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ScorecardMedium-pacer Sandeep Warrier skittled Jharkhand’s top-order with a six-wicket haul in two matches to help Kerala register an innings win in Mallapuram. Jharkhand, after conceding a 205-run lead in the first innings, made steady progress on the third morning to get to 85 for 2. But Warrier removed Sunny Gupta and Saurabh Tiwary off consecutive balls and later, added two more wickets to leave Jharkhand reeling on 134 for 6. There wasn’t much resistance after that as Chovvakkaran Shahid ran through the tail. No. 3 Ishank Jaggi watched the wickets tumble from the other end and was the last batsman to be out – to Warrier – as Kerala collected seven points for the big win and drew level with Jharkhand on the points table.
ScorecardResilient half-centuries by Parvez Rasool and Ram Dayal turned a dire situation for Jammu and Kashmir at the start of the day into a position of advantage against Himachal Pradesh. J&K were effectively 5 for 3, but Rassool stitched two important partnerships – 73 for the fourth wicket and 61 for the sixth – to push the team ahead. In what has been a low-scoring match till now, the two fifties by Rasool and Dayal were also the highest scores by any batsmen and took J&K to 248, setting Himachal a target of 238. When Himachal came into bat towards the end of the day, Dayal made immediate impact, removing Himachal’s top-scorer from the first innings, Aatish Bhalaik, in his second over. The game is set nicely with Himachal needing another 203 runs to win, and J&K nine wickets away from what would be their third win.
ScorecardAssam took a healthy first-innings lead against Andhra after Tarjinder Singh scored his second century of the season. Assam had started the day 83 runs behind Assam’s total and with eight wickets in hand, they were set to take the lead. However, Assam were given a brief hope when they picked up the two overnight batsmen in the third and fourth over of the morning. It turned out be a mirage as they had to wait 66 overs for their next wicket. By that time, Assam were ahead by 95 runs and they declared after adding another 50. Andhra’s batsmen safely negotiated the remaining eight overs.
ScorecardTripura bagged four Goa wickets towards the end of the day after adding 108 runs to their overnight and set sights on a first-innings lead. Nirupam Sen Chowdhary scored a half-century to take the team total to 278 after Abhijit Dey, unbeaten on 75 at the end of the second day, scored only a run this morning before edging the ball to the wicketkeeper. Chowdhary found support in the lower order and with Bunti Roy, who scored 39, he added 58 runs for the ninth wicket.In response, Goa lost Swapnil Asnodkar and Manvinder Bisla to Manisankar Murasingh with only 12 runs on the board. Their situation was further compounded by the loss of two more wickets by the end of the day, still 214 runs behind.

ScorecardDhaka Division opened up the title race for the National Cricket League by beating leaders Khulna Division by five wickets in Rajshahi. The seven points from the game put them just four short of Khulna in the points table.Put into bat first, Khulna were bowled out for 171 runs in 59 overs with Mosharraf Hossain taking seven wickets with his left-arm spin. Only Nazmus Sadat stood firm with the bat, scoring 53 off 138 balls. Dhaka took a 58-run lead as Khulna hit back with four wickets coming through their left-arm spinner Murad Khan and three from seamer Robiul Islam.Imrul Kayes hit a century in the second innings but only Mithun Ali contributed with a half-century as the rest of the batsmen failed against Shahadat Hossain and Mosharraf, who took three wickets each. Dhaka were set a target of 211 runs on the final day, which they reached in 40.2 overs, despite Robiul’s four-wicket haul.
ScorecardLast four season’s winners Rajshahi Division have given themselves an outside chance of retaining the title with a 10-wicket win over Sylhet Division in Savar. The win put them on 26 points and if Khulna and Dhaka both fail to pick up points in the last round of matches and Rajshahi win with the maximum of nine points, they could win the title.Sylhet, after being put into bat, were stung by Farhad Reza’s four-wicket haul on the first day and were bowled out for 218 runs. Rajshahi replied handsomely, taking a 172-run lead. Sabbir Rahman top-scored with 136 and there were some useful contributions down the order that helped Rajshahi stretch the lead, despite Enamul Haque jnr’s six wickets.In the second innings, Rajshahi left-arm spinner Taijul Islam took the first five-for of his career as Sylhet were bowled out for 202 runs. Rajshahi picked up the 31 runs required early on the fourth morning.
ScorecardChittagong Division picked up their second win in the competition after they beat bottom-placed Barisal Division by eight wickets in Sylhet. Batting first, Barisal made 204 runs with Salman Hossain scoring 98.Chittagong replied with 296 runs, helped mainly by Faisal Hossain’s unbeaten 123 and 72 by Nazimuddin, who returned to form this season. Pace bowler Kamrul Islam Rabbi took five wickets for Barisal, while left-arm spinner Monir Hossain picked up four.Barisal replied poorly as they were bowled out for just 163 runs in 71 overs. Legspinner Noor Hossain took only his second five-for in his career, giving Chittagong a target of 72 runs, which they completed late on the fourth afternoon.

