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Former Indian leg spinner Narendra Hirwani struck twice late in theday to leave Orissa struggling at stumps on the second day of theirRanji Trophy quarterfinal against Madhya Pradesh at the Captain RoopSingh stadium in Gwalior on Friday. Replying to the Madhya Pradeshtotal of 437, Orissa were 110 for three at close of play.Orissa lost Pradip Das early. The opener was leg before to HS Sodhifor ten in the seventh over when the score was 13. But the otheropener Suresh Kumar and Rashmi Parida then added 89 runs for thesecond wicket off 26.3 overs and Orissa were sailing along smoothly at102 for one. Then in successive overs, Hirwani struck. First, he hadSuresh Kumar caught by another former Indian spin bowler RajeshChauhan for 35. Suresh Kumar faced 98 balls and hit five of them tothe ropes. In the following over, the same combination struck to getrid of Sanjay Satpathy for a duck. Skipper Sanjay Raul then joinedParida and the two played carefully still stumps. Parida at close wasbatting with 47. He has so far faced 96 balls and hit six fours.Hirwani in four overs has so far taken two for 14.Earlier, the hosts resuming at 320 for six, did well to get to 437.The tail wagged to prolong Orissa’s stay in the field. After overnightbatsmen, skipper Chandrakant Pandit (28) and AS Srivastava (29) fellquickly, Rajesh Chauhan (36) and Y Golwalkar (41 not out) added 74runs for the ninth wicket off 31.3 overs. While Chauhan faced 90 ballsand hit six of them to the fence, Golwalkar faced 135 balls and hitfive fours.

Leus Du Plooy and Ryan Higgins steered Middlesex to six-wicket victory over Vitality County Championship Division Two favourites Yorkshire on an absorbing day three at Lord’s.Hungarian citizen Du Plooy and the Zimbabwean-born Higgins, shared a match-winning stand of 59 just as the Seaxes were wobbling at 77 for 3 in pursuit of 158 to win in this low-scoring encounter.Du Plooy fell eight short of 50 with victory in sight, but Higgins remained 33 not out when Stephen Eskinazi made the winning runs. Ben Coad’s 2 for 20 led a spirited attempt by the visitors to defend the tally, but in the end they didn’t have enough on the board.The chase came after Yorkshire, who resumed on 216-7 were dismissed in the first 40 minutes of the day for 244, George Hill last man out after extending his overnight 52 to 75 with several well struck boundaries, Middlesex skipper Toby Roland-Jones finishing with 3 for 78.The win marks a significant moment for Middlesex. Relegated from the top tier last year after gleaning only five batting bonus points – three of those in the final game of the season – they had surpassed that total in the first two games of this against a Kookaburra ball rendered impotent by placid surfaces.This however was in many ways the acid test, a fourth innings run chase in a game where batting had proved difficult against just about everyone’s tip for the laurels.It should probably come as no surprise that Du Plooy, the man brought in over the winter to shore up the batting ranks, combined with Higgins, so often the sole contributor in 2023, to get Middlesex over the line.There was drama first ball of the chase when Shan Masood brilliantly fielded Nathan Fernandes’s cover-drive and shied at the stumps, the suspicion being the youngster would have been short of his ground had the throw hit, despite a full-length dive. Two balls later however, Mark Stoneman was trapped lbw to Coad for nought giving the visitors a dream start.A tense 75 minutes unfolded as Fernandes and Holden resisted against probing bowling. Holden calmed home nerves with a couple of glorious cover drives, before being given a life on 17 when gloving a short one from Mickey Edwards only for Jonathan Tattersall to spill the gift and allow the hosts to lunch on 40 for 1.When battle resumed it was just as tense, Fernandes and Holden, defiant in defence, getting a big stride in as often as possible to negate any swing. The partnership crept to 50 before four overthrows from a sharp Holden single added to the visitors’ growing sense of frustration.The tension though would tell on Fernandes, who, bogged down, hooked an innocuous short ball from Thompson down the throat of Hill at long leg. Du Plooy might have followed him a few balls later to an identical shot which to his relief carried a few yards further and cleared the rope.Coad returned to have Holden caught behind from one that bounced on him and was taken by Tattersall standing up, in the aftermath of which time seemed to stand still as disciplined bowling to a well-set field suffocated attempts to score.Boundaries for Ryan Higgins in successive overs from Thompson helped the hosts over 100, those blows seeming to break the shackles as the White Rose which had for so long promised to blossom amid adversity, slowly but inexorably wilted.Du Plooy slashed one from Moriarty to Adam Lyth at slip on 42, but victory came without further alarms 25 minutes after tea.Earlier Coad had edged his first ball of the day from Ethan Bamber into the hands of Du Plooy at slip to end an eighth-wicket stand of 62 and thereafter only the aggression of Hill pushed Yorkshire’s lead beyond 150.

