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Aiden Markram manages a smile after reaching his century•AFP

Four wickets fell for the addition of 251 runs in the first two sessions. Nine wickets fell in the third session, for the addition of 88 runs. Under clear blue skies, St George’s Park was close to being a batting paradise. Under lights, it turned into a seaming monster. It’s hard to say if this was fair and balanced Test cricket, but it provided rich entertainment for the Boxing Day crowd, especially those cheering the home side.At the end of it all, Zimbabwe were stuttering at 30 for 4 in reply to South Africa’s 309 for 9 declared. This being a four-day Test – the first since February 1973 – Zimbabwe will need to get to 160, rather than 110, to avoid the follow-on.South Africa’s heroes on this bizarre and breathless day’s cricket were Aiden Markram, who made his second century in only his fourth Test innings and held an otherwise profligate batting line-up together in the first two sessions, and Morne Morkel, who took three wickets and looked utterly unplayable in the 16 overs Zimbabwe faced before stumps.There was seam and there was bounce, and Morkel nipped one in to trap Hamilton Masakadza lbw off the first ball of the innings. Then he nicked off Chamu Chibhabha and Brendan Taylor to end the day with figures of 3 for 20 in seven overs. Vernon Philander, giving absolutely nothing away, had Craig Ervine lbw – the ball pitching on leg stump and straightening to give him the tightest of umpire’s-call decisions – and ended with 6-3-5-1. In just over an hour of batting, Zimbabwe went from elation to despondency, and may have wondered if they – like Don Bradman’s Australians at the MCG in 1936-37 – should have sent their lower order in first.South Africa’s line-up hadn’t had a great time under lights either. From a solid 272 for 4, they lost five wickets for 37 runs in seven overs before AB de Villiers, deputising for Faf du Plessis who is sitting out this Test with a viral infection, declared.When the post-dinner session began, South Africa were 251 for 4. It was a situation of seeming security, but they had lost Markram, who made his second Test century, off the last ball of the second session, and had Nos. 5 and 6 at the crease.Till that point, Markram had been the only South African batsman dismissed by a genuine wicket-taking delivery, Kyle Jarvis getting one to straighten in the channel and finding the edge after forcing the batsman to play.The other three wickets had all been soft dismissals. All three had something to do with the slowness of the St. George’s Park surface, but also with unwise strokes; Dean Elgar, who had moved attractively to 31, flicked Jarvis uppishly; Hashim Amla failed to keep down a back-foot slash; and de Villiers drove early to offer a return catch to Chris Mpofu.And so it was that South Africa began the post-dinner session four down. Only 14.3 overs remained until the new ball would become available, and they would have hoped Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock would survive until that point. As it happened, their entire innings didn’t get that far.Jarvis sent back Bavuma with a delivery not dissimilar to the one that dismissed Markram, before Graeme Cremer picked up a pair of quick lbws to send back Vernon Philander and de Kock. Kagiso Rabada was run out going for a needless second run, before Mpofu had Keshav Maharaj caught at gully to prompt the declaration.When Zimbabwe came out to bat, de Villiers wore the wicketkeeping gloves, with de Kock off the field with a hamstring injury sustained while running between the wickets.Until Jarvis sent him back with arguably the ball of the day, Zimbabwe had struggled to find a way past Markram. He punished anything he could cut or pull, and looked particularly impregnable in defence when the ball was on off stump or straighter. He was seldom tied down by good-length balls on or around off stump, getting off strike frequently by working the ball wide of mid-on, and anything remotely on his legs ran away to the leg-side boundary.A wider line tested him occasionally, his natural inclination to feel ball on bat leading him to play at deliveries other batsmen may have left, but such indiscretions were few and far between. On one occasion, Zimbabwe wasted a review when Blessing Muzarabani, the stick-thin, 2m-tall debutant, beat his outside edge.Zimbabwe made poor use of their second review as well, failing to spot a de Villiers inside-edge onto pad, and so, when they had an actual case to review a not-out decision against Markram on 70 – Chamu Chibhabha struck him just inside the line of off stump and ball-tracking suggested the ball would have gone on to hit the top of middle – they had none left.By that point, Markram and de Villiers had turned a position of relative parity at tea into one of South African dominance. De Villiers, playing his first Test since January 2016, looked like he had never gone away, playing with freedom and stroking the ball to all parts. He announced his arrival with a straight drive off Mpofu, which arrowed between the non-striker and the umpire, and gave Zimbabwe plenty to worry about with a series of boundaries off the back foot – the pick of them a pull for six off a slower ball from Jarvis – early in the second session.Soon after passing 50, however, de Villiers became the third South African to fall to an avoidable shot. Yet again, South Africa had shown Zimbabwe a chink of light when they should have slammed the door shut on them.

Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal (142) and Sanjay Ramaswamy (117*) put on the highest opening stand in the team’s history, powering the side to 285 for 1 at stumps against Bengal in Kalyani. Sent in to bat, Fazal and Ramaswamy put on 259 for the opening wicket before Ashok Dinda had Fazal lbw in the 73rd over. Before that, Fazal brought up his 14th first-class hundred, his third in as many games, in a 232-ball effort that included 22 fours. Ramaswamy, meanwhile, continued his impressive sequence of scores – he has thus far made 161, 7, 55 and 42 this season – and completed his third first-class century which included 14 fours. Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary employed six bowlers on what was a long day for his team.Chhattisgarh‘s bowlers restricted Himachal Pradesh to 175 after electing to bowl first in Dharamsala. In reply, Chhattisgarh were steady on 91 for 1, with opener Rishabh Tiwari (46*) and Ashutosh Singh (40*) raising an unbroken 79-run stand after the early loss of Siddharth Chandrakar. In the morning, Himachal lost early wickets slumping to 25 for 2, 60 for 3 and then 92 for 6. Seamers Pankaj Rao (3-52) and Shahnawaz Hussain (2-60) did the bulk of the damage. There were handy contributions from Nikhil Gangta (26), Rishi Dhawan (35) and Pankaj Jaiswal (25), but those were ultimately not enough to push Himachal past 200. Left-arm spinner Sumit Ruikar cleaned up the lower order with a three-wicket haul.Debutant seamer Heramb Parab’s three-wicket spell meant Goa kept Services down to 228 for 8 at the Palam ground in Delhi. After being put into bat, Services lost opener Vikash Mohan in the third ball off the match as Parab had him caught behind by Keenan Vaz. At the other end, Felix Alemao bowled Ravi Chauhan for a duck and Services were reeling on 1 for 2. Services slipped to 18 for 3 after offspinner Amogh Desai had Shamsher Yadav edging behind. Captain Nakul Verma (64) then restored calm with a 77-run stand in the company of Navneet Singh (27).However, the Parab-Vaz combine struck again to remove the latter. Parab was then on a hat-trick after he trapped G Rahul Singh in front with his next delivery. With Verma also being dismissed, Services turned to Vikas Yadav (61*) and Nitin Tanwar (43). Yadav first put on 67 runs with Tanwar for the seventh wicket before adding 38 runs with Diwesh Pathania. Alemao finished with two wickets.

