. Von Berg had returns of 6 for 144, including the wickets of Ackermann and opener Gihahn Cloete, who scored 49.Kuhn and Dean Elgar had already whittled away 49 runs off the target on the third evening and stretched their partnership to 113 on the fourth day before Elgar was dismissed for 58. Kuhn then added 69 for the second wicket with Aiden Markram and once the latter was dismissed took charge of the chase, eventually sealing the win with von Berg at the other end.Stiaan van Zyl struck a century in each innings as Cape Cobras drew with Dolphins to take third place in the league. Van Zyl’s 108 in the first innings, and a century from opener Andrew Puttick (116 off 240 balls) helped Cape Cobras pile on 381 in the first innings. Van Zyl struck 13 fours in his knock and shared a 160-run partnership for the second wicket with Puttick before a cameo from Aviwe Mgijima (52 off 41 balls) lifted the score past 350.Daryn Smit’s 150 not out pulled Dolphins out from 88 for 5 to 329 for 8 dec. The side were 5 for 2 in the third over before stabilizing through Divan van Wyk and Khaya Zondo. Both fell off successive deliveries to Jason Smith, triggering another slump that Smit helped steady. Calvin Savage added 115 for the sixth wicket with Smit, before the batsman shepherded the lower order before the declaration. Smit’s 150 came off 264 deliveries with 16 fours.Cape Cobras then added 291 in their second innings, steered once again by van Zyl and Puttick, with the latter scoring 55. Van Zyl remained unbeaten on 101 off 263 deliveries.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIn a nutshellIt was a game between the top side and the bottom, and boy did it show. Quetta Gladiators thrashed Karachi by six wickets in what was the most one-sided match in the PSL so far, making Sarfraz Ahmed’s squad the first to qualify for the knockout stages.The game was won on the back of a splendid bowling display by the Gladiators as they squeezed the opposition in the middle overs, the pace bowlers flummoxing the batsmen with controlled pace variations and teasing slower bouncers. Karachi had got off to a fast start, reaching 46 for 0 in five overs through their new opening pair of Kumar Sangakkara and Babar Azam.But in the middle 10-over stretch from the sixth through the 15th, Karachi managed a mere 52 runs. Chris Gayle’s ongoing struggles were a feature of the Karachi innings. He scratched around and attempted to dispatch the odd ball out of Dubai in a laboured 34-ball 29 that took all the air out of his side’s innings.Quetta, in contrast, were assured right from the start of their chase, with Ahmed Shehzad and Asad Shafiq scoring a solid 49 from the Powerplay. After that, Shehzad ripped into the bowling, taking the young Usama Mir to task in his first over. Shehzad smashed him for two fours and two sixes in a costly 22-run eighth over and the hundred partnership eventually came up in 11 overs.An enraged Mickey Arthur called for a strategic timeout after the tenth over, chastising his side in full public view. It had a short-term effect as Quetta stuttered to lose three wickets in the 13th over but the damage had been done early and, in truth, the win was a comfortable one.Where the match was wonAfter the first five overs of the Karachi innings, with Sangakkara looking in fine touch and his side at 46 for 0, a solid platform appeared to have been set. But the middle overs saw Quetta’s bowlers strangle the opposition.The spinners bowled a tight line and the fast bowlers dipped into their bag of tricks to leave the opposition – Gayle in particular – flapping at thin air. Anwar Ali and Tymal Mills deceived Kieron Pollard and Gayle a number of times with slower short balls, depriving the West Indian power hitters of the pace they can so lethally use to their own advantage. The stand between the pair, on paper arguably the most menacing duo in T20 cricket, turned out to be a frankly benign one.The men that won itQuetta’s innings had a touch of the clinical right from the start. Shehzad and Shafiq preferred to hit along the ground early on, knowing they did not have to take too many risks in a chase of 155. Shafiq, not often celebrated for his strike rate, was the more destructive of the pair during the Powerplay, scoring 29 off 19. Their 105-run stand meant Quetta even had the luxury to bear a brief collapse, including a diamond duck from Kevin Pietersen, yet still seal a comfortable two points.The easiest of dropsThat stand might not have been so lethal had Pollard, almost as famous for his