India’s men’s domestic calendar will begin with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on November 4, while the Ranji Trophy, the country’s premier first-class competition, starts on January 13, 2022. The Vijay Hazare Trophy will get underway from December 8, with neutral venues being used across all tournaments.In an extensive list of domestic fixtures released by the BCCI on Monday, the board also confirmed that Delhi will host the Syed Mushtaq Ali final, on November 22, while Kolkata will stage the Ranji finale, on March 16.Related

• BCCI postpones Ranji Trophy start date to January 5 in revised domestic calendar

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• Ranji Trophy returns as BCCI announces full 2021-22 domestic season

The Ranji Trophy will begin after the teams complete a five-day quarantine, with the matches being held at Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and Chennai. Kolkata will host all the knockout matches, which will begin on February 20 after the teams serve another five-day quarantine period.The tournament will consist of six groups, including five Elite ones of six teams each and one Plate group featuring eight teams.Domestic heavyweights Mumbai, Karnataka and Delhi have been clubbed together in Elite Group C, while defending champions Saurashtra have been paired with Tamil Nadu, Railways, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Goa in Elite group D. Last year’s runners-up Bengal will begin their campaign in Elite Group B alongside Vidarbha, Haryana, Kerala, Tripura and Rajasthan. The Plate group will comprise Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh.The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, meanwhile, will be held across Lucknow, Guwahati, Baroda, Delhi, Haryana and Vijayawada, with the knockouts starting in Delhi from November 16. The BCCI, however, did not announce the venues for the Vijay Hazare Trophy yet.The Men’s Under-25 State A one-day competition will be held from November 20 to December 10, with Bangalore hosting the knockouts, including the final on December 10. The four-day CK Nayudu Trophy will run from January 28 to March 31. Nagpur, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Mohali, Jaipur and Ranchi will host all the matches, with the knockouts being held exclusively at Vijayawada.Meanwhile, the Women’s Under-19 One Day Fixtures will begin on September 28 and run till October 18, with teams split into five Elite Groups and one Plate Group. Rajkot, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Vizag, Surat and Jaipur will host all the matches, with Surat hosting the knockout phase, from October 11 after the teams complete a mandatory five-day quarantine period. The Senior Women’s One Day tournament gets underway on October 31, with Bengaluru hosting the final, on November 20.

Sri Lanka batsman Avishka Fernando has been ruled out of the ODIs against England with a grade two tear to his quadriceps. Fernando had picked up the injury while fielding in the second T20I, in Cardiff, and had not played in the third match in Southampton.The injury is particularly disappointing for Fernando, because this had been his first tour with the national team since the start of the pandemic. Earlier this year, he had missed out on limited-overs squads to West Indies and Bangladesh because he had failed fitness tests.Although Fernando would have likely been in the first-choice XI, Sri Lanka have several batsmen capable of playing in the top three in his place. Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Oshada Fernando and Pathum Nissanka have all batted in the top three in the past (Nissanka mainly for his domestic teams).Fernando’s absence, however, does weaken Sri Lanka ahead of an already daunting assignment. Not only are Sri Lanka ranked ninth in ODIs while England are fourth (as well as the format’s World Champions), they have also lost six of their last eight completed ODIs against England.Sri Lanka were also easily whitewashed in the three-match T20I series that concluded on Saturday.