Results Summary National coach Ottis Gibson had lamented the lack of crowds in the country’s first-class competition. Now, he may know why. A fourth consecutive round of draws means there were still no winners (or losers) in the competition, and though only nine points separate top of the table from the last-placed lot, excitement in the tournament is hardly high.Defending champions, Knights, looked like they may be the first to blink when they suffered a first-innings deficit of 203. Lions then rapidly set them a target of 401 but the Knights held off the challenge. Lions scored 464 in their first innings, anchored by hundreds from Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen. Bjorn Fortuin took 6 for 78 to reduce Knights to 261 all out. A quick century from Stephen Cook and 67 from van der Dussen allowed Lions to declare on 198 for 2 late on day three. They took one Knights wicket that evening and needed nine on the final day, but Luthando Mnyanda and Keegan Petersen held them off for most of the day before Theunis de Bruyn and Rudi Second secured the draw.Titans and Cobras both only batted once against Dolphins and Warriors respectively but even that did not buy them enough time to force a result.Dean Elgar’s 237* and Heinrich Klaasen’s 111 led the Titans to a total of 500 for 6. Dolphins collapsed to the seam of Alfred Mothoa and spin from Tabraiz Shamsi and Shaun von Berg in response. They were bowled out for 216 and put in again. Dolphins were much more composed in their second innings as Sarel Erwee and Cody Chetty both scored their second successive hundreds to save the game.Warriors may not have anticipated themselves in a similar position to Dolphins when they scored 347 in their first innings at Newlands, led by Yaseen Vallie’s 150. Nineteen-year-old left-armer Michael Cohen took 5 for 107 to keep Warriors in check but it was the Cobras batsmen who did the damage. Pieter Malan’s 195 formed the spine of their innings. They declared on 530 for 8 on the third day and removed one Warriors’ opener, leaving themselves with nine wickets to take on the final day. But Edward Moore struck a century and Colin Ackermann (106) only dismissed late in the day, making a result impossible.On the national radar Wiaan Mulder was pulled out of the Lions-Knights fixture after the first day to join up with the national one-day squad. He was not out on 18 overnight. In that same match, discarded Test opener Cook found form with his first century of the summer but de Bruyn did not have the opportunity to go big. He was 44 not out in Knights second innings when the match was drawn. Duanne Olivier, the Knights’ national bowler did not play this round.Elgar showed off his international form with a double-century for Titans. His opening partner Aiden Markram scored 67 while Klaasen, who traveled with the Test squad as a reserve wicketkeeper to New Zealand earlier in the year, made 111. Interestingly, Lungi Ngidi was named in Titans’ squad but did not make the final XI. He did do some substitute fielding.Much was expected of Cobras’ middle-order batsman Jason Smith but he has yet to get going in the competition. He failed to get past fifty but managed his top-score of the season, 41.Top Performers There were 11 hundreds from this round of matches, taking the total number of centuries in the competition so far to 34. Early-season, batsmen-friendly pitches have rendered the bowlers blunt, which will be a concern for the national team later in the summer. Spinners have been the biggest beneficiaries with left-armer Fortuin the latest to prosper. His 6 for 78 for Lions was the standout performance of the week. Left-arm seamer Cohen also claimed a five-for for Cobras.Though the runs are coming fairly easily, Moore has cashed in. He scored a third hundred in four games for Warriors.Spotted at the game Despite the lack of in-stadium support, the match between Dolphins and Titans in Pietermaritzburg was attended by members of a local care home, who were brought in on the first day.

Last week, Nathan Lyon went past Richie Benaud. On the first day in Chittagong, he passed Jason Gillespie. Now, only six men stand above him on the all-time list of Australian Test wicket-takers: Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Dennis Lillee, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee and Craig McDermott. And another five-wicket haul for Lyon was further evidence that he has found a method that can lead to success in Asia.In February, there was 8 for 50 against India in Bengaluru. Then there was 5 for 92 in Dharamsala. In Mirpur, there was 6 for 82 against Bangladesh. And now 5 for 77 and counting in the first innings in Chittagong. Lyon has come a long way from being dropped after his first Test in India back in 2013. In fact, on the first day in Chittagong, Lyon went past Richie Benaud and McGrath to become Australia’s second-leading Test wicket-taker in Asia, behind only Warne.”I think it’s a lot to do with confidence,” Lyon told reporters after the first day’s play. “This is probably my sixth tour in the subcontinent area so I think leading an attack where I’ve played the most games, lead the wicket column with the bowling group, I’ve put enough pressure on myself to go out there and perform well.”I’ve watched a lot of footage of Ashwin, who in my book is probably the No. 1 spinner in the world. So in these conditions it’s all about adapting and learning and probably putting your ego aside, and what works for me in Australia probably doesn’t really work here in the subcontinent. Saying that it’s also my strength as well, so I can’t go too far from that.”I have to put my ego away and really bowl with confidence, in my terms ‘bowl ugly’. That might be round-arm for me, trying to undercut the ball a little bit more but using my stock ball as a variation. I think I’ve learnt a lot in the subcontinent and I’m embracing the challenge.”Lyon was particularly pleased with his success on a pitch that did not provide the kind of turn that he might have expected from an Asian pitch – and particularly one on which Australia had chosen to field three frontline spinners. Not since the corresponding Test in Chittagong in 2006, when Dan Cullen debuted and bowled alongside Warne and Stuart MacGill, had Australia played three genuine spinners in the XI.”I think the wicket’s going to deteriorate, yeah for sure, but I think I might have spun one ball out of 28 overs today,” Lyon said. “There’s not much spin there at the moment so it’s a good challenge for us spinners to challenge the batters and challenge their defence on a wicket like this. But subcontinent wickets around the world spin when the game goes on so I’ve got no doubt that this one will.”Still, despite Lyon’s five-wicket haul, Australia still have plenty of work ahead of them after Bangladesh reached 253 for 6 at stumps having chosen to bat first. Sabbir Rahman made 66 and Mushfiqur Rahim was well set and unbeaten on 62 at the close of play, and if the pitch does deteriorate, first-innings runs will be all the more valuable.”It’s pretty even,” Lyon said. “They played well. Sabbir and the skipper, they batted really well, they took the game on, they played some brave cricket. You’ve got to give credit where credit’s due. They played some good shots. But at the end of the day I was pretty proud of our bowlers’ efforts to go out there and keep fighting all the way through to the 90th over.”As I said before, that was the hardest conditions I’ve ever had. The wicket’s not really doing much, there’s not much spin, there’s no bounce. So to challenge the Bangladesh batters as much as we could, I thought it was a pretty good day to be honest.”