spectacular boundary catches as he is for monstrous ball striking, taken an easy catch that Shafiq had spooned up to short extra cover in the sixth over. Mohammad Amir had forced a leading edge, but Pollard was slow to react. Even so, he overran the ball when he dove forward in an attempt to catch it, the ball hitting the top of his palms before slipping out. To the Kings’ massive frustration, Shafiq then hit the next two balls for four, twisting the knife into an already wounded Karachi.The moment of the matchOne might have wondered how Karachi coach Arthur would have felt watching his side at the end of a hammering like the one they were experiencing in this match, with inconsistent bowling, poor fielding and a sensational opening stand by Quetta combining to humiliate them. Well, one only needed wait till the end of the tenth over to find out.Arthur called for the timeout and demonstrably tore into his side with the cameras rolling as Sohail Khan appeared to bear the brunt of the South African’s rant. Sir Alex Ferguson would have been proud of that hairdryer. It worked, too, with three wickets coming off Sohail’s subsequent over, including a direct hit from backward point by Imad Wasim to run out Pietersen before he had faced a ball. However, Karachi’s rude awakening had come far too late.Where they standThe result reinforces the status quo, with Karachi extending their lead at the top of the table to three points. Karachi remain last on four points, and now need to win both remaining games to have a chance of qualifying.

Hashim Amla’s moved up four places to sixth in the latest ICC rankings for Test batsmen after he struck 134 in his hundredth Test in Johannesburg. Kagiso Rabada, meanwhile, moved up three spots to fifth in the Test bowling rankings after returning match figures of 5 for 94.Amla, who became only the eighth batsman to score a century in his 100th Test, had earlier dropped to tenth after a string of poor performances in 2016. He had moved to first in the Test rankings back in February 2013 and at one point had held top positions in both the ODI and Test rankings.Rabada’s strong performances in the series against Sri Lanka made him South Africa’s highest-ranked Test bowler, moving him one place above Dale Steyn, who is recuperating from the shoulder fracture he suffered during South Africa’s tour of Australia in November. Rabada’s ten-wicket haul in the second Test in Cape Town had earlier helped him break into the top ten.Australia captain Steven Smith continued to lead the Test rankings for batsmen while India’s R Ashwin topped the bowlers’ rankings.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEoin Morgan made amends for a slow start to deliver Sydney Thunder their first win of the tournament•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

The defending champions are still alive – mathematically at least. Eoin Morgan crunched a last-ball six straight down the ground to give the Sydney Thunder a famous six-wicket win – their first of the season – in his last game for them before he flies to India with the England team.The Thunder required five to win from the final ball, and as the smite – off a half-volley from Ben Hilfenhaus – flew into the sightscreen, Morgan dropped his bat and leapt. Pat Cummins, the bowler who reinvented himself as an allrounder at No. 6, and who had already hit a huge six earlier in the over (from which the Thunder had required 16), gave him a bearhug.Earlier, Morgan’s former England team-mate Kevin Pietersen had guided the Stars, who were invited to bat, to 8 for 166. But his dismissal sparked a dismal collapse in the final five overs, and it came back to haunt him.KP’s backWithout the middle-order ballast of Peter Handscomb – who should return for the latter half of the pool stage – the Stars’ batting line-up looks rather top-heavy. Over 70% of Stars’ runs this season have been scored by their top three – if they are to make the finals again, this needs addressing.And so it proved here. Glenn Maxwell and Luke Wright had given Pietersen a punchy platform in the Powerplay, but he got off to a slow start. There was the standard Red Bull run to get things going, but he could barely manage more than a single, moving to 28 from 27. From there, he flew, taking 32 from his next 10, with Chris Green reverse-swept, then tonked over midwicket, for four and six, and Gurinder Sandhu ripped to shreds.Watson stalls the StarsAfter Sandhu leaked 21 from the 15th over, Stars looked set for a huge total. Pietersen was on 60 and had shared 55 