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ScorecardMedium-pacer Hardik Pandya’s maiden first-class five-for and a four-wicket haul from left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh bundled Railways out for a paltry 166 in Vadodara. In reply, led by opener Kedar Devdhar’s unbeaten 69, the home side reached a promising total of 118 for 1 by close of play.Pandya took four of the first five wickets to fall to leave Railways leaving at 45 for 5 in the 16th over. It took a lower-order rally led by Karn Sharma’s 51 to lift the side from 89 for 7 to 166 all out.In response, Baroda lost opener Hitesh Solanki early but recovered through an 87-run unbeaten partnership for the second wicket between Devdhar and captain Aditya Waghmode.
ScorecardFile photo – Parthiv Patel’s 22nd first-class century lifted Gujarat on an otherwise middling day•K Sivaraman

Parthiv Patel’s 122 was the standout performance for Gujarat on the opening day of their second round match against Andhra, taking them to a position of relative safety after a top-order failure.DP Vijaykumar early strikes reduced Gujarat to 14 for 2 after they were put in to bat. Parthiv, who walked in at No. 4, then guided the innings through a 55-run partnership with Bhargav Merai for the third wicket and a 105-run fourth-wicket stand with Venugopal Rao. He also took on the bulk of scoring in those stands, as no other Gujarat batsman crossed a score of 40 on the opening day. Parthiv was the last Gujarat wicket for the day, falling on 122 off 176 balls with 18 fours. Vijaykumar finished the day with three scalps, while D Sivakumar took 2 for 33.
ScorecardFifties from B Aparajith and R Prasanna anchored Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their match against Madhya Pradesh in Indore, but the home side chipped away at the wickets to ensure they did not concede a significant advantage.MP won the toss and opted to field and Puneet Datey provided them with a breakthrough in the fourth over by bowling opener K Bharath Shankar out. B Aparajith’s 133-ball 56 helped them rebuild from there. But MP struck with the dismissal of Abhinav Mukund and once Aparajith and Dinesh Karthik fell in quick succession, Tamil Nadu found themselves at a shaky 115 for 4. Another rebuilding act, in the form of an 86-run, fifth-wicket partnership between B Indrajith and Prasanna took them past the 200-run mark. Prasanna finished the day unbeaten at 51, after Indrajit became medium-pacer Udit Birla’s second wicket of the day.Mumbai v Punjab report: Pacers, Iyer help Mumbai grab early advantage

A gallant unbeaten 136 by Mithun Minhas helped Delhi to post a reasonable total of 256 on the opening day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy league match against Services at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds in New Delhi on Monday.Put in to bat, Delhi lost three wickets for 31 before a fourth wicket partnership of 52 runs off 11.1 overs between Minhas and Virender Sehwag (29) enabled them to make a recovery of sorts. Then after six wickets had fallen for 165, Manhas and skipper Rahul Sanghvi (17) added 72 runs off 18.2 overs. While wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, Manhas came in unconquered.He batted 4-1/2 hours, faced 197 balls and hit 14 fours and two sixes. Arun Sharma was the most successful bowler with four for 45. At close, Services were 24 for one.