Richard Gleeson picked up early wickets•Getty Images

Richard Levi and Adam Rossington helped blast Northamptonshire to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Worcestershire at Wantage Road to keep them firmly in the qualification mix from the North Group of the NatWest T20 Blast.Levi and Rossington hammered 72 from the first five overs of Northants’ chase of 158 and the rest of the innings was a formality as victory came in the 18th over. Northants climbed to second in the table while a fifth defeat for Worcestershire left them teetering on the brink of elimination.After Richard Gleeson and Rory Kleinveldt shared six wickets to help bowl the visitors out for 158, Levi and Rossington produced a brutal display of hitting. Most of the runs came down the ground with nine fours and four sixes in the opening five overs, with Pat Brown, the 18-year-old playing in just his second Worcestershire match, taken for 26 in two overs.Rossington, having driven Jack Shantry with particular gusto, made 42 in 20 balls before sweeping Joe Leach – the fifth bowler in seven overs – to long-on.Levi, after knocks of 41 and 88 on return from concussion, was again in excellent touch and made 47 from 32 balls before chipping John Hastings straight to cover as Northants reached 100 for 3 a the half-way stage, Ben Duckett also out caught and bowled for a three-ball duck. But Northants captain Alex Wakely and Rob Keogh ended any chance of the chase becoming tight with a half-century stand for the fourth wicket, Wakely heaving two sixes over midwicket in his 46 from 28 balls.Earlier, Gleeson produced a fine new-ball spell after Northants had won the toss. Having not previously taken a wicket in the competition this season he took three in two overs.Joe Clarke never looked settled and stepped away to swing wildly, inside-edging into his stumps. Ben Cox did the same looking to drive a very full ball just outside the off stump and Hastings received a superb yorker first delivery. His first three overs conceded only 10 runs and he finished by matching his career-best of 3 for 12.It was an excellent Powerplay for Northants as Worcestershire made only 35 for 3 but Mitchell Santner tried to inject some momentum into the innings with the night’s first six over long-on as Steven Crook’s only over went for 13. Santner struck another six off Keogh over long-off but picked out the same fielder trying to pump a full-toss.Santner and Brett D’Oliveria recovered the Worcestershire innings from 58 for 4 in the 10th over – Daryl Mitchell, after reaching 33, was given out caught behind trying to cut Keogh – to 105 for 4 in the 14th. But three wickets then went down for just six runs, including the dangerous Ross Whiteley for just 1, caught at deep midwicket.D’Oliveria was left with the lower-order to try and cobble together a competitive score. He was dropped by Ben Sanderson diving forward at short third-man on 32 and went on to flat-bat Sanderson, now with ball in hand, down the ground and drove him past extra-cover before heaving a ball out of the ground over midwicket in the penultimate over of the innings, going on to a third T20 fifty in 30 ballsHe helped add 47 runs from the final four overs of the innings but it was not enough for Worcestershire.