with Faulkner for the fourth wicket. Shane Watson appeared to be running out of bowling options; Russell had pulled up lame, Sandhu and Cummins had been too costly, and he had just one over of spin – from Green – up his sleeve.So Watson turned to his own bowling, which had looked in fine fettle earlier on. Pietersen drilled one back to the left of Watson, who took a magnificent caught-and-bowled in an over that cost just five. With the partnership broken, it was the perfect time to reintroduce the hitherto expensive Cummins. He sent down the 17th, which cost just seven, before Green bowled Faulkner and Sam Harper in consecutive balls with his skiddy offbreaks in the 18th over that went for just one. He nearly had Adam Zampa, too. Never mind, Watson brought himself back, dismissed Zampa and conceded two.With Cummins’ last yielding just five, the final five overs had been worth 20 runs for the loss of five wickets. With rain tumbling, the Thunder had hauled themselves back into the game.Morgan’s innings of two halvesThunder found themselves in a spot of bother early. Aiden Blizzard had played out eight dots in the 11 balls he had faced when he fell. Kurtis Patterson’s fast start fell to nothing. Watson was brilliantly caught by Harper. Morgan and Ben Rohrer, realistically, were the last hope. Russell was carded to come in at No. 6, but his left hamstring injury ruled that out, so Cummins was promoted. Against the likes of Zampa, who bowled beautifully, Morgan looked horribly scratchy at first. He managed just 15 runs from his first 28 balls.But then, Michael Beer – very tight until then – returned for the 15th over. Thunder needed 72 off 36. Beer’s first ball was whacked down the ground for four, before he was slog-swept for six. Morgan was away, and he didn’t look back. On a pitch favouring spin, Morgan realised that seamers were to bowl each of the last five overs. When they dropped short, he pulled, and he flat-batted over long-on too. By the time his winning six had sailed into the night, he had taken 56 off his last 22 balls to finish with 71. Finally, Thunder had a win.Legspin it to win itAs Morgan recognised, pace off was the order of the day, and two legspinners were to the fore. In the chase, Beer’s first two overs cost just seven, while Zampa’s four excellent overs cost just 19, with a wicket, 10 dot balls and one boundary. The blueprint had been set earlier, however: Thunder’s three best bowlers were the variations in pace of Watson, the darts of Green and particularly the dangerous leg-breaks of Ahmed, who wasn’t afraid to give the ball some flight and rip, notably when bowling David Hussey. The trio’s 12 overs cost 79 and resulted in seven of the eight wickets.

A spectator has been slapped with a three-year ban from attending any matches in Australia, and will also face court in Hobart after allegedly writing a racially offensive message on a fence inside the Bellerive Oval on day one of the Test.The message was reportedly directed at South Africa batsman Hashim Amla, and police have confirmed a 24-year old man from Longford in Tasmania’s north has been charged on summons.”Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania can confirm a crowd behaviour issue that occurred on day one of the Commonwealth Bank Test match against South Africa in Hobart,” a Cricket Australia spokesperson said.”Tasmania Police identified the person of interest through CCTV and witnesses in the area. Cricket Australia has issued the person with a three-year ban from any Cricket Australia match, nationally.”Cricket Australia takes a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour at any of our matches, which includes racial vilification.”Our message to any fan attending a match is that if you display anti-social behavior, you will be removed and risk being banned from any cricket match across Australia, as well as police action being taken.”Cricket South Africa also issued a statement on the matter: “We have been informed that the man has been formally charged and has been handed a three-year ban from the stadium.”From our point of view, it is disappointing and disconcerting because this is not the first act of racial vilification we have received while touring Australia over the years. It is unacceptable. There is absolutely no place for racial stereotyping and such offensive acts in society, let alone in sport.”We thank Cricket Australia and the authorities for dealing with the matter in a swift, professional and stern way and for carrying out the full might of the law.”