England’s new faces have been reacting to their England call-ups for the Test tours of India and New Zealand.Yorkshire off-spinner Richard Dawson admitted his surprise at his selection.”My aim this year was to get into the Yorkshire side, play as many games as possible for Yorkshire and learn as much as I can and now I’m going away with England,” 21-year-old Dawson conceded.”I’m really pleased but I wasn’t expecting this, especially after breaking my hand at the start of the season, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. “I broke my hand in the first game of the season while I was doing 12th man duties down at Kent in April and it kept me out for nine weeks. It was a big disappointment at the time but it has all turned around now.”This is my first season, I’ve only played seven games so I wasn’t expecting my call-up.”Jamie Foster, Essex’s young wicketkeeper/batsman, is still a university student, and keen complete the final year of his degree. But he was delighted by the news of his inclusion.”I’m going to try and combine my studies with cricket," Foster, also 21, said. “Durham University have been working on it for about a week in case I got picked.”I don’t know how it’s going to work out, but Durham have said they’re very keen to work on it and I’m delighted to find out they want to keep me going.”I’m absolutely delighted at the moment. I can’t believe it’s happened – this is what everyone trains for, to go on an England tour and play for England.”Foster is expected to compete with Lancashire’s Warren Hegg for the wicketkeeping role. Hegg first toured with England on the last Ashes tour in 1998-99, and the two Tests he played seem only to have whetted his appetite for more.”I’ve got a second chance because of Alec Stewart’s decision and I’m determined I’m going to take it,” Hegg declared.”I don’t think I’ve let England down in the past when I played in Australia although I know I didn’t set anything on fire with my runs and I certainly won’t let anyone down this time.”Chairman of selectors, David Graveney, revealed that no decision had been made as to who would ‘keep in the Tests.”We see them working together,” explained Graveney. “It’s certainly not the case that Warren’s the senior ‘keeper. They are very much starting on a level basis and James is going to Zimbabwe as well so Duncan will have a better perception of his role in India when they get there.”I think India is as difficult a place to go as anywhere in the world,” he continued. “The Indians have played a number of series in the past 18 months and there has been an absence of Tendulkar, Kumble and Srinath in their team and I’d be very surprised if they didn’t reappear when England are in India.”They are a tough side to play against but it will be a great experience for them to play there and I’ll be surprised if spin bowling isn’t a crucial factor in this tour.”

Rajasthan, taking advantage of a weak Bengal attack, poor fielding andinept captaincy reached 295 for the loss of three wickets on theopening day of their Ranji Trophy Super league Group A encounter atthe Eden Gardens on Thursday. Bad light stopped play 17 balls and 11minutes before the scheduled close.Centuries by opener Anshu Jain and one drop Rahul Kanwath and their254-run stand for the second wicket helped the visitors to take a firmgrip. However, both batsmen will have to thank the fielders forgetting their centuries. Kanwath offered three chances while goingfrom 93 to 97 of 24 deliveries. All were mistimed pull shots. On twooccasions the bowler was Lakshmi Ratan Shukla and on the third it wasSumit Panda. Alokendu Lahiri at deep square leg was guilty of startinglate on two occasions. Then Wrichik Mazumdar dropped the batsman whenhe pulled Panda down his throat. The chances which came in the postlunch session could have bought Bengal well back into the match.On the other hand, Jain was distinctly lucky to see Srikanth Kalyaniat first slip failing to react to his attempted cut shot off RohanGavaskar’s bowling. The batsman then was on 94. He ultimately got hishundred cutting Chatterjee to the point fence.As far as the bowling was concerned, it was quite ordinary, save forUtpal Chatterjee and Shukla. The latter gave the first breakthrough,having Gagan Khoda caught by Haldipur at slip. But after that it was along haul in the field. Kanwath was finally out in the sixth overafter tea attempting to drive leg spinner Mazumdar. He failed to getto the pitch of the ball and the edge was taken at slip byChatterjee. Then Jain trying to sweep Chatterjee was caught bat-pad atslip by Gavaskar. These two wickets revived some hopes forBengal. Kanwath in his innings of 143 had 22 boundaries of 186deliveries. The more circumspect Jain, in his innings of 115 of 266deliveries had 15 boundaries.The match, however, emphasized one fact. Without Saurav Ganguly, thisBengal team is a very ordinary side.

