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Scorecard
File photo: Pujara scored his second double-century in two matches•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

After the third day’s play, both captains had talked about a deteriorating track at the Saurashtra University ground and how it was an open game. Karnataka’s leader Stuart Binny had targetted limiting the home team to 150. Cheteshwar Pujara alone scored nearly twice that, and Saurashtra bludgeoned 195 in a breathtaking morning session that put the game beyond Karnataka.It was Pujara’s second consecutive second-innings double-century, and he once again displayed a wide repertoire of strokes that should quell doubts over his ability to flourish in limited-overs cricket. There were 40 fours in his 275-ball 261. With the national selector Rajinder Hans watching, Pujara helped his chances of getting his ODI debut in his hometown in two days’ time.Binny had been disappointed with the way his spinners bowled in the first innings. The second innings was worse. Much worse. All three spinners – KP Appanna, newcomer K Gowtham and part-timer Amit Verma – average above 50 this season, and on the fourth day in Rajkot, it was evident why. None of them could maintain a steady line and length to build pressure, routinely dropping it short or wide or on the pads. It didn’t take long for the dressing-room advice to change from [wickets will come) to [bowl a little more tightly].Karnataka gave their fast bowlers only a handful of overs before lunch, relying instead on spin. It proved a costly move, as Sagar Jogiyani and Pujara ripped the slow bowlers apart, with 28 fours and two sixes in the session. So deflated were Karnataka that a few overs before lunch, they turned to the gentle offbreaks of KL Rahul and Binny, who bowled offspin instead of his usual medium-pace as the track was beneficial to the spinners.Jogiyani was the aggressor in the first hour, regularly slog-sweeping the spinners towards midwicket or guiding them down to fine leg. Pujara get many of his early runs behind the wicket, using deft late cuts or lap-sweeps, one of which sent the ball behind the keeper to the sightscreen. The bigger strokes only came out to the bad balls, like the half-trackers on leg stump that Gowtham served up, which were duly dismissed for leg-side boundaries.Jogiyani fell after reaching 70, but Pujara once again showed his appetite for large scores. On reaching his century, there was hardly any celebration, just a perfunctory wave of the bat. A Ranji hundred for Pujara is like Lionel Messi scoring one goal in a game. They are just warming up.As the innings progressed the scoring rate only increased, and he looked to get to his double-century with a shot he hadn’t played all innings: a reverse-sweep. He didn’t connect properly, prompting some advice from the dressing room, and he got the milestone with a glance behind square leg off the next ball. Soon after, he played three successive reverse-sweeps against Appanna. There had been no sixes in his innings as well till he decided to bring up his 250 with a huge hit over midwicket. It took him only 34 deliveries to go from 200 to 250.Long before that Karnataka’s spirit had faded. There were some bad misfields and some lazy cricket. On one occasion, bowler HS Sharath didn’t even realise the throw from the deep wasn’t just coming to his end but at him, and noticed it only when his team-mates shouted for him to “watch out”, as though he was a bystander at a nets session. Add to that knee injuries to three of their fielders, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa and Kunal Kapoor.The only phase in which the bowlers had a bit of a say was just after lunch when Karnataka used both their quicks, with Sharath bowling bouncer after bouncer at Pujara. The batsman was troubled a couple of times early on, nearly gloving a catch to the keeper but was soon back in command. In the next Sharath over, he pulled a short ball for four, then glanced another to fine leg for a boundary before making it a hat-trick with a thrilling upper-cut over the slips. Mithun could be heard advising Sharath to not bowl it short every ball.Otherwise, it was all Saurashtra. “In my lifetime I have never seen any team score 462 runs in a day,” a dejected Karnataka coach J Arunkumar said at stumps, highlighting the utter dominance of the home side.