Veteran allrounder Samit Patel took the starring role as Nottinghamshire Outlaws beat Derbyshire by two runs to go second in the North Group after a Vitality Blast match shortened by rain to 15 overs a side.The 36-year-old hit three sixes and six fours in an unbeaten 62 – his first half-century in the format for three years in his 110th consecutive appearance – and in taking 2 for 14 from three overs of his left-arm spin entered the record books as the first English player to complete the double of 250 wickets and 5000 runs in Twenty20 cricket.Luis Reece hit 56 from 26 balls and Leus Du Plooy an unbeaten 58 including a six off the last ball but Derbyshire fell two runs short of their target of 153.Ben Duckett supported Patel with 38 off 25 balls as the Outlaws totalled 152 for 6, the wickets shared equally between seamers Logan van Beek and George Scrimshaw.Asked to bat first, the Outlaws lost top-scorers Alex Hales and Joe Clarke in the opening over, Hales leg before for a duck after van Beek’s opening delivery was called wide, Clarke well caught by Billy Godleman on the run from mid-off.Debutant Sol Budinger confidently cut his first ball for four off Conor McKerr but was dropped at mid-off in the same over and miscued van Beek to be caught by the wicketkeeper in the next.The Outlaws were restricted to 40 for 3 from a 4.3 over Powerplay before Scrimshaw removed Tom Moores. Duckett pulled Reece for the first six of the night but fell when Scrimshaw found some extra bounce and had him caught at backward point. Scrimshaw claimed his third wicket as Mullaney holed out to midwicket but Patel lifted Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Matt Critchley’s legspin over the rope in a 23-ball half-century and did the same to McKerr.Derbyshire were 19 without loss after an untidy first over by spinner Matt Carter. They were checked by Jake Ball taking wickets with his first two balls as Harry Came looped to deep gully and Godleman hit straight to mid-off but Reece hit Luke Fletcher for 18 and there were sixes for both Reece and du Plooy in Ball’s second over as Derbyshire posted 61 for 2 in the powerplay.Reece fell when he picked out Hales on the long-on boundary before Patel took his place in the record books by pinning Critchley leg before as the left-arm spinner teamed up with skipper Mullaney in stemming the flow of runs, Patel bowling Hudson-Prentice, before holding a tricky catch as Carter dismissed Brooke Guest.du Plooy hit three sixes to take the Falcons close but ultimately not close enough.

Fifties from Aditya Tare and Siddhesh Lad helped Mumbai recover from 85 for 4 and post 273, a total that proved 98 too many for Gujarat at Chepauk. Asked to bat, Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals before a 117-run fifth-wicket stand between Tare and Lad put them back on course. Tare’s 83 came off 81 balls and included 13 fours, and Lad struck 64 off 60 balls with two fours and five sixes. Chirag Parmar, on List A debut, took 4 for 42. In reply, Gujarat slid after an opening stand of 30 as they were bowled out for 175 in the 42nd over. Shivam Malhotra took three wickets.Shreevats Goswami anchored Bengal‘s successful chase of 226 with a 110-ball 66 against Andhra. Bengal won by four wickets with seven balls remaining. When Goswami was dismissed, Bengal still required 74 off 15 overs. They knocked off the runs with valuable contributions from Anustup Majumdar (46) and captain Monoj Tiwary (38). Bengal’s win, though, was set up by a strong bowling performance, as they restricted Andhra to 225 for 8. Dwaraka Ravi Teja top-scored with 43 off 69. Ashoke Dinda, Pragyan Ojha and Majumdar chipped in with two wickets each.Harpreet Singh’s unbeaten 45 steered Madhya Pradesh’s chase of 213 against Rajasthan. MP chased down the target with three wickets in hand and 60 balls to spare. After being asked to bat, Rajasthan slid to 212 all out as their batsmen could not convert their starts. Opening batsman Ashok Bhudania top-scored with 38, but ate up 87 balls in doing so. Pacers Puneet Datey and Chandrakant Sakure picked up three wickets each, with the former giving away just 25 runs in his 10 overs for his career-best returns. MP lost Mukul Raghav early in the chase, but partnerships of 89 between Rajat Patidar (38) and Naman Ojha (33) for the second wicket, and Harpreet and Anand Bais (20) for the fourth revived them. They lost wickets frequently after the two partnerships, but Harpreet held up his end, and in the company of Datey, saw the team through.

