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ScorecardNiall O’Brien’s century helped sink the lacklustre Indians at Northampton•Getty Images

If the Indians’ batting had a bad day at the office on Friday, hundredsfrom Northants openers Mal Loye and Niall O’Brien ensured that theirbowlers were run ragged on the second day of what has been quite atrying practice game.The Indians’ two-day match against Northamptonshirewas meant to be their warm-up for Edgbaston. If a result was to bedecided on the basis of which team contained the less red faces intheir dressing room, the Indians would not be the winners.

Two-Day Tourist Matches

The playing conditions for three and four-day tourist matches shall apply to two-day tourist matches except where specified below. Numbering corresponds to Test Match playing conditions.
12.3 Test Match playing condition 12.3 shall not apply.
Matches shall be of 2 days’ scheduled duration and of two innings per side, and under Law 12.1(b)(ii) the first innings of the side batting first shall be limited to 100 overs or the close of play on the first day of the match, whichever is the later. The first innings of the side batting second shall not be subject to this restriction. If a side has scored more runs in its first innings than the opposing side scored in its completed first innings (refer Law 12.3), it shall be deemed to have gained a First Innings Win. If the number of runs scored by each side in their completed first innings is the same, this shall be deemed a Tie on First Innings.

The match ended in a draw that will be marked down as a ‘first-inningswin’ for Northamptonshire. After Northants lost seven wickets aftertea, their tailenders made use of the opportunity and theopposition’s lack of intensity to cross the Indians’ first-innings total of 352, and register the first-innings win under the ECB’s regulations, whichare meant to ensure that two-day tour games, while not first-classmatches, can still entertain the viewing public.India are far from entertained by what happened today: it began withthe announcement that Rahul Dravid had been called up to the ODI teamafter a two-year gap; which even took Dravid himself by surprise. Zaheer Khan then walked off the field after a three-over spellthis morning and questions about his fitness for Edgbaston grewlouder. All that he proved is that he can bowl off a full run-up butwhat is still not known is for how long he can sustain himself.Then there was the Indians’ performance in the field, which ended in Northants’ Nos. 7 and 9 running off the ground to celebratory cheering after adding 54 for the eighth wicket.Once the Loye-O’Brien 201-run partnership was ended just after tea,Northants lost wickets in a heap; six within 40 runs. Dave Burton andDavid Murphy had read their rule books and stuck on to see theteam past their first-innings target, against a fielding side whoseemed keen to leave the field when the last hour of play began.Gautam Gambhir and then MS Dhoni had frequent discussions with the umpires butplay continued. The farce reached its conclusion when the Indians took thenew ball and Dhoni bowled the second over with it.The heavy duties of last week may have caused the Indian bowling to gothrough mere motions for the better part of the proceedings. Yet,ideally, the world ‘s No. 1 Test team, even when bowling within itself, could beexpected to take a wicket before the 48th over against a county side.The Indians’ two hardest-working bowlers today were Amit Mishra, who bowled17 overs straight, out of his total of 25, and Munaf Patel who bowledten in a row before tea and seven in his second spell.There was very little that the Indians could consider minorvictories from this practice match. Harbhajan Singh’s injury putMishra onto centre-stage and in his 25 overs today, he was mostrespectfully handled by the Northants batsmen, their aggressionreserved mostly for the quicker men. The wicket did little, but ifMishra was advertising his wares as a pressure-builder rather thanstrike bowler, he did adequately. Until, in his 12th over, Loyestrolled down the wicket and hit him over long-on for six.Loye, a giant right-hander who is one of the senior-most pros incounty cricket, and O’Brien, a less industrial-sized left-hander whoalso keeps wicket for Ireland, put up a partnership of 201 before Loye was out four balls after he crossed his hundred. The Indians may have erred, but the Northants openers both played with the full attention required by the occasion and provided the entertainment required by their full County Ground. Loye’s trademark swept sixes and meatystrokes, and O’Brien’s general sense of daring were both out on fulldisplay.Zaheer Khan’s three overs began better than they ended, his firstcontaining two wides and the next two an alarming flood of 22 runs. Loyeswept him for six in the second, following through rakishly on hisknee, and O’Brien hit him for three fours in his third. After that, Zaheer walked off and was not seen again on the field. His performancetoday was not a stern examination of his fitness by the management.It was just a progress report on whether he can be risked at Edgbastonbecause he is still the man who can claim to own much of the keys, locksand doors that took India to the No. 1 Test ranking in the world.The match was meant to be a 12-a-side fixture with one extra batsman getting achance of a hit and one tired soul getting a chance to stay off thefield. Ishant Sharma found his name on the team sheet only to make theminimum number of 12. He didn’t bowl a single over and was only briefly on the field, as men came and went like the supportingcast of a long-running and somewhat-tired soap. Dhoni came on after lunchfor a spot of fielding and was replaced by Praveen Kumar. Virat Kohli,not a part of the touring squad at the start of the week, was sent out todo some menial duties a day after his first sighting. Dhoni thendragged himself back out again and was to be seen mostly in thewilderness of deep point or on the long leg boundary before he poppedup and decided to bowl a sprinkling of overs.The two-day practice match between the Indians and Northamptonshire shouldhave given out to neutral observers the signs of what was beingtackled after Trent Bridge. The sign came well before the first ballof the second day was bowled. Dravid had, once again, after a two-yeargap, made it to the ODI team. The team that has just won the World Cupneeded its second-oldest playing pro to hack it in England.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Teenage left-arm spinner Raza Hasan kept his cool in the Super Over to give Rawalpindi the title•Dr Naeem Ashraf