Bernard Perera, the former Sri Lanka first-class cricketer and national women’s team coach, has died aged 56 in a hospital in Peradeniya, Kandy, on Friday, where he had been receiving treatment the past fortnight. Perera had an attack of hepatitis two years ago and following recovery he continued to be a provincial coach.A right-handed middle-order batsman and offspinner, Perera was a brilliant cover fieldsman and looked destined for higher honours following an outstanding school career with St Anthony’s College, Kandy, the school that produced the world’s leading Test wicket-taker, Muttiah Muralitharan.Perera’s contribution to St Anthony’s, whom he captained in 1976 and to Kandy CC earned him a place in the national team in the early 80s, when Sri Lanka had made their entry into Test cricket. He missed making the final XI in the inaugural Test against England in February 1982, despite scoring an unbeaten half-century for Board President’s XI against an England attack comprising John Lever, Paul Allott, Derek Underwood, Graham Dilley and John Emburey in Kandy. But after a tour to Pakistan, where he failed to find a place in the Test side, he joined the rebel tour to South Africa in 1982 and was subsequently banned from all forms of cricket for 25 years. Although the ban was lifted after eight years, Perera’s first-class career had ended.He played eight first-class matches, scoring 537 runs, averaging 38.35 with one century – 102 for the rebel Sri Lankan side against a strong South African line-up in a four-day game at Cape Town.”Being a cricketer from the outstation, Bernard didn’t get the opportunities that today’s outstation cricketers receive. He was in the same mould as Aravinda de Silva and would have made it big if he had played for any of the schools in Colombo,” said Mahesh Goonatillake, his team-mate at Kandy CC, Ceylon Tobacco and the rebel Sri Lankan side.Perera made a quiet comeback to cricket by qualifying as a Sri Lanka Cricket Level I and II coach, handling Kandy CC in addition to running a private coaching school in his hometown. He coached the Sri Lanka women’s team in 2006 before quitting to take over as a Sri Lanka Cricket provincial coach.

ScorecardGareth Cross scored a counter-attacking half-century but Lancashire could not build a substantial lead•PA Photos

Lancashire’s bid for Division One safety looks set to be reliant on Surrey failing to beat Nottinghamshire at The Oval ahead of the seventh- and eighth-placed teams meeting next week. Lancashire were unable to build a sizeable first-innings lead against Middlesex on a day that saw them relinquish their Championship crown to Warwickshire.At the close of play, Middlesex were 127 runs ahead having only lost two wickets, meaning Lancashire will have to bowl them out or concede enough runs early on Friday to convince Chris Rogers to declare. Rogers will be looking to do what only Neil Dexter has done so far in this match and successfully convert his hard work and patience into three figures.Lancashire looked comfortable in morning, with the combination of early movement and new ball not as potent as many thought it would be, until Ashwell Prince – 12 away from 1,000 first-class runs for the season – nicked to first slip, giving Toby Roland-Jones his first wicket. Persisting on an off-stump line, his second came as a bit of surprise to both himself and Steven Croft, as the ball shot through, between knee and ankle height, uprooting both middle and off. It was the first ball of the match to really misbehave, if you can call it misbehaving on the evidence this summer.The Lord’s pitch has been called a lot of things this season. After Surrey’s defeat here at the beginning of the season, Chris Adam’s described it as the worst he had even seen. Last month, some had the gall to liken it to an archery venue.Enter Gareth Cross, who hit the mark, his straps and Ravi Patel, in a counter-attacking display that took Lancashire into lunch on a high, scoring the majority of the runs in a swift fifty partnership with Karl Brown. He took that urgency into the afternoon session, looking for a run off every ball, constantly putting pressure on the Middlesex bowlers and fielders – at times even his partner. He reached 50 off only 30 deliveries, and did little to acknowledge the landmark, knowing he had more work to do. Middlesex would have been disappointed with their effort in periods before and after lunch, which saw Lancashire rack up 100 runs in an hour of play.Cross’ innings was done nine runs later, as he was caught behind off Gareth Berg, having pulled the same bowler for six the ball before. Brown took over as the aggressor but it took him a bit of time to adjust to the shift in roles. While he didn’t find the boundary as much as he would have liked to, he bustled his way to his half-century.With the help of cameos from Kyle Hogg, Glen Chapple and Ajmal Shahzad, Brown took Lancashire past 400, and then to a small first innings lead, before playing a Berg delivery on to his stumps. Patel accounted for all but one of the last four wickets to fall, leaving him one short of a maiden first-class five-wicket haul, though these were his best figures to date.It would not have been a five-wicket haul that you could read too much into. He bowled well but was gifted a couple of wickets through some sloppy decision making from Lancashire’s lower order. Had he achieved the feat, many would have dismissed his achievement as ordinary, what with nine, ten, Jack accounting for three of his scalps. In the end, four seemed about right.Middlesex’s second innings got off to a shaky start, with opener Sam Robson falling to Glen Chapple early. The Lancashire captain, along with Kyle Hogg, asked probing questions, but Rogers and Joe Denly had the right answers. When they didn’t, their noncommittal replies allowed them to stay in the debate long enough to converse between overs as to how they would cope with the inevitable evening barrage.Denly departed to a wicked delivery from Shahzad that nipped in and kept low to disrupt his stumps. Kerrigan bowled studiously at the other end, invoking a few erroneous drives, but at no point did the southpaw pair of Rogers and Dawid Malan display any real discomfort.Rogers freed his arms to pierce the off-side field – both off the front and back foot – as Shahzad’s patience dithered, as it ever does. There’s no denying his intent (or pace), but Shahzad needs to understand that even individual bowlers need to have plans. Rogers had a plan – to bore Shahzad into laxity. It worked.