Match facts

January 29, 2017
Start time 1900 local (1330 GMT)England dominated the first T20 on the back of a clinical bowling performance•Getty Images

Big picture

England took the weak link that cost them the Test and ODI series and used it effectively to turn things around for a comprehensive win in the first T20. It was their bowling that could not win them a Test in the five-match series, it could not keep the pressure on in the middle and end overs in the 2-1 ODI series loss, but all that turned around in the first T20 to set up a comprehensive seven-wicket win in Kanpur.With Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan, England displayed a fresh look and attitude on the tour, it looked like they were not carrying any baggage from the two series losses, and “were playing more freely,” Virat Kohli said in Kanpur. They already have their batting line-up retained from the ODIs, and Sam Billings’ destructive form at the top augurs well for a 2-0 lead in Nagpur. All those put together are dangerous signs for India who could neither score freely nor contain the England batsmen on Thursday.India’s main problem was back to where it has been very often – the end overs – although more with the batsmen this time. A lack of partnerships hurt them, and England’s clever and accurate bowling saw India struggle to collect boundaries. India’s fast bowlers weren’t effective either, and lacked the one-on-one plans that England’s bowlers seemed to have for India’s batsmen.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
India LLWWL
England WLWLW

In the spotlight

India’s opening stands in the limited-overs matches of the tour have read 34, 13, 14 and 13. The partnership of 34 in Kanpur was dominated by Kohli, which means increased pressure on KL Rahul, who totalled 24 runs in the ODI series. Rahul will be itching to get some more runs under his belt before the Champions Trophy.England’s death-overs specialist Chris Jordan came into the T20 XI with a fine performance despite playing his first match of the tour. India will have to come up with solid plans to score off him at the end of the innings given his accuracy of the wide yorkers and variations in pace.

Team news

India may bring in a new opener to solve their woes at the top, but are more likely to change the bowling attack to contain the England batsmen. Amit Mishra will be more useful on the big ground in Nagpur compared to Kanpur, which could mean two legspinners in the XI given Yuzvendra Chahal’s 2 for 27 in the first T20. Bhuvneshwar Kumar may also get a look in with his form in the ODI series.India (probable): 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 KL Rahul/Rishabh Pant, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5, MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Manish Pandey, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Parvez Rasool/Amit Mishra, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 & 11 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Ashish Nehra/Jasprit BumrahEngland have no reason to change the winning XI that earned them the “complete performance”, according to Eoin Morgan. Adil Rashid will probably get some overs, if not all four, especially if India’s batsmen come back harder.England (probable): 1 Sam Billings, 2 Jason Roy, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Tymal Mills

Pitch and conditions

It’s a much bigger ground but the pitch is likely to be flat which means there will be something for both batsmen and bowlers. Sunday, like the last few days, is expected to see temperatures in late twenties when the match begins.

Stats and trivia

• Amit Mishra is one wicket short of reaching the landmark of 200 T20 wickets
• India have played two T20I games at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur and lost both while chasing. They lost to Sri Lanka in 2009 by 29 runs and to New Zealand in the 2016 World T20 by 47 runs.
• The VCA Stadium has hosted 10 T20I matches so far. Seven of those have been won by teams batting first and three while chasing.

Quotes

“He tries to lead from the front in his body language and the way he plays his cricket. We try to follow suit.”
.”My aim is to bowl stump-to-stump. It will be based on situation and the wicket when I come to bowl, which side of the ground is bigger.”

ScorecardAlex Doolan scored just his second first-class century in three years•Getty Images

Amid all the talk about batsmen competing for a Test call-up, Alex Doolan’s name was never mentioned. And there was good reason: he entered this Sheffield Shield round with 1315 runs at 24.81 from his past three years of first-class cricket. But on the second day at the WACA, Doolan bounced spectacularly back to form with an unbeaten 202 that put Tasmania in a strong position at stumps.Of course, in order to add to the four Test caps Doolan won in 2014, he would likely need a lengthy run of good form to make up for his long lean patch. But he did have a productive Matador Cup, and his runs on the second day in Perth stood out on a Tasmania scorecard on which no other player passed fifty. The in-form George Bailey was lbw for 24 and was one of four Tasmanians out in the 20s.The Tigers had resumed on 2 for 60, with Doolan and nightwatchman Jackson Bird at the crease, and they put on 56 for the third wicket before Bird was out for 22. Bailey, Beau Webster (27), James Faulkner (13) and Jake Doran (41) all made starts, but Doolan was the only one able to go on with it, and finished the day with 33 fours, two sixes, and a new highest first-class score. His 202 had come from 311 balls.Jason Behrendorff picked up 3 for 73 and Simon Mackin collected two wickets for the Warriors. At the close of play, Simon Milenko was the crease on 5, alongside Doolan.