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>ScorecardSteve Patterson, Yorkshire’s unsung pace bowler, took five wickets in a Nottinghamshire collapse at Trent Bridge•Getty Images

Yorkshire’s dominance of the second day at Trent Bridge will have been watched with unease at Lord’s, Hove and Chester-le-Street. For those who still doubted as much, it amplified the fact that they are the team to beat for anyone with title aspirations.At some point on day three, barring unexpected defiance from a Nottinghamshire side that has thus far offered little, Yorkshire will add 23 points to their total and open up a 33-point gap between themselves and Sussex, who began the week in second place.That, in turn, will put pressure on Middlesex, who may struggle to save a draw at Derby, and Durham, who will need to beat Surrey to stay in touch, given that they travel to meet the leaders at Scarborough next week without their most potent fast-bowling threat, Graham Onions.Yorkshire need six wickets to secure an innings victory in what has been a performance befitting champions-elect. They have batted and bowled better than Nottinghamshire by a considerable margin and might have been heading back to Leeds already but for Andre Adams and one of their former players, Ajmal Shahzad, delaying the follow-on.Their top-order comprehensively demolished by Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Patterson, Nottinghamshire were 65-8 and threatened with the embarrassment of their lowest all-out total since Yorkshire dismissed them for 59 here in 2010 before the two bowlers began to out bat to ball, aided by a sloppy four-over spell from Liam Plunkett.Plunkett, the former Durham and England fast bowler has enjoyed an upturn in fortunes following his winter move to Headingley but not every day can go his way. Either side of a brief downpour, he bowled four overs for 46, teeing the ball up nicely for Adams to swing the bat, at which point Shahzad decided to do likewise.Adams hit three sixes — one of them caught, but out of bounds, by Adil Rashid — in his 39 off 17 balls. Between them, they propelled Nottinghamshire to 150 all out, which was still 257 runs fewer than Yorkshire had achieved but which at least was less embarrassing.Sidebottom, who knows the terrain here as well as anyone, took the key wickets, dismissing both Alex Hales and Michael Lumb without scoring and setting a trap into which Samit Patel obligingly fell when he chipped a catch to one of two short mid-wickets, taken above his head by Phil Jaques.Patterson, as ever the unsung workhorse in the Yorkshire attack, finished with a career-best 5 for 43. With 43 wickets at 19.6, he is the county’s leading wicket-taker in the Championship.Nottinghamshire did a little better following on, although the England trio of Hales, Lumb and Patel have already been and gone. Hales, who still cannot match his one-day-form with anything resembling progress in the red-ball game, was caught behind for the second time in the day, and Lumb somewhat tamely gave Plunkett a return catch. Patel might be counted as slightly unlucky, having fallen victim to a brilliant one-handed catch, falling backwards on the boundary, by substitute fielder Richard Pyrah when he hooked Plunkett.Sidebottom accounted for Steven Mullaney with a ball that the makeshift opener played all round and needs only one more wicket to equal the career first-class aggregate of 596 achieved by his father, Arnie.If they were lame with the bat, Nottinghamshire had also performed fairly dismally with the ball in the morning, when Jonny Bairstow risked following his omission by England with a cheap dismissal here but was rewarded for his boldness.His 62 from 80 deliveries, supported manfully by Patterson with the bat, steered Yorkshire to a fourth batting point. Indeed, they were not far from snatching a fifth, which would have been no mean feat for a side invited to bat first on one of the most taxing squares in the land.

A South African side, missing their spearhead and their most experienced opening batsman, would be happy with only a 3-2 loss in Sri Lanka, AB de Villiers said on the eve of the dead rubber in Colombo. In one year, South Africa have slipped from first to fifth on the ICC ODI rankings, but their captain suggested a narrow series loss constituted a positive outcome for the side, given the inexperience on tour.Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn were unavailable for the tour because of injuries, while Jacques Kallis is unlikely to play bilateral one-day series in future. South Africa also missed Hashim Amla at the top of the order in the first three matches, due to injury.”It would sound a lot better to lose 3-2 than 4-1,” de Villiers said. “We can’t do better than losing 3-2 right now, but if you look at a tough tour here, with a youngish, inexperienced team, to lose 3-2 would be a great effort in the long run, I think. We’ve got a lot to gain in this last game. I think the guys would take a lot of confidence just losing a series 3-2 against Sri Lanka, thinking ahead to playing against Pakistan in the UAE soon. We’re still working on a few things. We’ve got a lot to improve on with bat, ball and in the field, so we’d like to get that going tomorrow.”