James Pattinson has conceded that he has found it hard to balance all three forms of the game, and he said he was not disappointed at being left out of Australia’s 30-man preliminary squad for the ICC World Twenty20. Despite being part of Australia’s most recent T20 series in the West Indies, Pattinson was one of the surprise omissions from Australia’s initial squad announced on Wednesday, from which a final 15-man group will be chosen.Pattinson, 22, signed with the Melbourne Stars on Thursday for a one-year Big Bash League deal, but he said at international level he was happy for his focus to remain on the longer forms of the game. Asked whether he was disappointed not to be part of the 30-man group, Pattinson said: “Not really, I suppose where I am with my cricket now there’s a big emphasis on me playing the longer formats of the game – Test cricket and one-day cricket.”I think, being young, it’s pretty hard to juggle all three forms of the game at my age. I’m just excited to be involved in the one-day and Test team and, look, if the chance comes when I’m a bit older, I’d love to take that. Probably another thing, my performances haven’t been too great in Twenty20 cricket of late.”As a 22-year-old I have found it quite hard to juggle all three forms at the one time, it’s quite a lot of pressure on you. For me it’s probably easier to go back to the two formats and concentrate on that while I’m young and inexperienced.”Pattinson remains part of Australia’s one-day international plans and was named in the squad to take on Pakistan in the UAE in three ODIs starting next month. Pattinson and the offspinner Nathan Lyon were two of the most surprising omissions from the World T20 expanded group, after both appeared to be in the selectors’ plans for the short format earlier this year.

Scotland’s two ICC World Cricket League (WCL) fixtures against Canada have been moved to Ayr Cricket Club after the Citylets Grange in Edinburgh was declared unplayable. The original venue was flooded when the nearby river, the Water of Leith, burst its banks following recent heavy rainfall.However, despite the switch the first WCL match, which had already been delayed until the reserve day on Tuesday as the ground at Ayr needed preparing, was cancelled on Monday afternoon leaving one fixture set to be played on Wednesday weather permitting.The request was made to the ICC on Sunday, with both teams agreeing to the final decision on the switch. Earlier in the week, Scotland and Canada lost all four days of their Intercontinental Cup match due to an unplayable pitch at Bothwell Castle, Uddingston.Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, said: ”Every effort is being made by the ICC, Cricket Scotland and the teams to play these vital games. The weather that has hit Scotland in recent weeks is unprecedented and has given all our clubs major problems.”We are very grateful to Ayr CC for both agreeing to host the matches at a couple of days’ notice and now working so hard to get their ground ready for Tuesday.” July 9, 17.30pm. This story was updated to include news of the first match being cancelled

ScorecardPhillip Hughes scored his second consecutive CB40 hundred for Worcestershire but ended up on the losing side•Getty Images