Jharkhand overcame a stubborn 87-run partnership for the ninth wicket from Rajasthan batsmen Chetan Bist and Aniket Choudhary to complete a 42-run victory in Vadodara. Their second win in three matches hauled Jharkhand to the top of Group B, after they bowled Rajasthan out for 237.Rajasthan resumed their chase of 280 from an overnight score of 67 for 3 but soon slumped to 137 for 8, losing wickets to left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and offspinner Sunny Gupta. Bist and Choudhary then resisted for 27.3 overs, hauling the score past 200 before the stand was broken. Eight overs after Choudhary was dismissed for 32, Jharkhand broke Bist’s defiance, with the batsman falling for a 136-ball 77 which included six fours and a six. Nadeem, who had taken two wickets on the third day, completed his five-for, taking his match haul to 12 for 168.Assam salvaged a draw, reaching 73 for 2 in their second innings after Vidarbha enforced the follow-on on the final day in Thumba. Resuming on 98 for 3 on Sunday, Assam were bowled out for 227 as left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate ran through the middle and lower order, taking 5 for 72. Assam’s batsmen got off to starts but the top score, of 44 not out, came from Swarupam Purkayastha at No. 9. Having taken a 189-run lead, Vidarbha asked Assam to bat again and the pair of Rahul Hazarika and Amit Verma saw the side through after they lost two wickets.Saurashtra required eight wickets on the last day to register an innings win against Maharashtra, but a debut century from Murtaza Trunkwala and a stubborn lower order ended the match in a draw in Vizianagaram. Left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja took four wickets, but Saurashtra could only take six of the eight wickets they needed as Maharashtra ended on 345 for 8.Resuming their second innings on 114 for 2, after following-on, they were led by Trunkwala’s 117 before he fell in the 33rd over of the day. Further contributions from the middle order, led by No. 4 Ankit Bawne’s 60, helped them hang on and salvage one point compared to Saurashtra’s three. Maharashtra were 230 for 5 when Bawne was bowled by Jadeja, with over 50 overs left in the day, but Chirag Khurana (44), Vishant More (39) and Shrikant Mundhe (24) led them to the draw even as Jadeja ended with a match haul of 9 for 105.

South Africa outbatted Australia to beat them 5-0 in the ODI series but stand-in captain Faf du Plessis believes they will need to outbowl them if they are to win the Test series next month. After South Africa went through most of last summer sans Dale Steyn or Vernon Philander, they will travel to Australia with both bowlers plus three other frontline seamers, and du Plessis hopes that collectively, they can carry the team to victory.”For us to have a successful tour of Australia, Dale Steyn will be the guy to make or break that for us because he is a huge player in that Test team. I am confident he will have a really good series,” du Plessis said. “His shoulder looks okay – that’s going to be the challenge. We need to make sure that he stays fit and he can bowl long periods of time. Test cricket is not just 10 overs, he will need to bowl 18 to 20 overs a day for the next month.”Steyn returned, after a broken shoulder kept him out of the England Test and ODI series in January-February, for the World T20, in which he played only two of South Africa’s four matches. He was left out of the triangular series in the Caribbean, officially rested but by his own admission dropped, and given permission to play in the NatWest T20 Blast instead. He took 11 wickets in five matches for Glamorgan and was then included in South Africa’s Test series against New Zealand, where his eight wickets in Centurion secured a series win.Although he has not looked his best with the white ball – he played four of the five ODIs against Australia for five wickets at 50.80 with an economy rate of 6.99 and received treatment on the shoulder throughout the series – Australia still considered Steyn remained a threat. “You’ve always got to respect Dale. He is a world-class bowler, a great athlete and you never want to upset him,” David Warner said. “He is a guy that can really get on top. He has this spark and this spell in him you’ve got to get through that and negate what he throws at you.”At Test level, du Plessis expects that will be even more difficult for the Australians to do. “Dale in Test cricket is a different breed. In one-day cricket, these things are going to happen. KG [Kagiso Rabada] as well, would be the first to say he didn’t bowl at his best. In Test cricket it’s about consistency. When Dale gets that red ball in his hand, he is just a different bowler. He is still our No.1 bowler in Test cricket.”South Africa will look to rise up the rankings again with hopes of having Morne Morkel back for the Tests•AFP