Angelo Mathews wants 4-1 series win

Sri Lanka’s selectors have inserted four young players into the squad for the last ODI, but Angelo Mathews said winning the series 4-1 was a bigger priority for the team than blooding young talent. With Mahela Jayawardene and two senior players rested, Sri Lanka will likely field at least three second-string players on Wednesday.
“We need to have that winning combination all the time,” Mathews said. “If the winning momentum is there, it would be easier for the juniors who come in as well. That’s the perfect environment. It’s important that we groom the youngsters, but there should be a balance.”
Mathews was unworried by his own performance in the series, citing a successful tour to the Caribbean earlier in the month as a better indication of his form. He made good contributions with both bat and ball in the West Indies, but is yet to produce his best in this series, in either discipline.
“I am enjoying my batting,” he said. “If you take my last seven innings I have two half-centuries and a forty. In this series I have only got one opportunity to bat so far. That doesn’t mean that I am not enjoying my batting. I will try to bat up the order and make some runs.”

De Villiers also suggested pressure had paralysed the flair in South Africa’s game in this series, and he hoped that with the series already decided, his side would play a freer brand of cricket. South Africa’s innings has tended to stagnate throughout the series, most notably in the fourth ODI, when they were dismissed for 238 after having been 118 for 1 after 22 overs.”We haven’t played as well as we could recently, and we’re still representing a very proud nation, so there is pressure in this match,” he said. “But the situation allows us to maybe free up a bit – to try a few combinations, and try a few shots that we haven’t tried before and really express ourselves. We’ve been a bit stuck at times in this series. Guys have focused so much on the basics that we almost forget how to showcase our skills. It’s time to let go a bit and also get the basics right, but really free the boys up to play some proper cricket.”De Villiers also conceded South Africa’s attempts to play a spin-heavy attack in Sri Lankan conditions early in the series had been misguided, and that the quicks would dominate the attack on Wednesday. They had fielded two specialist spinners for the first two matches, but had their only victory after moving away from that strategy in Pallekele. Between them, Robin Peterson, Aaron Phangiso and JP Duminy have taken only six wickets in the series, while Sri Lanka’s three spinners have taken 18.”I think we focused a little bit too much on trying to play like them in their conditions,” de Villiers said. “We may just stick with our normal formation of four seamers and one main spinner, with JP [Duminy], who has been bowling really well. He’s been an outstanding performer for us. That makes it a bit easier to go with the extra seamer.”De Villiers himself has struggled with the bat this series, hitting 86 in total at an average of 21.50. He said the paucity of runs was particularly frustrating because he feels in good nick.”I’m hitting the ball as sweetly as I ever have,” he said. “My game plan is in place, and everything else is in place. I’ve received a few good deliveries in this series and the last dismissal was a bit soft. You’d like to think that when the best players in the world get in, they make it count. I haven’t been doing that of late. I haven’t changed anything at all. It’s not like I’m trying different shots. I’ve got my game plan and I’m sticking exactly to that.”

India team for tri-series v WI, SL

MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Irfan Pathan, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar

India have named an unchanged squad from the one playing in the Champions Trophy for the ODI tri-series in the West Indies, which begins on June 28. The continuity is reflective of the team’s success in the ongoing tournament, where they have reached the semi-finals after winning all their group matches.The squad includes five seam bowlers in Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Irfan Pathan and Vinay Kumar, and three spinners: R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra. MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and M Vijay constitute the batting.India will travel to the West Indies following the Champions Trophy, for the series that also includes the hosts and Sri Lanka.The make-up of the squad indicates that the Indian selectors, in relation to the one-day team, have turned their focus firmly on World Cup 2015. India had fielded a new-look team for the Champions Trophy, dropping seniors like Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh. These players as well as others – including Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh – who had been central to India’s success over the previous decade but have had form and injury issues of late, remain sidelined.