Given Australia’s inexperience in Bangladesh conditions – none of their 14 players have played a Test here before – and the hosts’ record at home of late, Steven Smith is wary of picking favourites for the two-Test series, stressing that this will be a tough outing.There is also the matter of Australia’s recent record in the subcontinent. The Bangladesh series, Australia’s first tour of the country since 2006, gives Smith and his team a chance to improve on their 2-1 series loss to India earlier this year, while adding more consistency to their overall performance.”I think it is going to be a great series,” Smith said, at a press conference after Australia’s arrival in Bangladesh. “Bangladesh are very good here. I am not picking a favourite. We have to be confident in our skill set and hopefully we can get our processes right and have a really good series.”Now it is an opportunity for us to change [our record in the subcontinent]. I thought we did some things really well in India. We just needed to do it for little bit longer, and consistently. This is another opportunity to showcase our skills, show what we learned over there and hopefully give our best foot forward.”The series will also be something of a testing site for Australia’s squad, particularly the bowling attack, with an eye on the 2021 tour of India. Smith shed light on the reasons behind Steve O’Keefe’s omission from the Bangladesh tour, despite a good performance in India, and on Ashton Agar’s likely role as a second spinner after Nathan Lyon.”He [Steve O’Keefe] is unlucky. He did very well in the first Test match in India. He made contributions in the other three Tests,” he said. “We just see it as a bit of a time to try and get someone new into the group.”Ashton has been around for quite a while now. He has worked on his art and become consistent. It will be fantastic to see him get an opportunity. It is obviously four years till we travel to India. It is always a tough tour for us. It is the series that I want to win in my tenure as captain, so it is an opportunity for Ashton get some experience in this condition with an eye to next time we go to India.”Smith pointed out that keeping the pressure on Bangladesh senior players would be key to his team’s chances. Bangladesh have never beaten Australia in Tests.”[Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiqur] have played a lot of cricket and understand their game really well. They are dangerous so we have to be on top of them if we are going to have success.”

Pakistan’s left-arm spinning allrounder Imad Wasim has risen to the top of the ICC’s T20I rankings for bowlers. Imad displaced South Africa’s Imran Tahir, who dropped two positions to third following a poor performance in his side’s series defeat to England. The legspinner had claimed the No. 1 ranking in January but leaking 75 runs in his last seven overs, for only one wicket, has not helped his cause.As a result, Imad, enjoyed his first spell at the top of the T20I bowlers rankings. India’s Jasprit Bumrah occupied second place. Among the other big movers were Tahir’s South Africa team-mate Chris Morris, who jumped up 32 places to the 29th spot, and England’s Liam Plunkett, who rose 26 places to No. 38.England, who had begun their series against South Africa, ranked No. 2 along with Pakistan, now have sole ownership of that position. New Zealand remain the top-ranked team in T20Is.AB de Villiers, who topped the batting charts in the England series with 146 runs, returned to the top 20 in the batsman’s rankings, climbing up 12 places. England opener Jason Roy, who put behind a disappointing Champions Trophy with 103 runs in three T20Is, was rewarded with a career-best 25th position. Virat Kohli continues to be the No. 1-ranked batsman, followed by Aaron Finch and Kane Williamson.England gained two points after their 2-1 victory over South Africa, allowing them to take control of the second spot on the team rankings. Although they had held the same position earlier, it had been together with Pakistan, who have now dropped to No. 3.