ScorecardRob Key added another hundred to his large collection at the St Lawrence Ground•Getty Images

Rob Key’s first Championship century inside 16 months helped Kent prosper on the opening day of their LV= County Championship clash with Division Two leaders Lancashire in Canterbury.On an overcast day when 26 overs were lost to rain and bad light, Kent’s top-order flourished against a weakened and lethargic Lancashire attack to post 235 for 3 from only 70 overs’ play.Key hit a season’s best 113 and featured in stands worth 72 with Daniel Bell-Drummond and then 149 inside 35 overs with Joe Denly on a day when Lancashire – who began the round needing five points to clinch promotion – clearly expected ball to dominate bat.Without three key members of their pace attack – including the division’s leading wicket-taker in Kyle Jarvis as well as their overseas pro James Faulkner, both with fractured hands – Lancashire elected to field first when play started on time at 10.30am.However, only 28 balls were bowled during a staccato opening session before the players, with Kent on seven without loss, fled for cover from a heavy shower for an early lunch just after noon.Key might have gone for 3, when Alviro Petersen downed a slip catch off Glen Chapple with the home total on 23 without loss, yet Kent’s only casualty of the opening two sessions came after 28.3 overs.With his score on 37 after 103 minutes at the crease Bell-Drummond, walking across his stumps and aiming to leg, was trapped lbw by a Tom Bailey off-cutter to make it 72 for 1.Key scored only four boundaries in his patient 116-ball 50, two of which came with straight drives in successive overs from left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan, as Key and Denly set out their stall to bat time.Denly reached his 79-ball 50 with a sweetly-timed leg-side clip off Chapple for his eighth boundary, while Key reached three figures with an all-run four after straight driving the same bowler. The hundred came off 179 balls and included 11 fours, 10 of them boundaries.It was Key’s first Championship century since May 5 last year when he scored 126 in the win over Surrey. It was also his 24th first-class hundred on the ground for Kent, where he is comfortably the county’s leading run-scorer with almost 8,000 runs to his name.Bad light took the players off for a fourth time shortly before 5pm and Key and Denly both perished soon after the resumptions half an hour later. Denly, playing late to the skiddy pace of Jordan Clark, departed lbw for 65 then Key, after 201 balls, fenced at a Clark lifter and spooned a comfortable catch to gully off the shoulder of the bat in the same over.Lancashire might have finished the day on an even bigger high had Karl Brown held onto a sharp slip chance offered by home skipper Sam Northeast when on 4, but the opportunity, off the bowling of Clark, went to ground allowing Northeast and night watchman James Tredwell to bat out the three remaining overs through to stumps.

ScorecardRory Burns made his highest List A score [file picture]•PA Photos

Rory Burns hit a career-best List A score of 95 to guide Surrey to a 12-run victory over Gloucestershire at Bristol and ensure top place in the Royal London Cup Group A.Both teams could look forward to home quarter-finals from the moment Yorkshire’s game with Northants was declared a no-result because of rain in mid-afternoon.Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson admitted: “We got lucky with the rain-off in Yorkshire, which got us out of jail and means we shave a home quarter-final, despite losing. In the end we have made a close game of it in spite of not being at our best.”A big crowd at Bristol means a great atmosphere for the lads to play in and I think they have played in enough big games now to handle the pressure of a quarter-final.”But it is Surrey who will enter the last eight on the back of a win after running up 291 for 8, with Burns making his runs off 96 balls, with 5 fours and 2 sixes, while teenager Sam Curran hit 42 and Gary Wilson 37.James Fuller was the pick of the Gloucestershire attack with three for 26 from eight overs. The home side, who had won the toss, made 279 in reply, Benny Howell top-scoring with 60. Jade Dernbach returned 3 for 45 and Tom Curran 4 for 65.Coming in after Jason Roy and Vikram Solanki had fallen cheaply to Fuller, Burns soon assessed the pace of the pitch and played with increasing confidence.The inexperienced Aneesh Kapil, who had replaced Steven Davies in Surrey’s team because of a family illness, helped take to score to 70 before being caught at mid-wicket for a well-made 33.Ben Foakes (30) then put together a stand if 72 in 12.5 overs with Burns before being brilliantly caught and bowled by James Fuller, one handed to his left, with the total on 142 in the 27th over.Burns reached a 59-ball half-century, featuring 3 fours and a six, with Sam Curran offering intelligent support in a partnership of 93 in 15 overs. It was 222 for four with ten overs remaining and Surrey looked set for 300.But Curran fell lbw attempting to reverse sweep a full toss from off-spinner Jack Taylor and Burns departed five short of a deserved century caught on the boundary attempting a straight six off Benny Howell.Wilson supplied some late acceleration with two sixes in an over off Taylor and Surrey’s total looked very competitive on a slow wicket.Gloucestershire reached 41 in reply before Will Tavare was caught behind driving at a wide ball from Tom Curran, who also had Gareth Roderick taken by keeper Wilson, having scored 19.Geraint Jones fell lbw aiming to reverse sweep Gareth Batty and when Chris Dent, having made a bright 49 off 51 balls, cut James Burke straight to Burns at backward point it was 97 for four in the 18th over.Kieran Noema-Barnett drove Batty to mid-off and when Jack Taylor was caught behind off Dernbach it was 137 for 6.Howell and Fuller made a game of it with a stand of 90 in 15.4 overs, but when the latter fell 65 were still needed and Howell soon followed, having struck 6 fours in his 77-ball innings. Tom Smith’s 37 not out at the end was too little too late.