George Bailey is one of the more amiable men in Australian cricket, and certainly one of the most straight-talking, but don’t suggest to him that he will be leading a B-grade side into the first ODI against Sri Lanka on Friday. At Bailey’s pre-match press conference on Thursday, he bristled noticeably when asked about the perception that without Michael Clarke, David Warner, Shane Watson, Matthew Wade and Michael Hussey this was a second-string side.”It’s still the Australian cricket team, isn’t it?” Bailey said. “I’m sure Sri Lanka won’t be taking it as the Australia B-team.”It is natural for a captain to defend his team, but there is no escaping the fact that this is one of the least experienced outfits Australia have ever fielded in a one-day international. There will be three debutants for the first time since Steve Waugh, Bruce Reid, Dave Gilbert and Simon Davis all played their first game together in January 1986. And those three debutants, Phillip Hughes, Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja, will occupy the top three batting spots, the first time that has happened since the days of World Series Cricket, when Graeme Wood, Rick Darling and Graham Yallop did so in Antigua in 1978.”Certainly all three have all earned their place – their domestic cricket record is outstanding,” Bailey said. “A couple of Twenty20 games that Finchy has played [for Australia], he’s played really well and was man of the match in one of those. Hughesy is obviously really at home in the Test side since he’s been back there. They fully deserve it. Their domestic form has been really strong and they all have outstanding games for international cricket, Ussie and Hughesy in all forms.”In fact, it is their likely presence in Australia’s Test squad to tour India that is one of the reasons Hughes and Khawaja are part of the ODI group, although both men have also enjoyed very productive Ryobi Cup campaigns this season. The selectors are keen to keep Khawaja and Hughes in the national setup and away from the Big Bash League in the lead-up to another important Test series, and that is just one of the selection factors.For the same reason, men like Clarke, Warner and Wade are being rested ahead of heavy commitments, while longer-term planning for the 2015 World Cup meant the selectors felt there was little point playing the retiring Hussey. Whatever the case, the changes will provide opportunities for several players, including the debutants, Bailey, Glenn Maxwell and David Hussey, to impress the selectors and stake claims for inclusion on the Test tour of India.”I think there are opportunities … for a lot of guys in the side, the newer members of the side, to push for a claim on that Indian tour,” Bailey said. “There is a lot of one-day cricket and some big Test tours coming up as well going forward and there are some holes that have been left in that Australian side … There’s no doubt there are opportunities to be grabbed.”I’m not sure there’ll be many blokes out there tomorrow thinking too much about the Indian tour. I think it’s going to be challenging enough and enough on our plates trying to win this series let alone worry about that. It’s a really simple equation for the batting group, and that’s to score runs and be in good form for as long as you can to prove that you’re a match-winner, to play spin well, and if you do all those things you’ll certainly emerge.”Not only are there places up for grabs for this year’s trips, but also the opportunity to become a regular in the one-day side. Michael Hussey’s retirement will open up at least one full-time position, for which Finch might have the front-running as a short-form specialist, and although the World Cup is still two years away, the selectors are keen to blood some potential World Cup players now.”There’s a real air of excitement within the group,” Bailey said. “There’s no doubt the side’s been picked with an eye on the World Cup in 2015 and hopefully by that stage, the guys that make it there, if they are the debutants now, have 40 or 50 games under their belt and feel more and more comfortable.”We want them to go out and bat and bowl exactly as they are and not feel as though they have to replace a Ricky Ponting or a Mike Hussey. The skills the guys have got are good enough. it’s about them going out and feeling comfortable enough to express that and I think if we do, this side’s certainly good enough to get this side off to a really good start to the series.”