The BCCI has announced its first set of proposals to “clean up” the IPL, measures ranging from financial disclosures by players and team owners to curbing the tournament’s controversial “entertainment” quotient, including putting a stop to cheerleaders and after-match parties.The measures are part of “operation clean-up,” announced by acting BCCI head Jagmohan Dalmiya at the end of a working committee meeting in Delhi on Monday. It aims to curb corruption and remove “sleaze” in the IPL by enforcing a “strict code of conduct” for players, support staff and owners, after the 2013 season was hit by charges of spot-fixing against players and by allegations that team owners were involved in illegal betting.Players will be required to reveal sources of their earnings, and owners will have to furnish details of payments and their contractual obligations with players and support staff.Access to the players’ dug-out and dressing room has been tightened once again, with Dalmiya saying that team owners will be restricted from these areas during matches. Owners were allowed in the dug-out and dressing room during the first season in 2008, but following complaints had been prevented from entering those areas thereafter. They now have seating arrangements close to the dug-out. Top officials of two teams, Gurunath Meiyappan of the Chennai Super Kings and Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals, have confessed to taking part in illegal betting, according to the Mumbai and Delhi police.Dalmiya also said that “no selector will be allowed to get associated with any franchise in any capacity.” No member of India’s current selection panel is attached to any franchise, but former selection chairman Kris Srikkanth was brand ambassador for the Super Kings for a period at the start of the IPL.Players and support staff will need to provide their telephone numbers to the BCCI before the IPL, and there will be a larger number of officials from the BCCI’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit at grounds and hotels during the tournament. It was also said that cell phone towers at the ground could be jammed during matches.No decision was taken on the strategic time-out, which accounts for five minutes of every IPL match and came into being in 2010. The two intervals of two and a half minutes each in every innings allow teams to strategise with support staff, and commercially it creates 300 seconds of advertising space. However, according to police investigations that led to more than 25 betting-related arrests in Delhi and Mumbai, the time-out was also an ideal period for the syndicates to adjust their session and spot odds. When Dalmiya was asked about this, he said: “We have not thought about it, it was just a financial exercise.”On Tuesday, BCCI’s secretary Sanjay Patel was quoted in the saying that cleaning up the IPL was an “ongoing process” and doing away with the strategic time-outs had “financial implications.” He did not rule out any future change, however, saying that the strategic time-out could form a part of “additional measures in our programme. We will discuss all other issues, including strategic time-out in our future meetings.”Operation clean-up is a work in progress, Dalmiya said, and IPL captains will be called for a meeting and franchises will also be consulted before a blueprint could be finalised at another working committee meeting.By Sharda UgraThe BCCI’s 12-point “Operation Clean-Up” should, in a twisted way, look like a giant leap for Indian cricket. It is the first formal, even if disguised, admission of errors, misdemeanours and lapses in governance that Indian cricket has made since it became the game’s financial behemoth.It was official acknowledgement that the dirt whirling around the IPL could not possibly be brushed under a carpet of delusion. It involved three players, two IPL team owners, the police of two cities, an umpire who was yanked out of the Champions Trophy by the ICC, two dozen illegal bookies and time in prison.Operation Clean-Up addresses IPL’s corruption issues at two levels. Putting an end to cheer leaders and after-match parties and planning to jam cellphones during matches is at worst a cosmetic change, at best tangential. Cheerleaders are not responsible for cricketers being lured by bookies or owners falling prey to gambling. After-match parties have been off limits in the post-Modi IPL world anyway. Jamming cellphones during matches serve no purpose if deals have already been done.The more serious aspect of the BCCI’s plans involve asking cricketers to spell out their financial investments and partnerships, and for IPL owners to come clean with the details of their payment structures with players and support staff. While it may not uncover ‘black’ or ‘grey’ money dealings but it is the most you can do. It must be hoped that these will be early steps towards financial transparency in the BCCI, signaling a departure from the IPL’s very smelly ‘secret tie-break’ culture.Whatever may have been included in the 12-point list, what stayed off it were the unmentionables. Whether BCCI officials would be willing to have their own financial backgrounds so thoroughly examined. To reveal the channels through which they make profits through cricket. Whether the BCCI would consider re-amending their constitution, rolling back the clause that gave N Srinivasan the latitude to buy an IPL franchise. Whether officials fighting misappropriation of funds cases against them could possibly continue in office.Operation Clean Up is a very small first step. It is the follow through that will tell us whether the BCCI has responded to perhaps the worst crisis in its history with a thorough overhaul of its governance structures, or mere window dressing.

