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Gautam Gambhir’s 82-ball 67 and an unbeaten 62 from Milind Kumar took Delhi to a five-wicket win against Odisha in Delhi. Gambhir’s knock kept Delhi on track in the first half of the 226-run chase and once he was dismissed in the 27th over, Milind stepped up and took Delhi towards victory adding 72 runs for the fifth wicket with Vaibhav Rawal. Earlier, an 81-run partnership between captain Natraj Behera and Biplab Samantray anchored Odisha, who were put in to bat, but the side lost a cluster of wickets on either side of the partnership and were kept to 225 for 9. Natraj Behera top-scored with 50, while Samantray contributed 47.Kedar Jadhav’s swift 131 off 90 deliveries set up Maharashtra‘s thumping 111-run win over Tripura in Delhi. Jadhav, who walked in to bat with the score at 97 for 3 in the 24th over, struck 17 fours and three sixes, while taking the lead in a string of useful partnerships with the lower order. His century guided Maharashtra to 294, a total their bowlers defended easily. The attack combined to bring Tripura down to 91 for 7 in the 26th over. Rana Dutta and Sanjay Majumder resisted with an eighth-wicket partnership of 75, but Maharashtra wrapped up the innings for 183 soon after Dutta was dismissed. Majumder followed up his earlier three-wicket haul with an unbeaten 52 off 68 deliveries. Part-time offspinner Swapnil Gugale took 4 for 21 and also effected a run-out.Vidarbha put behind their disappointment of an earlier three-run loss to Odisha by brushing past Baroda by seven wickets to record their second win in three matches in the 2015-16 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Ravikumar Thakur, the left-arm seamer, picked up four wickets to restrict Baroda to 173. As many as eight batsmen got off to starts, with the highest score being Ambati Rayudu’s 40. Thakur was backed up well by Rajneesh Gurbani and Ravi Jangid, who picked up two wickets apiece. Vidarbha lost two wickets inside 15 overs, but Faiz Fazal steered them forward. While he fell 11 short of a century, S Badrinath, the captain, saw the team through with an unbeaten 47, Vidarbha winning with eight overs to spare.

Mahela Jayawardene takes the winner’s cheque for the ODI series without really being tested by the opposition © Cricinfo

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said that it was difficult to judge how much Bangladeshpushed the hosts because of the quality of cricket his team played in both the Testand one-day international series. Jayawardene’s men routed Bangladesh with comprehensive 3-0 victories in both the Test and one-day series, not giving the opposition any chance to make a comeback.”They tested us on a few occasions in the Test matches as well as in the ODIs, but we showed a lot of quality and a lot of character to come back from different situations and we challenged ourselves to be different. We could have taken things easily but we didn’t. We wanted to play very positively even in the Test matches and try to get it done with as quickly as possible. In that manner it is very difficult to say whether Bangladesh really pushed us,” he said.”The way Bangladesh plays, they come hard at you for a while and then they give up. You just need to hang in there for that period and fight it off. Once we get that advantage we just move forward. That has been the pattern throughout the series. Our game plan was to not let them have early success. That was the trend even today. We never took the foot off the pedal. Weneeded to win the series 3-0, that’s the goal we set ourselves. The way we finished it off showed we played good cricket.”Jayawardene was all praise for Man-of-the-Match Jehan Mubarak who was the top scorer in thematch with an 83-ball 72. “It’s brilliant to see the way Jehan batted today. We opened roles for a lot of guys and Jehan put his hand up and said that he is ready to take responsibility, which isexcellent. Today’s innings showed that we can fit him in at any position in the batting line-up. We started off with him at seven. Today we pushed him at five just to give him more batting time in the middle,” Jayawardene said.Mubarak who has been in and out of the team due to indifferent form said: “There hasalways been talk that I have not been playing to my full potential and making use ofthe opportunities I’ve got. In that context it is definitely satisfying to go out there and win a match for your country in slightly difficult circumstances.”It gives me a lot of confidence and a feeling that I belong in this team and that I am a part of the team. I feel that my game now is a bit more complete than what it was a year ago. There’s a lot of room for improvement. Hopefully I can build on it and cement my place in the side.”Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, felt they had missed a great opportunity to beat Sri Lanka who were without the service of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. “Both in the first match and today we had a chance of winning, but our batting let us down. Although we missed a number of chances today, our bowling was good torestrict Sri Lanka to a total of 196 in 40 overs, but our batting has been thebiggest problem. Throughout the series the bowlers have bowled well. The resultshave not come our way because of the batting. There is room for improvement, wecould have done much better.”Asked whether Bangladesh missed the services of former coach Dav Whatmore, Ashrafulreplied: “Shaun Williams did a very commendable job in the series. If the playersdon’t play well, even Whatmore or any other coach can’t do much.”The match was also the farewell for Sri Lanka’s interim coach Trevor Penney who willbe joining Tom Moody as his assistance in Western Australia.”Half way through the match I was worried whether we were going to win. I really wanted to go out with a win. At the end before the last wicket fell I thought this is the last time I will be with the guys. That was quite a sad moment but I’ve made my decision and I’ve got to move on with it now,” Penney said.Penney described the Sri Lankan team as “a talented bunch of cricketers” and saidthat he was very much impressed with the progress they have made over the past twoyears. “When I first came they weren’t batting well but the players have made a lot ofimprovements, most importantly the middle order batting in one-day cricket. Themiddle to late-order, that’s a real plus for me. The fielding’s improved and so manythings. I’ve made a lot of friends, and that’s the saddest part,” he said.Sri Lanka will have four weeks off from international cricket and when they begin inSeptember they will have Trevor Bayliss as coach and Paul Farbrace as assistantcoach for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.