Rabada also played in four matches and took five wickets at 52.80 with an economy rate of 7.33. Both Steyn and Rabada were hurt by the game in Durban, where they conceded 96 and 86 runs respectively. Overall, they were overshadowed by Kyle Abbott and Andile Phehlukwayo, who have come to the fore as part of South Africa’s future. “Our bowling attack needs to be fit if we are to win in Australia,” du Plessis said.The other members of South Africa’s pace pack have also had injury concerns. Philander’s rehabilitation from torn ankle ligaments kept him out of action for almost three months but he also made a comeback against New Zealand while Morne Morkel has been on the sidelines since July with a back problem. Morkel returned to action in club cricket in Pretoria earlier this month and is currently playing for Titans against Warriors in a first-class match as a fitness test ahead of the Australia tour. He bowled 26 overs in the first innings, and picked three wickets, so all indications are that he will travel to Australia.South Africa have won their last two Tests series in Australia, in 2008-09 and 2012-13, although in very different circumstances. Both times, they were coming off series wins in England. This time, they are in the midst of a rebuilding process and recognise that Australia pose a tougher challenge than before. They will hope to carry some of their ODI momentum into the Tests. “Against Australia, any mental edge you can get you will take,” du Plessis said. “It’s the one-percenters that matter.”

ScorecardMark Pettini found Derbyshire’s target appealing [file picture]•Getty Images

Leicestershire Foxes kept their T20 season alive by comprehensively dismantling East Midlands rivals Derbyshire Falcons under the floodlights at the Fischer County Ground. A century opening stand compiled by Foxes skipper Mark Pettini and Mark Cosgrove in just ten overs made Derbyshire’s score of 158 all out look what it was: hopelessly inadequate.With eight of the previous nine games involving the Falcons having been won by the chasing side, Pettini had no hesitation in choosing to bowl after winning the toss. The opening over of the Derbyshire innings was an eventful one, as Ben Raine bowled two front foot no-balls in his first three deliveries and conceded 13 runs before Wes Durston attempted to force off the back foot and got an inside edge to wicket-keeper Lewis Hill.If that was a straightforward catch for Hill, the top edge that he held off Hamish Rutherford in Raine’s next over was anything but. Rutherford’s mishit spiralled back over the wicket-keeper’s head, butbHill turned and sprinted 40 yards towards the boundary before flinging himself full length to take the ball two handed a foot above the ground.Raine then picked up a third wicket when he pinned Chesney Hawkes leg before with a well pitched up delivery which swung back in to the tall left-hander, leaving the Falcons on 42-3 in the sixth over, but Neil Broom and Wayne Madsen steadied the ship with a partnership of 54 for the fourth wicket.Broom came into the game having failed to make much impact with the bat for the Falcons this season, but the New Zealander combined judicious placement with some well timed hitting to score his first T20 half-century of the season. Madsen was less fluent but gave Broom good support before steering Kevin O’Brien to short third man, where Mark Cosgrove held the catch above his head.Broom was unfortunate when he attempted to swing Farhaan Behardien’s delivery into the leg side, only to edge the ball into his pad and on to his off-stump, and with wickets continuing to fall, it needed a hard-hitting 45 off 23 balls from Neesham to ensure the Foxes would be required to score at eight an over to win the match.Pettini and Cosgrove quickly made the target look straightforward. Pettini, who had the majority of the early strike, was first to his half-century, hitting nine fours in going to 50 off 32 balls. Cosgrove, once he started to get the strike, was simply brutal, huge maximums off Tom Milnes and Alex Hughes among the four sixes he hit in 1 26 ball 50 before giving Durston a simple caught and bowled.While Pettini continued to play sensibly, Leicestershire’s powerful South Africa international batsman Cameron Delport was able to pick up where Cosgrove left off, hitting two sixes, the last to win the match off Matt Critchley, as Leicestershire crossed the line with more than four overs to spare.