Batting allrounder Milinda Siriwardana and 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Mendis have been named in Sri Lanka’s squad for the two-Test series against West Indies.Siriwardana had been expected to make an appearance in the squad, having made an encouraging start to his international career in the limited-overs formats, in addition to top-scoring in the most recent first-class season. Mendis’ selection is something of a surprise, however. He had led Sri Lanka’s Under-19 team in last year’s Youth World Cup, but has only hit one hundred and one fifty in 16 first-class innings so far. Both Mendis and Siriwardana are playing in the ongoing three-day practice match against the West Indians.Mendis’ recent performances in the Moin-ud-Dowlah tournament in India, where he captained the Sri Lanka Development XI, had helped push him into Test contention, chief selector Kapila Wijegunawardana said. Mendis hit 156, 52 and 47 in his three innings in the tournament.”Kusal Mendis has been on our radar for a while,” Wijegunawardana said. “We felt that he earned a spot in the Test squad with the way he has been batting, and the way he batted on the recent tour to India. All the selectors have assessed his skill levels to be quite good and are backing him.”Mendis and Siriwardana displace two more experienced batsmen from the squad. Upul Tharanga has been dropped despite a decent home record in the past two years. Jehan Mubarak has also been replaced, after making the squad for the two recent series against Pakistan and India.The remainder of the squad holds few surprises. Tharindu Kaushal retains his position after having had his doosra banned recently – but he was always expected to remain in the side on the strength of this offbreaks. Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera are the other frontline spin options.Sri Lanka’s top order looks unlikely to undergo drastic change, though each of the top six is likely to be under 30 years of age. Lahiru Thirimanne retains his position in the squad and remains vice-captain although he has only averaged 21.09 in the home Test season. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva look set to rejoin each other at the top of the order after a brief break from opening together in the last Test against India. Kusal Perera’s impressive Test debut, in which he hit two valuable fifties, will likely see him claim a place in the XI as well.Seamer Suranga Lakmal has regained fitness after missing the series against India due to a side strain, and joins Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep and Dushmantha Chameera in the squad. Shaminda Eranga remains unavailable after picking up his third major injury this year, in his groin. There is no place for left-armer Vishwa Fernando, who was in the squad for the India series.Sri Lanka will have to decide whether Kusal takes the gloves or whether Dinesh Chandimal keeps. In the most recent Test, Chandimal had been sent up the order and relieved of the gloves, while Kusal put in an underwhelming performance behind the stumps.The first Test begins in Galle on October 14, before the teams move to the P Sara Oval for the second encounter.Sri Lanka Test squad Angelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Tharindu Kaushal, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera

Opening batsman Fahad Babar navigated USA through a tricky chase with an unbeaten 78 off 54 balls to give the host nation a five-wicket win over Bermuda on Sunday at Indianapolis World Sports Park.USA needed 30 off the final three overs and 19 off the last two with five wickets in hand in pursuit of Bermuda’s 123 for 7 on a slow wicket. Janeiro Tucker struck twice in the 17th over to give Bermuda momentum heading into the final overs but Babar stole it back with a brilliant flourish to seal the match.A misfield at long-on resulted in a boundary off the first ball of the 19th bowled by Tucker and two balls later Babar smashed a full toss for six over midwicket to settle USA’s nerves. After back-to-back singles, Babar heaved another six over midwicket to seal the match with an over to spare.Babar was the glue that held the USA innings together in a match where only he and Bermuda’s Christian Burgess passed 20. Akeem Dodson fell at the start of USA’s chase for a duck top-edging to cover off Dion Stovell in the second over. Steven Taylor came in and struck a pair of boundaries but otherwise struggled to come to grips with the slow pitch, racking up 14 dots in his 17 deliveries before Tucker pulled off a phenomenal leaping catch at midwicket to dismiss Taylor for 9 to make it 38 for 2 in the seventh.Nicholas Standford fell for 10 leg before after missing an attempted sweep to the left-arm spinner Delray Rawlins to make it 62 for 3 in the 11th but Babar never looked fazed at any point during the chase with wickets falling around him. He brought up his 50 off 42 balls in the 15th over and deservedly won the Man of the Match honor.Fahad Babar celebrates his half-century•Peter Della Penna

Bermuda had won the toss and elected to bat first on a warm and sunny afternoon at the ISWP but were mostly held in check by a tight USA spin bowling attack. Captain Muhammad Ghous got the ball rolling by trapping James Celestine lbw for 7 on the first ball of the fourth over to make it 15 for 1.Danial Ahmed and Timil Patel nipped out two wickets each with Patel using excellent flight to secure a pair of stumpings, David Hemp for 20 and Rawlins for 6, as Bermuda struggled to 65 for 6 in the 14th over.Wicketkeeper Burgess resuscitated the Bermuda innings with a series of powerful drives down the ground and produced a 50-run stand for the seventh wicket in tandem with Jacobi Robinson. Burgess dominated the partnership and eventually finished 43 not out. It appeared to be enough for Bermuda before Babar’s late burst clinched the win for USA.Bermuda play Canada in the morning match on Monday at the IWSP while USA square off against Suriname.

In a move towards professionalising the selection set-up in India, the BCCI working committee has proposed several changes to the existing system.The most important recommendation is to scrap the existing honorary set-up, and pay each selector Rs 25 lakh per annum (approx. US$ 57,700). The working committee also proposed that a former player should have retired from international cricket at least ten years ago to qualify for the selector’s job, and that he should not be an office-bearer of the BCCI or any of its affiliated units. All proposals, though, are subject to ratification at the board’s annual general meeting (AGM) on September 27 and 28 in Mumbai.Currently, selectors are chosen on an honorary basis and only get a travel and dearness allowance, while many of them are also office bearers of the BCCI or other affiliated bodies. Explaining the rationale behind the proposal that former players be retired for at least ten years, Rajiv Shukla, one of the BCCI vice-presidents, said: “We do not want a player to become a selector as soon he retires. We don’t want them to be biased as they are the contemporaries [of players who might still be in the team].”Applying these criteria to the present batch of selectors only one member, Bhupinder Singh, qualifies for the new panel. Dilip Vengsarkar, the present chairman of selectors, is the vice-president of the Mumbai Cricket Association; Ranjib Biswal, the East Zone selector, is president of the Orissa Cricket Association; Venkatapathy Raju, the South Zone member on the panel, played his final international game in India’s historic triumph against Australia in 2001 at the Eden Gardens; and Sanjay Jagdale holds the secretary’s post at the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association. He has also served for seven years on the national selection panel and can’t be nominated once again as a representative from the Central Zone.Only Bhupinder, who played three one-dayers in the 1990s, is eligible to serve another term on the national panel but that will happen if his zonal committee, North, nominates him as the representative for another term.The selectors, though, weren’t perturbed by these proposals. One of the members on the panel, which met minutes after the working committee meeting ended to pick the India A squad for the first two matches of the home series against Australia A, said: “This is just a proposal which needs to be discussed again and ratified at the AGM.”If the new norms do get ratified next month, an almost new-look selection panel will pick the squad for the Test series against Australia, which starts in October.Recommendations for junior selection committee (Men)