John Reid: “It’s going to be very difficult for Darrell Hair from now on” © Cricinfo Ltd

John Reid, the New Zealand Cricket president, believes a lack of video evidence will not harm the allegations of ball-tampering against Pakistan. Reid, speaking to in his capacity as a match referee from 1993 to 2002, said there were “quite a number of occasions” during his career as an official that there were concerns over the tactics of Pakistan’s bowlers.In 2000 Reid fined and suspended Waqar Younis for a game for tampering and was called “racist and biased”. “It’s obvious he was in the wrong but the umpire or referee gets the blame,” he said.Reid said in the current case the only evidence Hair needed to prove the allegation was the ball. “Everyone is saying there is no video on this,” Reid said. “You don’t need video evidence. You’ve got the ball … They would have had the ball at the meeting [when the charges were laid]. They wouldn’t do that unless the ball showed a lot of evidence of ball tampering.”Reid told the paper Hair had “done a good job” but had gone “one step too far” with his request for a payout of $US500,000. “It’s going to be very difficult for Darrell Hair from now on I would imagine,” he said. “He’s a well respected umpire. OK, he’s a tough old bloke but you’ve got to be a tough old bloke every so often.”Reid said Imran Khan, who last week labelled Hair a “mini-Hitler”, was one of the pioneers of tampering. “He wrote a book about it,” he said. “Have a look at the book. There was a chapter in there saying how to do it. It’s a joke, I’m afraid.”

Bobby Simpson has been appointed the new coach of the Netherlands. Simpson, a former Australian captain and coach, will replace Emmerson Trotman, who had eight years in the role and helped the team to their first win in a World Cup.The former Queensland opener and Netherlands batting coach, Peter Cantrell, has been overseeing the team in the interim after Trotman left the post.Simpson, 68, coached Australia in the mid-1980s, and his tenure lasted a decade, during which time the team won the World Cup and regained both the Ashes and the Frank Worrell Trophy. He has also coached Leicestershire and Lancashire.

No answer: Darren Gough was powerless to prevent West Indies’ back-to-back wins in St Lucia© Getty Images

The vultures are circling round Darren Gough. Although endless rain has limited him to three and a bit appearances in the Caribbean, many people have seen enough to convince themselves that Wednesday’s seventh and, mercifully, final one-dayer will be the last of his illustrious career.It’s not that Gough hasn’t been trying. As always, he has given his all, but his all is no longer good enough. As a one-day bowler, he will be remembered as one of England’s finest. But whereas in the past he mixed pace with guile, now all that’s left is guile, and even then there hasn’t been too much evidence of that.On Sunday, Gough commanded no respect from the West Indies batsmen – several times he was smacked back over his head. Until recently that would have been answered with a snorter, either a yorker or bouncer, to remind the batsman how unwise his actions had been and just who he was dealing with. But in St Lucia there was no response. Gough ended with 1 for 67 off 8.1 overs, conceding more than eight an over for the first time in his ODI career.The decline has been alarming, and it must be causing a few jitters with his new employers in Essex. As recently as last summer, he was at his chest-pufffing best against South Africa. But less than nine months later, the cupboard looks bare. In fairness, it is hardly surprising, given the seriousness of the injuries he has suffered in the twilight of his career, that his body is packing in fairly rapidly.He worked hard in the gym after the end of the English summer and convinced the selectors that he was fit. But he was like a shot heavyweight – physically looking as good as ever, but with no punch. They say a boxer can ‘lose it’ alarmingly quickly, even in the course of one fight. So, it seems, can fast bowlers.In a sport with an increasing emphasis on youth, the inclusion of Gough in the England side was seen as the possible exception to the trend. The older head, a legend to encourage the young guns, to lead by canny example. Even though he still has enthusiasm by the bucketful, he simply cannot hack it where it matters.It might be foolish to write him off – many have done so in the past, only to have to eat their words. This time, however, there is a feeling that the writing really is on the wall.He should be allowed a final tilt at the windmill, and despite mediocre performances he ought to play at Bridgetown, bowing out in front of a full house and, hopefully, with respectable figures. He deserves nothing less.