ScorecardOn Friday, Luke Wells returned from a knee injury to play his first match for eight months. He was greeted by one of the worst sights for a batsman in cricket: a 90 mph inswinging yorker from Kagiso Rabada down the slope at Hove. As he trudged off for a golden duck, Wells laughed at his own ill fortune in receiving such a delivery. The sport can be cruel like that.But it can also give generously, enough to make up for all the fallow and infuriating times. For Wells, this was such a day: the best of his cricketing career yet, and the sort that he might never repeat.It was not merely about the runs he scored, all 258 of them. It was about the manner in which he scored them. Wells, a batsman with a reputation for adhesive defence, was transformed into a hitter of brutal belligerence.Consider how he handled the 87th over of the day, from Ryan Pringle’s offspin. First, Wells used his huge stride to gallivant down the wicket and heave an emphatic straight six, a shot of such dominance that Graham Clark, at long-off, was reduced to applauding. Then, he pulled Pringle over square leg for another six. Next, staying in his crease, he again launched him straight, this time into the hospitality seating at long-off for a third consecutive six.The fourth ball scuppered hopes of an encore of Garry Sobers’ feat at Swansea in 1968, but it brought no relief for Pringle – Wells’ late, precise square cut still went for four. So did a slog-sweep the following ball. In the circumstances, Pringle could be forgiven for delivering an egregious full toss, which Wells launched over midwicket for another six and, with it, brought up his maiden 250. As if that was not bad enough for Durham, the final delivery was a no-ball to boot. Wells, almost repentant for inflicting such misery upon his opponent, defended the extra ball into the off side, promoting sarcastic cries of “Get on with it” from a few heady supporters.Thirty-four runs had come from Pringle’s over, and 32 from Wells’s bat: not bad for a player ordinarily considered a first-class specialist, and whose top score in 50-over or Twenty20 cricket is just 23.So imperious was his batsmanship that Stiaan van Zyl was reduced to the role of incidental extra even as he scored an undefeated 141; at one point, Wells scored a full fifty, to progress from 157 to 207, while van Zyl faced a solitary ball.If the carnage was not expected of Wells, capitalising on his start was: this was his 36th first-class score over 50, and the 14th time he has converted it to a century. And it was built upon familiar foundations: the assiduous leaves against the new ball; the impeccable straight bat; the driving, especially straight, interspersed with cuts and leg-side flicks. Then, like a gawky teenager discovering alcohol for the first time, Wells experienced a new and thrilling sensation; as he flicked Chris Rushworth over fine leg with no discernible effort, one of his seven sixes, he must have felt a man intoxicated.All the while, van Zyl carried on too. If his century was forgettable set against carnage at the other end, it contributed to history: a partnership of 376, the highest ever third-wicket stand against Durham. The previous highest? That would be Trevor Penney and Brian Lara in 1994, when Lara was en route to his 501. In the closing stages of his innings, Wells felt almost as dominant.By the time he scythed Paul Coughlin to Keaton Jennings to be dismissed, Wells had also made family history, usurping his father Alan’s career best: “I’ve always wanted to beat him in something.”Intriguingly, he credited his red-ball best to intensive training in limited-overs cricket, in an attempt to force his way back into the side. “The white-ball practice that I’ve been doing with Mike Yardy and the other guys has really been paying off – especially against the spinners I feel a lot more dynamic. I can score at a better rate now without taking any undue risks – just natural batting.” It is a window into how the norms of modern batting are being peeled back, and even batsmen renowned as austere are capable of pyrotechnics.Though van Zyl was altogether more restrained, he gave evidence of why he had earned 12 Tests for South Africa. He used his feet dextrously against Pringle and late cut exquisitely against seam to record his maiden Championship century for Sussex. Only just after reaching the landmark, when edging Pringle to Paul Collingwood, who shelled a tricky catch at first slip, did he offer a chance. Wells was chanceless throughout; Sussex utterly imperious.It seemed an age ago that Graham Onions had found away movement to snare Chris Nash with the morning’s fourth ball. His back injury, rendering him unable to bowl, was a cause and symbol of Durham’s dreadful day.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:10

Bangar: Rising Pune have fitted their jigsaw

Ben Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat have been pivotal to Rising Pune Supergiant’s surge up the IPL points table, and their efforts on a dry, up-and-down pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium led them to second with a 12-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad. It was Sunrisers’ first home defeat of the season.Stokes energised a moribund Pune innings with 39 off 25 balls, and his innings, along with 31 off 21 from MS Dhoni, gave them a total of 148 and a fighting chance. Then, bowling cross-seam and extracting inconsistent bounce, Stokes took three key wickets – Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson and David Warner – to ensure Sunrisers never took control of the chase.They were never entirely out of it either, though, and when Unadkat began the last over, they needed 13 runs with four wickets in hand. Incredibly, Unadkat bowled a maiden took a hat-trick to end with figures of 5 for 30.Won’t concede boundaries, won’t take catchesThe first big moment of the game was a bit of quality fielding. Rahul Tripathi, flicking Ashish Nehra to the left of short fine-leg, set off immediately. Perhaps he didn’t factor in Bipul Sharma’s left-handedness. Bipul moved quickly to the ball, took aim, and hit direct at the striker’s end with Tripathi not even close to regaining his ground.It was the only bit of quality fielding in the Powerplay, though; Bipul dropped a sitter at the same position to let off Steven Smith, Siddarth Kaul did not move at mid-on when Ajinkya Rahane spooned a possible catch towards him, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, diving to his left at short fine leg, gave Smith a second life.Maybe it was deliberate from Sunrisers, for apart from a Rahane six over long-on, off Moises Henriques, there were no boundaries in the first 10 overs. There was little attacking intent as well, with Rahane and Smith content to milk leg-side singles for most part. After 10 overs, Rising Pune were 51 for 2.Getty Images