Vikram Solanki and Phil Hughes both hit centuries but Worcestershire still fell to a 12-run defeat to Lancashire on the Duckworth-Lewis method in their Clydesdale Bank 40 match.After being invited to bat first the Royals pair shared their county’s highest-ever second-wicket partnership in List A cricket to underpin their total of 259 for 9. Their 208 stand inside 32 overs helped Worcestershire recover from 4 for 1 after Moeen Ali was trapped lbw by Sajid Mahmood.Solanki led the way with 121 off 107 balls, while Australia left-hander Hughes hit 104 off 111, following on from his 111 in their previous 40-over match against Middlesex. But Worcestershire lost eight wickets for 47 runs in just 33 balls to slip from 212 for 1 and give the home side the momentum going into their chase, which was revised down to 131 off 19 overs after an hour and 25 minutes of rain.Lancashire had reached 69 for 1 from 11.4 overs when the rain arrived thanks to a fourth successive half-century from former Worcestershire opener Stephen Moore. When play briefly resumed Moore added eight runs to be 60 from 52 balls as Lancashire reached 95 for 1 from 14.1 overs.But more rain arrived to end the contest and lift the hosts up to second place in Group A. Stephen Croft also added an important, unbeaten 19 off 14.Ajmal Shahzad took three of four wickets to fall in the final over of the Worcestershire innings, including Hughes caught behind, Ben Scott trapped lbw and Alexei Kervezee caught at backward point off a leading edge. Having bowled James Cameron in the 38th over, he finished with 4 for 51 from eight overs.Worcestershire’s late collapse meant the scoreboard had the strange look of having no batsmen in double figures aside from centurions Solanki and Hughes. Despite some clean striking from the pair, they were happy to tick along without taking too many chances until the start of the batting powerplay with their side at 153 for 1 at the start of the 30th over.Hughes hit Shahzad for four and six over midwicket off successive deliveries as he helped take 16 off the over and a total of 40 in the four overs. Solanki hit the majority of his five sixes down the ground, ranging between long-off and long-on, while Hughes targeted midwicket.The pair’s partnership beat the unbroken 204 shared between Tom Moody and Graeme Hick in a List A match against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo whilst on pre-season tour in 1991. But it was not enough as Lancashire, whose only wicket to fall was Ashwell Prince, bowled by Moeen, recovered to secure their third win from four.

ScorecardIn-form batsmen Michael Lumb and Riki Wessels struck half centuries to help Nottinghamshire keep their hopes alive in this year’s CB40 with a comfortable victory over struggling Somerset.The duo came together to post what proved to be a key partnership of 79 in just 11 overs for the second wicket as the hosts successfully chased 206 to win. That was after bowlers Darren Pattinson (3 for 37) and Jake Ball (3 for 38) had led the way for the home attack in restricting the visitors to a below-par total.The five-wicket victory allowed Nottinghamshire to bounce back from a 91-run drubbing at Durham on Sunday, while Somerset were left reeling by their fourth consecutive defeat in this format.Notts won the toss and broke through in the sixth over when Pattinson snared Nick Compton (7) caught behind. Craig Kieswetter (24) upped the Somerset tempo in tandem with Peter Trego before he was one of two victims in consecutive overs for Ball, who also bowled replacement James Hildreth (3).Trego, however, was largely untroubled and added 55 with Jos Buttler in nine overs before he was trapped lbw by the returning Pattinson for 47 from 53 balls, with a four and a six. Buttler (29) followed soon after as he was undone by a Samit Patel quicker ball that bowled him as he advanced down the pitch.It was left to Craig Meschede (33) and Arul Suppiah (39) to set some kind of score for Notts to chase as they shared 42 for the sixth wicket. Meschede was eventually run out after a mix-up, while Suppiah holed out off Pattinson’s final ball of the Somerset innings.Notts began their reply well as Lumb put on 56 with Alex Hales (22), who was first out after pulling Lewis Gregory to Suppiah at deep midwicket. Lumb coasted to 50 with an array of attractive drives through the covers while Wessels quickly hit his straps, clubbing off spinner Max Waller over the legside boundary.The stand was ended by Meschede, who induced a mistimed pull from Lumb, who had faced 60 balls and struck seven fours and one six in his 65.Wessels went with the total on 157 as he nicked through to Kieswetter off Thomas. But although Patel (16) and James Taylor (12) quickly perished, Notts’ win was confirmed by Adam Voges (15 not out) and Chris Read (14 not out) with 20 balls to spare.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShane Watson worked very hard for his 56 before falling to Shane Shillingford•AFP