Six weeks ago, whilst reading the Sunday Times, I responded to an article that has had quite an effect on my life.I read about Jane Tomlinson, a mother of three in her thirties who at the age of 26 was diagnosed as having breast cancer.She underwent a mastectomy only for the cancer to return 3 years ago.The cancer has returned to her lungs and bones and she was told by specialists that her condition was incurable and she had only months to live.It was at this time that she took up running in the hope that she might be able to fulfil a new ambition, to run the London Marathon. She began training in May 2001 and ran six days a week in preparation for the event in the following April.Her training was being hampered by her illness. The tumour on her lung had become so large that it was making her breathless. She soldiered on and through great pain, clocking up the miles in preparation for the 26 mile run.In April last year Jane completed the marathon followed, in August by the London Triathlon and in November she ran the Great North Run!She is the only terminally ill person to have completed each of these events and has maintained her training alongside sessions of chemotherapy which is extremely debilitating.She was hoping to compete in this year’s London Marathon but is not well enough to run. She is doing a tandem ride from John O’Groats to Land’s End instead. Again, during this mammoth ride she will undergo sessions of chemotherapy.It was at this point, whilst reading the article, that I realised I had to support Jane and offered to run the London Marathon for her charities with Cancer Research the main recipient.Jane’s cancer has now spread to seven parts of her body. She lives with this pain and continues to be determined and enthusiastic despite this.I am running for her, she will die soon; your support will be well received.

West Indies captain Carl Hooper said today that the victory againstZimbabwe in the Coca Cola Cup triangular series had given a lot ofconfidence to his side and he was now looking forward to defeatingIndia in the next game to be able to go into the final with a positiveframe of mind."We need a confidence booster before the final and hope to win againstIndia at Harare," Hooper said after his team clinched a five-wicketwin over Zimbabwe in a nail-biting finish to confirm their place inthe final. "The final against India would be a good match. Zimbabwepushed us real hard," he said after pipping Zimbabwe with just a ballto spare.Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak said it was unfortunate to sufferanother loss. Patting the middle order for the splendid recovery,Streak said "After the quick loss of the three top order batsmen,Wishart, Flower and Whittal chipped in with good scores. I thought 250was a competitive score."Grant Flower who won the man-of-the match for his superb 94 wasdisappointed to end up on the losing side. "What can you say," hesaid.On the repeated collapse of the Zimbabwe top order in this series,Flower said newcomer Dion (Ebrahim) was a quality opener and hoped hewill come good soon. "He is a new guy and he will come good, though hedid not have the best of series."

Journalist Andrew Musgrove claimed that Newcastle United defender Dan Burn ‘had a shocker’ in Sunday’s heavy defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.

The lowdown

Spurs hammered Newcastle 5-1 in north  London, with Fabian Schar’s 39th-minute opener a distant memory by the time the final whistle sounded.

It was the first time the Magpies had shipped five goals since Eddie Howe took over in November and the third time they had lost by a four-goal margin (along with their 4-0 defeats against Leicester City and Manchester City).

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In a marker of just how poor their defensive performance was, they gave up 3.61 expected goals against, their second-highest figure of the season.

Burn, a January signing from Brighton, made his eighth start in succession at the heart of the Newcastle back four, but it was not one that he will care to remember.

The latest

Musgrove tweeted in the final knockings of the game that the 6 foot 8 colossus had endured something of a nightmare afternoon at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, although the journalist stressed that it was hard to identify anyone for Newcastle who came away smelling of roses.

His tweet read: “Dan Burn has had a shocker today. That said, hard to pick anyone who has had a good day.”

The verdict

The statistics confirm that it was a real struggle for Burn against Tottenham on Sunday.