Match facts

Sunday, May 26
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big Picture

The IPL final takes place in Kolkata on Sunday, but all the news surrounding the tournament is about events off the field. As Indian cricket and its fans grapple with the dismaying allegations of the past week, the old Apartheid-era slogan – No normal sport in an abnormal society – comes to mind. However, despite the formal charges of corruption against top Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan, the 2013 season will reach its scheduled end, when Chennai Super Kings play their fifth IPL final in six seasons, against Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens. An assertion of the game being bigger than the individuals that comprise it, no matter how abnormal the environs.Super Kings have had an outstanding season, finishing top of the league with 11 wins out of 16 games, and blazed through the first qualifier to seal their finals berth. They are the only team to have won more games than they lost away from home this season; they have the tournament’s highest run-scorer and joint top wicket-taker. Their fielders have set standards not matched by most competitors. They have been the IPL’s most formidable franchise since its inception, and have the opportunity to enhance that reputation by winning a third title. To do that, however, not only do MS Dhoni’s men have to deal with, and overcome the turmoil caused by Meiyappan’s arrest, but they also have to deal with a tough opponent.Mumbai Indians. Their habit of buying the flavours of the season, and of tinkering constantly with their line-up, produced largely disappointing results in IPLs past. This season began the same way, but they took tough decisions – dropping Ricky Ponting and appointing Rohit Sharma as captain – and hit upon a balanced and successful combination earlier than usual. They delighted their home crowds by winning all eight matches at the Wankhede Stadium, but the final is at a neutral venue, and they lost five league games away from home. They are the best franchise to never win the IPL, but that accolade is a slight to the millions that have gone into making the team.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
Chennai Super Kings WLWLW
Mumbai Indians WLLWW

Watch out for

The Eden Gardens crowd. They are famously passionate. They’ve disrupted international matches because they were displeased, they’ve booed the Indian team because they felt Sourav Ganguly was ill-treated, and they’ve created the most electric atmospheres in famous Indian victories. How will they react to the allegations and charges of corruption in the IPL? Will they just not turn up? Will they arrive in tens of thousands and make their disappointment heard? Or will they remain indifferent and cheer as though nothing has happened?A clash of tactics. The Super Kings bat extremely deep, deeper than is really necessary in Twenty20cricket. Yet they prefer to bat watchfully for the first ten overs, before going mental in the next ten. The strategy may seem ridiculously conservative, but it rarely fails them. Their bowling attack is far from being the best in the league, but there is no obvious weak link, and they use the advantage of a usually daunting target to defend to tremendous effect. Mumbai Indians play to a different plan. Their batting order is short – it ends at No. 6. Only four of those are tested match-winners, compared to Super Kings’ seven, and Mumbai have relied on those four to get the job done. Their bowling attack, however, is power packed and should Mitchell Johnson, Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh have good days, they could neutralise CSK’s guns.

Team news

Unless Sachin Tendulkar has recovered from his arm injury, Mumbai have little reason to change the combination that beat Royals in the qualifier. Mumbai coach John Wright said Tendulkar was unlikely to play. Pragyan Ojha, however, could also be in doubt after the left-arm spinner hurt his shoulder while diving during the first innings on Friday and had to leave the field.Mumbai Indians: 1 Aditya Tare, 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 4 Rohit Sharma (capt), 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Ambati Rayudu, 7 Harbhajan Singh, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Rishi Dhawan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Pragyan Ojha/Munaf Patel.Barring any last-minute fitness problems, the Super Kings should also field the same team that beat Mumbai in the first qualifier in Delhi.Chennai Super Kings: 1 M Vijay, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 S Badrinath, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Chris Morris, 10 R Ashwin, 11 Mohit Sharma.

Pitch and conditions

Contrary to the pitches used during the league stage at Eden Gardens, the surface for the qualifier between Mumbai and Rajasthan Royals was excellent for batting. And the outfield, despite it being damp from rain, was quick. The weather forecast for Kolkata on Sunday is predominantly cloudy with a chance of showers. It is unlikely that the weather will force a washout, though, and even if it does, there is a reserve day for the final on the following day.

Stats and trivia

• The head-to-head record between the two teams this season is 2-1 in Mumbai’s favour. They won in Chennai and at the Wankhede, but lost the first qualifier in Delhi.
• Mumbai have an outstanding record at Eden Gardens, winning five out of the six games they’ve played there. Super Kings’ record isn’t shabby either, with four wins in five games.
• The Super Kings’ top order has a superb record in IPL finals: Suresh Raina averages 60 and strikes at 168, M Vijay averages 54 and strikes at 158, and Michael Hussey’s stats are 58.50 and 133.
• Mumbai have not had any stand-out batsmen against the Super Kings. Rohit Sharma has the best record – 248 runs at an average of 35 in eight innings. Lasith Malinga, however, has 19 wickets at an average of 18 and economy of 7.04 against the Super Kings.