Fluent strokeplay has not been top of the agenda in this series and the opening day in Port-of-Spain was another where the batsmen had to grind for their rewards. With that in mind, Australia were better placed than 208 for 5 might imply but West Indies ensured they stayed within range with Shane Shillingford, the tall offspinner, impressive on his return to Test cricket.The turn that Shillingford – and, to a lesser extent, Narsingh Deonarine – found on a first-day pitch suggested that anything around 300 would be a good total while Australia have two frontline spinners to exploit conditions after recalling Michael Beer to partner Nathan Lyon. Once the hardness had gone from the ball, which allowed Australia to reach 42 after 10 overs, the remaining 80 overs of the day brought 166 runs with West Indies opting not to take the second new ball.Shane Watson was the mainstay of the innings for more than three hours as he ground his way to a half-century from 128 balls. Boundary opportunities had been rare for Watson, and mostly came when the quick bowlers offered width, before he got an inside edge to short leg where it was superbly held by Adrian Barath who had to reach upwards for the catch.It was a deserved second wicket for Shillingford, who earlier struck fifth delivery playing his first Test since remodelling his bowling action, after he had twice been denied the opportunity to double his tally. Once that was by technology and another by the inconsistent glovework of Carlton Baugh, who dropped Michael Hussey when he had 5 from one which turned sharply to take the glove.Shortly after tea Shillingford was awarded an lbw against Michael Clarke but the Australia captain reviewed, by the looks of it at the time more out of hope than expectation. However, the replays showed he had been struck outside off stump on the back pad so survived and even shared his slight surprise with the close fielders.Clarke couldn’t cash in on the reprieve when he managed to pull a long hop from Deonarine to deep square-leg having briefly provided the most fluent batting of the day when he took the attack to Kemar Roach at the start of the final session. Roach, who had earlier collected the important wickets of Ed Cowan and Ricky Ponting, was more than twice as expensive as any other of the bowlers and offered Clarke width to drive as the fourth-wicket stand with Watson grew to 84.Soon, though. Australia had to rebuild again and without Ryan Harris or Peter Siddle in the lower order – the former surprisingly rested, the latter suffering a stiff back – there is a longer tail than in Barbados when they hauled the visitors out of trouble and into the ascendency. But with Michael Hussey still present West Indies could yet rue Baugh’s mistake. Matthew Wade was also put down, on 2, although the chance to Kraigg Braithwaite at short leg was tough.West Indies thought they had taken a wicket in the first over the day when David Warner was given out caught behind by the umpire Marais Erasmus before Darren Sammy indicated the ball had not carried to the keeper. That was clearly the case and replays also showed it was also nowhere near the edge but if Erasmus had given the decision as lbw on-field it would have stood.After that early intrigue Australia moved along at a healthy rate as both Warner and Cowan latched onto anything short, although Warner also had to battle to survive against Roach when the fast bowler went round the wicket and probed the outside edge. It was Shillingford who provided the breakthrough with his fifth ball when he enticed Warner to drive at a full delivery which spun enough to find the edge and Sammy pocketed a simple catch at slip.Shortly before lunch Cowan was extracted lbw from around the wicket by Roach, who then added Ponting in the sixth over of the afternoon session with a beauty to square up the batsman and find the outside edge. However, the wicket did not come easily as Baugh palmed the chance away but, fortunately for the home side, Sammy was alert at slip to collect the rebound.

Carlton Baugh, the West Indies wicketkeeper, will lead the WICB President’s XI side against Australia in a three-day match starting on Monday, April 2. The 12-member squad includes six players who have played Test cricket.Fidel Edwards, who is back in the West Indies after playing Twenty20 cricket in South Africa, has been included in the team. Edwards spearheaded the pace attack with Ravi Rampaul in West Indies’ last Test series in India. Kieran Powell is another player who played in the Tests in India and gets a chance to play the Australians before the Test series. A surprise inclusion to the squad is opening batsman Devon Smith, who has had a string of low scores in the Regional Four-Day Competition. Smith lost his central contract last year.Spinners have enjoyed considerable success in the West Indies this season and offspinner Ryan Austin, who is joint-top of the wicket-takers’ list in this season’s four-day competition, gets a chance to impress the selectors. Sunil Narine consistently troubled the Australians in the limited-over matches. However, Narine, who doesn’t have a central contract, is yet to confirm his availability for the Test series.The match will be played at 3Ws Oval in Bridgetown and is the only tour game before the start of the three match Test series, which starts on April 7 at the Kensington Oval.WICB President’s XI squad: Carlton Baugh (captain), Ryan Austin, Nkrumah Bonner, Johnson Charles, Kyle Corbin, Fidel Edwards, Jason Holder, Delorn Johnson, Nelon Pascal, Kieran Powell, Devon Smith, Devon ThomasEdited by Devashish Fuloria