• Only those who have played for India, or those who have played more than 25 first-class matches, will be considered for appointment.
• Only those who have retired from first-class cricket at least five years ago will be considered.
• The selector will be paid an annual honorarium of Rs 15 lakhs (US$ 34,618).
• The selector will not be an office-bearer of the BCCI or any of its affiliated units.

Recommendations for selection committee (Women)

• Only those who have played for India, or those who have played more than 25 first-class matches, will be considered for appointment.
• Only those who have retired from first-class cricket at least five years ago will be considered.
• The selector will be paid an annual honorarium of Rs 5 lakhs (US$ 11,540).
  
• The selector will not be an office-bearer of the BCCI or any of its affiliated units

Monthy gratis scheme for women cricketers: Those who have played ten or more Tests will receive Rs 15,000 per month, and those who have played five-nine Tests will receive Rs 10,000 per month. The board has also decided to extend the monthly gratis scheme to the widows of Test umpires, as is being done presently in the case of the widows of deceased Test cricketers.Extending a helping hand to other sports: BCCI will contribute Rs 50 crore (US$ 11,539,350) to the National Sports Development Fund to participate in the development and promotion of other sports. Individual cash prizes announced for Abhinav Bindra (Shooting): Rs. 25 lakhs; Sushil Kumar (Wrestling): Rs. 10 lakhs (US$ 23,000); Vijender Kumar (Boxing): Rs. 10 lakhs.

• BCCI will set up a cricket academy for youngsters in the north-eastern states.

Mohammad Asif, the Pakistan fast bowler, has been detained by authorities in Dubai on suspicion of possessing drugs. The fast bowler, who tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone nearly two years ago, was held back by airport authorities on Sunday. According to a PCB official already in Dubai, no charges have yet been brought against Asif, though he remains in the detention centre at Dubai International Airport.Nadeem Akram, a senior board official who is in Dubai handling the case, said officials had not yet identified what the substance is. “It has been sent to a lab for testing but we do not know yet what it is,” Akram, in Dubai since Sunday, told Cricinfo.Akram also stressed that Asif hadn’t yet been arrested and that he had been detained. “No charges have been brought yet. We have a lawyer here and he is due to meet the public prosecutor at 12.30pm Dubai time. We will know more about the case after their meeting.”Akram has been in constant touch with Asif, who was understandably “shattered” by the events, but maintained that he did not know what the substance was and had been carrying it in his wallet for several months.Earlier, a PCB official told Cricinfo that Asif “has been held since the day before yesterday in Dubai. So far the authorities haven’t told us much but that it is on suspicion of possessing a contraband item.” Dubai’s laws on drug possession and use are among the strictest in the region, though the top hierarchy of the PCB has always enjoyed close ties with leaders in the United Arab Emirates.The Pakistan board was to hold a press conference about the issue in the afternoon but decided to push it back till 4.30pm (PST), presumably to wait and hear developments from the meeting between Asif’s lawyer and the public prosecutor.Asif, along with Shoaib Akhtar, tested positive in an internal dope test conducted by the Pakistan board in October 2006. He was initially banned for one year, though the ban was overturned on appeal a month later. Since then, one of the most promising fast bowlers on the world circuit has been dogged by a long-standing elbow problem. The injury had already taken the sheen away from a prodigious start to his international career and this new development is likely to do so even more.