His SofaScore rating of 5.9/10 was the second-lowest among Newcastle’s outfielders; only midfielder Joelinton (5.8) fared worse. The defender also failed to win any of the three ground duels that he contested and lost possession eight times over the course of the match.

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It’s worth stressing, however, that the 29-year-old has largely been very good since he arrived on Tyneside.

Howe said in March that he could not ‘credit Dan enough’ for the player’s impact at the club, in particular the leadership he has provided, while The Athletic’s Chris Waugh argued that the ‘excellent’ Englishman deserved a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad, so yesterday may simply have been a rare off-day for the ex-Brighton giant.

In other news, Newcastle could sign one of Burn’s former team-mates

Match facts

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

	Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar could form a probable dream opening pair for Mumbai © Getty Images (file photo)

The Big Picture

The bottom-placed Mumbai Indians are running out of time to salvage their season as they prepare to take on the Kolkata Knight Riders. After going four matches without a win, and with their top stars failing to deliver, their strategies at the auction are on the verge of being exposed. Besides their desperate search for their first points, they have added concerns – Harbhajan Singh has been banned for 11 matches, and the wait for Sachin Tendulkar to overcome his groin injury continues. Kolkata, on the other hand, will be trying to get back on track after the loss to the Chennai Super Kings, their first in the tournament. Meanwhile, the match will be played on a new surface after the pitch for the first game at the Eden Gardens came in for considerable flak.

Watch out for …

… the probable return of Tendulkar, and if he does, his face-off with Ishant Sharma, as well as a dream opening partnership with Sanath Jayasuriya. This will be the last IPL game this season for Brendon McCullum and Ricky Ponting, and both of them will be keen to sign off with a bang. Sourav Ganguly is under the scanner after scoring just 36 runs in three games, while David Hussey has an opportunity to make up for his second-ball duck against Chennai. Kolkata’s bowlers took just one wicket among them in their previous game, and they will look to put in an improved showing.

Team news

Tendulkar was seen doing the rounds ahead of Mumbai’s match against the Deccan Chargers, indications that he might be close to being 100% fit. He is slated to lead the side, but if he fails to make it Shaun Pollock will continue as captain, a role he has taken over in Harbhajan’s absence. Luke Ronchi’s place is uncertain as he has managed only 34 runs from four matches at 8.50, and Mumbai may consider bringing in Loots Bosman, the South African opening batsman in his place with Pinal Shah keeping wicket.Mumbai: (probable)1 Sachin Tendulkar (capt), 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Luke Ronchi (wk), 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Shaun Pollock, 6 Abhishek Nayar, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Musavir Khote, 9 Ashish Nehra, 10 Dhaval Kulkarni, 11 Siddharth Chitnis.Kolkata are likely to retain the same combination that they have fielded in their first three matches.Kolkata: (probable) 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 5 David Hussey, 6 Mohammad Hafeez, 7 Laxmi Rattan Shukla, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashok Dinda.

Kolkata have conceded 28 extras, the most in the tournament so far.

Tendulkar has played five Twenty20 matches in his career, scoring 198 runs at an average of 39.60.

Quotes

“Quite a few issues were discussed [in the team meeting], including our performance so far in the IPL. Because of the Harbhajan Singh-Sreesanth incident, I also made the point that our conduct had to be exemplary, both on the field and off it.” John Buchanan, Kolkata’s coach, talks to about his team’s preparations ahead of the match”We are trying hard and we hope to bounce back like Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy side in the 2006-07 season.”
Abhishek Nayar, one of Mumbai’s key performers, tries to derive some inspiration

The 18th Lilac Hill game will go ahead with New Zealand playing the Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI © Getty Images

New Zealand will prepare for the Chappell-Hadlee Series in December by appearing in the annual Lilac Hill fixture in Western Australia. The 18th edition of the match was in doubt due to the altered international calendar, but New Zealand agreed to use the game against the Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI on December 7 to assist their defence of the trophy.”We are ecstatic that the Lilac Hill tradition, which has spanned almost two decades, will continue,” Graeme Wood, the Western Australian Cricket Association chief executive, said. New Zealand have a Twenty20 International against Australia at the WACA on December 11 before the first of three Chappell-Hadlee games starting in Adelaide on December 14.Michael Brown, the Cricket Australia manger of operations, was pleased New Zealand Cricket had agreed to keep the game on the summer schedule. “I’m sure this traditional fixture will again be one of the highlights of the summer in Western Australia,” he said. Sri Lanka will play two Tests in Australia in November, but India’s delayed arrival means the first of the four Tests will begin in Melbourne on Boxing Day.