ScorecardLower-order batsmen Jimmy Neesham and Neil Wagner scored 74 runs in 7.4 overs to steer Otago to a three-wicket victory against Auckland. Despite Nathan McCullum’s 77, Otago were reduced to 169 for 7 in their chase of 218, after Chris Martin and Mitchell Mclenaghan took three wickets each. However, Neesham struck some heavy blows and took his side to the target. A 57-run first-innings lead helped Otago get an achievable target to chase, as Colin Munro’s century had helped Auckland to a strong second-innings total of 274.Auckland, batting first, succumbed to seamer Ian Butler on the first day, and they couldn’t overcome the disadvantage caused due to this throughout the rest of the match. Munro scored 59, but besides him and Lou Vincent, no one provided resistance to Butler as Auckland were bowled out for 196 in the 52nd over. Otago finished the day at 86 for 0, firmly in control of the contest.But this strong foundation of a 103-run opening stand gave way to a lower-order collapse as 25-year old seamer Dean Bartlett took five wickets to bowl them out for 253. At 240 for 4, they lost their last six wickets for 13 runs. Opener Aaron Redmond was the top-scorer with 98, and his opening partner Hamish Rutherford scored 70, but of the following batsmen there were six who scored in single digits, and only one of them scored more than 17 – middle-order batsman Sam Wells. Well’s was the fifth wicket to fall, and it led to the collapse.Auckland’s comeback was undone by Butler again. He dismissed the openers, to contribute to their disarray at 96 for 5. But Munro and Craig Cachopa steadied the innings by sharing a 96-run stand. After Butler removed Cachopa and Kyle Mills to leave them at 198 for 7, Munro rallied with No. 9 Bruce Martin to push their side to 274. Munro’s 118 off 124 deliveries featured six hits for sixes.Martin and McLenaghan consolidated on the platform provided by his knock, and Otago’s top order was rocked early. Redmond and McCullum, and later McCullum and Wells kept them in the hunt for the target. But this time, Wells’ dismissal in the 53rd over did not lead to another collapse, as Otago fought it out to win by three wickets.

Michael Hussey is entering his 19th season of first-class cricket. In all that time, he has not faced a better attack than the South Africa group led by Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander. Since Steyn and Morkel arrived on the scene, Hussey has played eight Tests against South Africa for a top score of 50. Next week, he will walk out on to the Gabba and attempt to rectify that record with only one Sheffield Shield match behind him. He’d better hope it doesn’t rain in Melbourne over the next four days.Hussey is the first to admit that his preparation, which virtually begins and concludes with a Shield match against Victoria starting on Thursday, has been far from ideal. Even in the lead-up to the disastrous 2010-11 Ashes, a series that led to the Argus review and serious criticisms of Australia’s preparation, he had played two Shield games before the first Test. Now, he hasn’t played a first-class match since April, his longest such lay-off in five years.It’s not that he hasn’t been playing cricket – there was the limited-overs tour of the UAE in August and September, followed by the World Twenty20 and the Champions League T20 – it’s just that his bat hasn’t been collecting red cherries. The best he has managed were some net sessions with a red ball facing his Chennai Super Kings team-mate Ben Hilfenhaus over the past few weeks in South Africa.”It’s not perfect. You’d definitely prefer at least a couple [of Shield games],” Hussey said. “But that’s the way the schedule is and there’s nothing I can do about it … But I must admit my training while I was over in South Africa was trying to get back into Test match cricket mode. I was facing Ben Hilfenhaus with red balls over there. I have done a fair bit of work in the lead-up to this Shield game.”This Shield game is very important as well. I’d prefer to have more first-class games but having said that I find the transition from Twenty20 into the longer form a lot easier than the other way around. I’ve always struggled going from a Test match into a T20 game. I’ve found that’s taken me a lot longer. Hopefully I can make the adjustment relatively quickly.”Hussey is not the only batsman in Australia’s Test side facing the same problem. None of Hussey, David Warner and Shane Watson have played first-class cricket since the Caribbean Test tour in April, and although they were all at the Champions League, Watson was sent home early to work on his Test preparation. At least Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Ed Cowan have been at home playing Shield cricket.Hussey can ill afford to head to the Gabba without red-ball runs to his name. Over the past four years, Australia and South Africa have delivered eight of the most magnificent Tests, but Hussey’s contributions have been slim. Steyn and Morkel have each dismissed him five times, and although Hussey might be able to target the legspinner Imran Tahir, he will have to find a way to counteract the swing and bounce of South Africa’s quicks.”It’s probably the best attack that I’ve faced,” Hussey said. “They complement each other quite well. They’re all different bowlers. Steyn is a bit shorter, extreme pace but can swing the ball away from the right hander. Morkel gets that awkward bounce so he’s very different. He’s a bit wider of the crease and bowls very well to the left handers in particular.”Philander is extremely disciplined, lands the ball on the seam and does a little bit either way. They’re well backed up by Kallis, who has done a fantastic job over a long time, and they’ve got a very good spinner as well. They’re a very well rounded attack. They complement each other very well and we’re going to have to play extremely well to get on top of them.”But Hussey knows that lying awake at night worrying about the South Africans won’t help. Over the years, Hussey has admitted to sometimes over-thinking things and he has learnt that a clouded mind is his enemy. He knows that at 37, his next extended lean patch could be career-ending – though only if a younger batsman emerges from Shield cricket with better credentials, which for the time being is not happening. But he refuses to let himself become anxious over a record of 277 runs at 18.46 in his past eight Tests against South Africa.”There’s no point [worrying],” Hussey said. “I have tried doing that before, against England. I’d had a mediocre season against England and I was getting all worried about it, and then ended up performing a lot better against them next time. There’s no point in worrying or stressing about anything that’s happened in the past, because there’s enough things to worry and stress about when you’re out in the middle in a Test match anyway.”The Test matches we’ve played against South Africa in South Africa have been extremely difficult for batting. I think back to the Cape Town game when we were bowled out for 40-odd, Michael Clarke’s innings of 150 was one of the best innings I’ve ever seen, because the pitch was doing an extraordinary amount and no other batsman looked comfortable at all. I’m expecting the pitches in Australia to be very good, very true, and if you can get in and get through that initial period, there’s no reason why a few of the guys can’t go on and get big scores.”The question is whether Hussey is one of those guys. At least he knows he has the support of the national selector John Inverarity.”Last year when [the selection panel] were contemplating the first Test team against India at the Boxing Day Test, we were discussing Ben Hilfenhaus, and a couple amongst us said Ben Hilfenhaus’ record at the MCG is not at all good,” Inverarity said this week. “Then one amongst us said ‘well he’s due to take wickets’ and he got five. So I would say against the South Africans, Michael Hussey who is a very fine batsman, is due to make some runs.”The Australians just hope that in a month’s time he’s not overdue.

Shahriar Nafees, the Bangladesh batsman, has been handed a suspended ban but will be part of the A side for their next match later this month. The announcement was made after Bangladesh Cricket Board president Mustafa Kamal met with chief selector Akram Khan and the disciplinary committee chairman Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir on Wednesday.The A team’s management had submitted a strong letter against Nafees after he showed dissent at an umpire’s decision during a match of the Shafi Darashah tournament in Bangalore last month. He was sent home on the basis of the management’s letter to the cricket operations committee.Akram confirmed Nafees will be joining the Bangladesh A team next week to prepare for the four-day game against the West Indies’ High Performance Centre side from September 22. Nafees had apologised for his actions at a hearing on Tuesday.”The suspended ban will be in place for an indefinite period but if he [Shariar Nafees] does anything untoward in the future, he will be banned for six months,” said Alamgir, who had his committee’s recommendations ratified by the BCB chief.Nafees had apologised for his actions at a hearing on Tuesday.