Quotes

“The players and support staff are distressed by the allegations and news reports considering the CSK franchise, the IPL and Indian cricket. The players and the support staff have no knowledge of either the betting or the separate spot-fixing allegations. As difficult as it is, all our focus is on appearing in the final tomorrow.”
.”At this stage Sachin is probably a doubt for tomorrow. We will take a call tomorrow. He is still a big part of our team whether he plays or not. Aditya has done a great job. Sachin is a big part of Mumbai Indians. We play for people like Sachin. We are a family. It’s probably unlikely. We will take a final call tomorrow.”
fronted up instead of Rohit Sharma.

Hampshire 194 for 5 (Dawson 51*) beat Scotland 192 for 7 (Mommsen 60*) by five wickets
ScorecardHolders Hampshire survived a spirited Scotland challenge to win by five wickets and secure their second Yorkshire Bank 40 victory in three days.After winning the toss and being put in to bat, Saltires openers Calum MacLeod and Freddie Coleman added 37 runs inside five overs. But the loss of MacLeod for 13, caught at short fine leg by Chris Wood off David Balcombe, sparked a mini collapse which slowed the Scots’ innings to a standstill.Coleman, after 27, was next to fall, Hamza Riazuddin striking in his first over to leave Scotland on 49 for 2. Matt Machan went soon after for 8, caught by Sean Ervine at midwicket to give Balcombe – playing his first list A game for Hampshire since 2009 – his second wicket of the day.Ervine became the second Hampshire bowler to strike in his first over, forcing Majid Haq to top-edge tamely to Liam Dawson at slip for just 5.Richie Berrington and skipper Preston Mommsen combined to briefly stem the loss of wickets, but their partnership ended when Berrington was stumped off the bowling of Danny Briggs for 19 to leave Scotland floundering on 88 for 5 in the 23rd over.Wicketkeeper Matthew Cross, on debut, added 43 with his captain, before holing out to James Vince off the bowling of Wood for 21. And Wood struck again a short while later, Briggs catching Moneeb Iqbal for a breezy 17 from 12 deliveries.A hard-hitting cameo from Gordon Goudie, 15 from five balls, helped Scotland add 33 runs in the last two overs, as the visitors ended on 192 for 7, skipper Mommsen top scoring with 60 not out.The total looked at least 20 runs light on an excellent batting track against an in-form Hampshire batting line-up, but the home side were soon in trouble. Michael Carberry edged Calvin Burnett behind in the third over, before opening partner Vince was caught by Haq off the bowling of Goudie.And when George Bailey was bowled by Gordon Drummond for 24, Hampshire looked in real danger at 61 for 3 in the 15th over. It got worse for Hampshire just two overs later when Ervine hit offspinner Machan straight to mid-on to leave the hosts 78 for 4, and falling behind the required run-rate.Captain Jimmy Adams steadied the ship in partnership with Liam Dawson, but when the former fell for 51, Hampshire hopes lay in the balance at 130 for 5.But the prospect of an embarrassing defeat was averted by Dawson, 54 from 62 balls, and keeper Adam Wheater, 35 from 32 balls, who batted without alarm to secure the win.

ScorecardA collective batting performance from the Australia Under-19 top order helped the side beat New Zealand Under-19 by eight wickets, as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.Chasing 241, the Australia openers got off to a strong start, as Matthew Short and captain Damien Mortimer added 109 runs at over six runs per over. Short struck a brisk 73 off 60 balls, which included 12 fours, before being dismissed by Rakith Weerasundara in the 18th over. After Mortimer fell in the 26th over, Sean Willis and Kelvin Smith added 101 runs for the third wicket, hitting well-paced half-centuries, to take their side home with more than five overs to spare.Earlier, Australia pace bowlers Matthew Fotia and Guy Walker took three wickets each to restrict New Zealand to 240 for 8. Walker was particularly effective against the top order, dismissing opener Weerasundara for 36 and then Shawn Hicks and captain Leo Carter in quick succession. A 77-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Henry Collier and Ken McClure revived the New Zealand innings, with Collier scoring a solid 133-ball 86. However, the loss of quick wickets towards the end of the innings meant that Australia were left with a modest total to chase.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsPoor shot selection cost Zimbabwe•WICB Media