Stokes, Dhoni and the power differenceSmith ended up facing 39 balls without hitting a four or a six. At the post-match presentation, he noted the difficulty of timing the ball, and praised the contributions of his team’s “stronger boys”. Stokes was one of them – he hit three sixes in his 39 – and MS Dhoni the other.Before this game, against the quicker bowlers, Dhoni had scored 75 off 35 balls when they had pitched it full or short, but only 43 off 52 balls off the in-between lengths. Initially, the Sunrisers seamers kept pitching it on a good length or just short of a good length, and Dhoni was batting on 10 off 14 balls at the 18-overs mark. Uncharacteristically, it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar who lost his length, feeding him two short balls and an overpitched wide ball in the 19th over, and Dhoni spanked them for 4, 6 and 6.The cross-seam masterclassWhen Stokes came into the attack, Sunrisers were 25 for 0 after two expensive overs from Unadkat, who kept providing width to Dhawan and Warner, and two quiet overs from Washington Sundar, who kept denying them width. Stokes struck with his first ball and his third, both legcutters. One, bowled cross-seam, hit the shiny side, skidded low, and bowled Dhawan. The other, hitting the seam, bounced extra and kissed Williamson’s glove.Giving himself room against Washington in the next over, Warner hit the offspinner for three fours, but Stokes made sure Sunrisers wouldn’t claw things back too quickly, only conceding two off his second over.Unadkat ends Sunrisers fightbackTaking Stokes’ cue, Shardul Thakur and Daniel Christian mixed up slower balls with cross-seam deliveries, and in tandem with Imran Tahir kept Warner and Yuvraj Singh relatively quiet, with the odd boundary keeping the teams neck-and-neck. Stokes returned in the 13th over and derived extra bounce again; Warner failing to keep down a slash, picked out sweeper cover. When Tahir bowled Henriques with a googly, Sunrisers needed 53 from 36.By the time Unadkat came back to bowl the 18th over, the equation read 32 off 18, with Yuvraj on 47. Both Yuvraj and Naman Ojha fell in that over, caught by sweeper cover, failing to generate enough power against Unadkat’s slower ball.Three twos in Stokes’ final over left Sunrisers needing 13 off 6. They would end up getting 0 for 3 off those six balls, their lower order finding no way of dealing with Unadkat’s slower ball. He kept pitching them at a length that was too short to hit down the ground and not short enough to pull. Bipul Sharma, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar all holed out, one after another, getting far more elevation and far less distance than they desired, and what should have been a tense final over turned into a rout.

Sharjeel Khan appeared before a three-man tribunal set up to hear the alleged corruption charges laid against him, on Friday. Khalid Latif, his team-mate for Pakistan and Islamabad United and similarly implicated, did not appear, however. He cited health reasons, forcing the postponement of his hearing by a week on the condition that no future adjournment would be granted.Sharjeel and his lawyer agreed to the timelines to be adopted under the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code, with the formal hearing set for May 15 in Lahore. He was given a deadline of May 5 to respond to the alleged code-of-conduct breaches he and Latif were accused of during the PSL. The PCB said in a release that it “may, at its discretion, file a rebuttal by May 10”.The tribunal extended Latif’s date, asking him to appear on March 31 to chalk out a timeline for the formal hearing. “He made an application for adjournment via email to the Chairman of the Tribunal citing health reasons and requesting that proceedings be adjourned to next week,” a PCB statement said. “In the interest of justice the request is allowed and the proceedings in respect of Khalid are adjourned to 11:30am on 31st March 2017. Notice would also be issued with a stipulation that no further adjournment would be granted.”The tribunal, comprising Justice (retired) Asghar Haider (head of the tribunal), former PCB chairman Tauqir Zia and former wicketkeeper Wasim Bari, met at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. “The Tribunal in consultation with both parties agreed upon the procedure and timelines to be adopted under the Anti-Corruption Code,” the PCB said. “PCB shall submit its opening brief detailing its claims along with the evidence to be relied on by 14th April 2017.”It is understood that Nasir Jamshed, who was arrested in the UK in relation to the same case, was in touch with both Latif and Sharjeel during the PSL. The PCB, as part of its prosecution, will send two officials to travel to the UK to question Jamshed.”This time period (until April 14) has been agreed in order to give the PCB ACU an opportunity to travel to UK to interview Nasir Jamshed and meet with relevant UK authorities and determine if any of its findings are to be incorporated in the prosecution,” PCB’s release stated.Sharjeel and Latif were provisionally suspended last month under the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code as part of an investigation into an organisation’s alleged attempts to corrupt the second season of the PSL. Both players had denied some of the alleged breaches they were accused of but admitted to at least one of the more minor charges.