The Sydney Thunder have secured two of the biggest names in Twenty20 cricket, with Chris Gayle set to return for the side this year, alongside the Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi. Gayle was the major drawcard for the Thunder last summer, when he topped their run tally with 252 at an average of 42, and the presence of Afridi alongside him will be cause for concern among opposition attacks.Last season, the Thunder chose Fidel Edwards as their second overseas player but they have opted to go with two powerful batsmen this season. Afridi turned out for the Melbourne Renegades last season and his results with the bat were disappointing, but his ten wickets made him the team’s leading wicket taker.The Thunder were the only side not to name 14 squad members by last Friday, having been granted an extension by Cricket Australia, and they believe the delay was worth the wait. Having finished on the bottom of the table last summer, there is plenty of work ahead of the Thunder this year but Gayle is pleased to be back despite the side’s results last year.”I am really happy to have re-signed with the Thunder,” Gayle said. “After my experience last year, I always wanted to return. I love Sydney, so I cannot wait to get amongst the guys again. The Thunder squad is looking good with a solid mix of youth and experience.”Afridi said he was looking forward to joining the Thunder, his third Australian domestic T20 side after South Australia and the Renegades. “I am looking forward to playing in Sydney for the Thunder and helping them earn the bragging rights in the city over the Sixers,” Afridi said.

ScorecardWes Durston’s half-century helped steer Derbyshire home•Getty Images

Derbyshire put a significant dent in Lancashire’s hopes of qualifying for the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals by claiming a three-wicket win with seven balls to spare at Old Trafford. Derbyshire came out on top on a slow pitch to secure victory for only the second time in the North Division, the first of those also being against Lancashire – who may now have to win their last three matches to qualify.Pakistan fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan led the way with 3 for 20, including two wickets in the penultimate over of the innings, as the hosts could only post 122 for 8.Man of the match Wes Durston then hit three sixes in four balls off Steven Croft in the third over to break the back of their chase. Having earlier taken 2 for 16 from four overs of off-spin, Durston, the former Somerset man, also hit five fours in a score of 56 off 36 balls.Lancashire’s spin duo of Gary Keedy (2 for 20) and Stephen Parry also impressed to make the contest tighter than it could have been before Rana hit the winning run.Invited to bat, Lancashire failed to recover from losing Stephen Moore to the second legitimate ball of the match, stumped by Tom Poynton off Durston. Croft and Tom Smith shared 54 in eight and a half overs for the second wicket but that was as good as it got. Croft top-scored with 48 off 46 balls, including three fours and a six. Lancashire only hit five fours and a six in the innings, all of those coming in the first five overs.When Durston had Croft caught at short fine-leg via a top-edged sweep, the hosts were 78 for 4 in the 14th over. Paul Horton added 27 off 26 balls but even that failed to add any impetus to the innings.Fledgling left-arm spinner Tom Knight impressed with 1 for 13 from three overs and Tim Groenewald picked up two wickets at the death. Rana bowled Smith with a slower ball before getting Yasir Arafat caught at mid-off and Glen Chapple trapped lbw in the 19th over. Durston then capitalised on seeing opening partner Usman Khawaja dropped on 4 by Moore at cover off Croft by taking a liking to the same bowler.He brought up his fifty off just 24 balls, also including five fours, but was stumped by Gareth Cross off Keedy to leave the score at 76 for 1 in the 10th over, in which Keedy also bowled Khawaja (15). Parry conceded only 11 runs from four overs before Croft, Arafat and Chapple all struck consolatory blows, although they were not enough to prevent Derbyshire reaching 124 for 7.