West Indies may have been without Chris Gayle, but they were not exactly missing his presence at the top as Lendl Simmons matched him for destructiveness, making a chase of 131 look ridiculously simple against a listless Zimbabwe at North Sound. Simmons muscled six sixes – mostly slog sweeps over deep midwicket – in an unbeaten half-century that helped West Indies home with nearly four overs to spare.With the boundary ropes brought forward generously by a few yards, Zimbabwe were not able to take advantage of that after winning the toss, posting an underwhelming total. A partnership of 60 between Malcolm Waller and Craig Ervine gave the visitors some control but either side of that partnership were two collapses.Zimbabwe got off to a poor start, losing three quick wickets in the Powerplay, but their predicament was more due to poor shot selection. Vusi Sibanda slashed a short ball from Tino Best straight to third man; Brendan Taylor attempted a cheeky reverse paddle before he was set and ended up edging to the keeper; Hamilton Masakadza tried to smack another short ball from Best but was brilliantly taken one-handed by Kieron Pollard at backward point. Masakadza’s was not the poorest of shots, but Pollard’s sharp reflexes had the better of him. Masakadza was starting to look dangerous, having clubbed Best for a six over deep square leg the previous ball and he walked back in disbelief.Ervine didn’t take long to settle, driving a low full toss off the legspinner Samuel Badree wide of cover and then rocking back and cutting the same bowler past point when he dropped short. The pair progressed at the rate of five and a half runs an over, and were prepared to wait for the loose ball.Ervine picked up the pace when he cut Darren Sammy over point and then gliding the next ball past the keeper to break a boundary drought that lasted 24 balls. Sunil Narine broke the stand of 60 when he had Ervine stumped, deliberately bowling it wide outside off and spinning it away on seeing the batsman advance. Waller kept the momentum going when he smashed two sixes in an over off Sammy that leaked 18, the most expensive of the innings. Waller looked set for a deserving fifty but was bowled by Narine playing across the line. Waller’s fall halted Zimbabwe’s charge as they looked to beat the average first innings score at this ground, 134.Like Gayle, Simmons began watchfully, plodding to 3 off nine balls before opening up. His opening partner Johnson Charles began in robust manner, clipping the first ball of the chase for four, before ripping into Kyle Jarvis. Charles smashed five consecutive fours in Jarvis’ second over, with two powerful drives off the front foot through the off side, and the remaining through the on side. Christopher Mpofu gave the Zimbabweans some relief when he trapped Charles lbw, lazily prodding forward, before getting Darren Bravo to miscue a pull to mid-on.The relief was only temporary. The captain Taylor had himself to blame when he fluffed a run-out chance against Dwayne Bravo, failing to gather the ball as the batsman struggled to make his ground. It was Zimbabwe’s last hope of creating pressure. Simmons was merciless against the rookie legspinner Tinotenda Mutombodzi, slogging him for two sixes in his first over. Natsai Mushangwe was dealt with similarly, as Simmons peppered the on side with massive blows. Simmons scored his first four after he had already bashed five sixes and he sealed the chase in style with a straight six off Jarvis, who leaked 39 off 3.1 overs.

Abdur Razzak, the left-arm spinner, has been added to the Bangladesh squad for the Test series in Sri Lanka.Razzak, 30, is among the most experienced players for Bangladesh in the limited-overs formats but has not been a regular in the Test side. His last Test came in August 2011, when Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh in Harare.”We received a request from the Bangladesh team management in Sri Lanka and according to their requirement Razzak has been included in the side,” Akram Khan, Bangladesh’s chief selector, said.Razzak will join the squad on Monday, in Galle where the first of two Tests is currently taking place.Meanwhile, another senior bowler, Mashrafe Mortaza said he was worried about the slow recovery from an ankle injury, though he didn’t rule out playing the ODI series that begins on March 23. “I still want to wait for another four-five days but right now the recovery has taken more time than I would have liked,” he said.Mashrafe suffered the injury during the BPL final, when he also hurt his heel after taking the first wicket. He continued playing in the game, but afterwards had to go through a rehabilitation process which was expected to last three weeks.

Kim Barnett, the former England cricketer and county stalwart, is to stand trial accused of harassing his ex-wife.Barnett, who played four Tests in 1989 and was man of the match in his only ODI in 1988, is alleged to have followed his former wife, Janet, to her home and place of work and left pictures of her in his car in locations where he knew she would see them.Now aged 52, Barnett enjoyed a long career in the county game. He captained Derbyshire to the Sunday League title in 1990 and the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1993 before going on to play a key role in Gloucestershire’s glory years at the turn of the century.He was one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year in 1989 and played for Staffordshire as recently as 2010, but was made redundant from his coaching role with the county at the end of last year. He was also dismissed from his job with a luxury car firm last year after crashing a Bentley at 90mph.Barnett denied the charges at North Staffordshire Magistrates Court on January 24 and was granted bail. His trial will take place in March at North Staffordshire Justice Centre.