It is a measure of England’s pace-bowling resources that speculation surrounding the naming of their squad for the third Test against West Indies centres on the possibility of both senior quicks being rested. The prospect may not please either James Anderson or Stuart Broad but with England 2-0 up and the series already won, Andy Flower and the selectors are already looking at challenges to come. Such is the unrelenting nature of the international schedule these days.Anderson is reportedly set to miss out on the squad altogether, while a decision on Broad is expected to be made before the start of the Edgbaston Test on Thursday. Steven Finn, who has deputised for both in the last 12 months, is favourite to step in but Graham Onions could also win a recall for the first time since 2010, to form an intriguing but inexperienced attack with Tim Bresnan. All three are likely to be included in a 12-man party, to be named on Sunday.England’s new-ball pair of Anderson and Broad are currently ranked No. 3 and No. 6 in Tests respectively and, with both keen to play against a West Indies side that has been tormented by seam and swing in the first two Tests, the management will have to use all their powers of persuasion to promote the benefits of rest. Leaving out both would be an uncharacteristic gamble – and may also provoke accusations of cheapening Test cricket – but with the upcoming visit of Australia for a one-day series, followed by the much-anticipated Test face-off against South Africa and then the defence of their World Twenty20 title later in the year, England are having to seriously address the vexed issue of rotation.While Broad has suffered with minor injuries over the last year or two and, as England’s T20 captain, may have the heavier workload to come, Anderson is the bowling unit’s prize asset.He has been almost ever-present in England’s rise to the top of the Test rankings, though he was granted a series off for the tour of Bangladesh in early 2010. Since then, Anderson has taken 111 wickets at 23.36 and missed just one Test, against Sri Lanka at Lord’s last summer – a game in which the bowlers seemed to struggle without his leadership as the tourists scored nearly 500 in their first innings and then comfortably batted out a draw on the final day. England will want him in peak condition when Dale Steyn – Anderson’s main rival for fast-bowling supremacy in Tests – and his South Africa team-mates arrive next month.In the wake of England’s victory at Trent Bridge, Andrew Strauss, the captain, addressed the possibility of changes to the side. “We’ve always viewed resting and rotating as something you have to do on a case-by-case basis so we’ll speak to the seamers, see how they’re feeling and see how we’re looking for the rest of the summer,” he said.Elsewhere, the line-up looks relatively settled, despite some disquiet about Jonny Bairstow’s shaky response to a bombardment from Kemar Roach in the second Test. The No. 6 spot is really the only area about which England may feel any uncertainty but it would go against the grain of their selection policy in recent times to discard Bairstow after just three innings (one of them 0 not out). Ravi Bopara has only played second-XI cricket since suffering a thigh injury that cost him his chance at the start of the series and, while Nick Compton, James Taylor and even Ben Stokes have played attention-grabbing innings in the last week, it seems probable that Bairstow will get another opportunity to prove himself.Should Flower and Strauss wish to indulge themselves with further experimentation at Edgbaston, however, they could consider returning Matt Prior to the No. 6 spot he recently occupied in Sri Lanka and asking Bresnan – currently making a statistical case as good as any England allrounder of recent times – to also move up the order. Having won their last seven Test series in a row at home, England are a formidable side with plenty of options but, with South Africa the last side to outdo them on their own patch, they will take every opportunity to fine tune before July 19 at The Oval.Possible squad Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow, Matt Prior (wk), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, Graham Onions

ScorecardIan Bell made 120 and was the only batsman to reach 50 in Warwickshire’s win over Durham•Getty Images

When we come to reflect on the 2012 season, it may be that this game marks a changing of the guard in the county game. While the end of season table has not always shown it, Durham have had much the better of Warwickshire in the last five or six years. Warwickshire had not beaten them since 2006 and, in the intervening years, had suffered seven defeats. At times the margins were crushing.This Warwickshire side is made of sterner stuff. While previous incarnations wilted in the face of quick bowling, this version of Warwickshire bats below sea level, has remarkable variation and depth of bowling and can catch swallows in the field. Had it not been for the rain, they may well have won four games out of four. As it is they have already beaten the sides that were first, third and fourth last year. There will, no doubt, be some bumps on the road, but it already seems safe to assume that any side that finishes above Warwickshire this summer will be very close to the Championship title.They still have some issues. Their captain, Jim Troughton, is so bereft of form that he should be considered a gas and there will be many times when they must do without their England duo of Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell. With Bell not currently in England’s limited-overs squads, however, he may well be available more often than he has been in previous years. Chris Woakes, too, should be back for the next game.Bell’s contribution to this victory was immense. By making a century in a match where nobody else could make a half as much, Bell demonstrated not only his class but his passion to contribute for the club at which he has played for two decades.Jeetan Patel also played a key role. Although a modest-looking overseas signing – his first-class bowling average is in excess of 40, after all – he has contributed with bat, ball and in the field and, in helping the last two Warwickshire wickets add another 47 runs with some typically uncomplicated aggression, he took this game beyond Durham. On this surface, Warwickshire’s first innings lead of 104 was dispiritingly large.But, bearing in mind that Warwickshire started this season without the two men expected to lead their attack – Woakes and Boyd Rankin – then the most important feature in their success to date has been the emergence of Chris Wright and Keith Barker. In this match the left-arm seamer Barker, with his third five-wicket haul in three games and the first ten-wicket haul of his career, underlined his development as a bowler of international potential. No England-qualified bowler has taken more than his 22 wickets in the Division One season to date and, in this game, his fast swing bowling would have undone most. The deliveries that squared up Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick were close to unplayable, while the manner in which a player as good as Michael di Venuto was bamboozled – barely playing a shot at one that removed his off stump – underlined the lavish movement Barker gained.”We were concerned when we lost Woakes and Rankin,” Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s director of cricket admitted. “But Barker and Wright have been superb. Durham are a benchmark side and it’s nice to beat them. We’re not making statements; we’re not talking about championships, but we are playing with confidence. Now we need to maintain that.”Perhaps Durham’s empire is starting to show signs of decline. Many of these players were involved when they won the Championship in 2008 and 2009 and the concern is that they are ageing together without adequate replacements pushing for their places. It would be wrong to write them off – in Stokes and Borthwick they have talented youngsters with bright futures – and there were times in this game when they simply suffered poor fortune. Paul Collingwood, for example, was run-out by an excellent direct hit from Tim Ambrose running to short fine leg, after slipping on the damp surface as he sought to regain his ground. Take out Bell’s contribution, too, and there was little between the sides.There is no disguising the fact that Durham’s highest Championship total is just 253, however, or that none of their specialist batsmen have yet passed 50. Mitchell Claydon and Phil Mustard have done so, but it is the failures of the top-order that have cost them. Another batting collapse here left Warwickshire requiring just 36 to win.Their frustration spilled over when Callum Thorp kicked down the stumps in frustration in the dying moments of the game. He will certainly face a disciplinary charge as a consequence. Graham Onions, who forced Trott into evasive action when shying at the stumps in Warwickshire’s first innings, may also be fortunate to avoid further action. The absence of Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett, marooned in second XI cricket, is not helping, but it is the batting, not the bowling that is the issue.”We have some pretty good players and they haven’t managed to get any totals on the board,” Geoff Cook, Durham’s director of cricket said. “They all could have scored more runs and it’s something we have to rectify very quickly.”

Mumbai Indians have signed West Indies allrounder Dwayne Smith, who played for them in the 2008 season, to replace an injured Mitchell Johnson after Cricket Australia ruled the fast bowler out of IPL 2012. Smith is due to join the team on May 3.Johnson failed to recover in time from surgery on his big toe, which he injured while batting in the second Test against South Africa at Wanderers last November. Smith was in good batting form in Twenty20 cricket and was the third-highest run-getter in the Caribbean T20 competition, scoring 165 runs at a strike-rate of 136.36. He also represented Khulna Royal Bengals in the Bangladesh Premier League, making 346 runs at 137.30.Smith played four matches for Mumbai Indians in IPL’s inaugural season in 2008, scoring 45 runs and claiming five wickets. The following season he moved to Deccan Chargers, where he played eight matches, scoring 215 at an average of 26.87 and claiming one wicket.Mumbai Indians have had a few injury problems already this season. Sachin Tendulkar missed four games with an injured finger, while Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga flew home for treatment for a sore back and missed three matches. Mumbai Indians are third in the points table behind Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders. They have won five matches and lost four this season.