Eighteen-year-old left-arm spinner Raza Hasan was the hero for Rawalpindi Rams as he held his nerve in the Super Over to hand them the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 title. Rawalpindi seemed to have fluffed their chances of victory against Karachi Dolphins at the Iqbal Stadium when they managed only one run in the final four balls of their chase of 165 to leave the game tied. But after they smashed 16 in the Super Over it was Karachi’s turn to flounder, scoring only one off the final four deliveries of their over to slump to defeat. Sohail Khan took five wickets for Karachi but it wasn’t enough to secure victory.Awais Zia did all the scoring for Rawalpindi in the Super Over, slapping two fours and a six to negate the effect of the two dot balls he played. It was a tough target for Karachi but Khalid Latif began with a big six over long-on. The 18-year-old Hasan, though, hit back by getting Latif to top-edge to short fine-leg off the next ball. The third delivery saw a dropped catch which resulted in a single, and then Hasan bowled three dot balls in a row as Shahzaib Hasan struggled to get bat on ball.There was plenty of drama before the closing skirmish too. Karachi had made a sluggish start after being sent in, reaching 34 for 1 in five overs, before the batsman of the tournament, Rameez Raja, gave the innings some impetus with two fours and two sixes in the sixth over. His partner Asad Shafiq was dismissed lbw by Hasan for a 26-ball 36 and that again slowed the Karachi innings. Though they had blasted 91 in the first ten overs, and had wickets in hand, they could only add 73 in the last ten.Rawalpindi’s chase got off to a horror start as Sohail struck twice in the second over. Zia slammed six fours in eight deliveries to inject some momentum into the chase before another double-strike from Sohail, in the sixth over, left Rawalpindi gasping at 56 for 4. A flurry of boundaries from Adnan Mufti kept them alive before a couple of sixes from Hammad Azam evened the game.Two big hits from Mohammad Rameez made it 22 needed off the final three overs with three wickets in hand. Sohail returned to revive Karachi, getting Rameez with a slower yorker and giving away only three runs in the 18th over. Rawalpindi scrambled 10 off the next over and when Umar Amin muscled the second ball of Azam Hussain’s final over for six, Rawalpindi needed only two to win off four deliveries. They couldn’t get them, though, and Amin watched helplessly as wickets fell off the final two balls with the scores level. Any momentum Karachi may have gained from clawing back to tie the game proved meaningless in the Super Over as Hasan repaid the faith his captain showed in him.

Simon Katich’s contentious removal from the 25-man list of Cricket Australia contracts has moved the federal defence minister, Stephen Smith, to make his own unbridled attack on the national selectors.Unlike on the subcontinent where the crossover between the sporting and legislative realms is frequent and often fevered, Australian cricket and politics seldom collide.But Smith had no hesitation in making his feelings known when questioned about the decision on the program on Australian television.Like Katich a West Australian by birth, Smith said the decision ranked with any of the poorest calls made by selectors in Australian cricket history.”Well historically of course there have been a series of atrocities committed by the Australian Cricket Board or Cricket Australia or the Australian selectors against Western Australian cricketers but this one is extraordinary. This one is very high at the top of the list,” Smith said.”I mean this is a bloke who over the last 30 Tests he’s played has got nearly 3,000 runs, an average of 50 and done better than Ponting and Mike Hussey.”So it’s an extraordinary decision. And regrettably whilst it’s always easy to take a shot at selectors I think it says a lot more about the selectors than it does about Simon Katich and I think frankly it has sent very much a message which has undermined confidence in the selectors that they’re really up to the task in terms of managing a transition to the next generation of Australian cricketers.”Simon Katich has the resolve and the determination that you want to have during hard times. So it’s an extraordinary decision. If he’s not in the top 25 Australian cricketers – and I can’t find one better opener than him on that list, let alone two – then I’ll go hee for chasey.”CA’s head of cricket operations, Michael Brown, maintained the organisation’s defence of the selectors.’I certainly don’t support the idea that [if] you pay peanuts you get monkeys. A lot of people work in cricket, which is essentially a volunteered game, who are incredibly talented, incredibly qualified and incredibly committed but do the best they can because they love the game,” Brown told . ”If that step to professionalism is enhanced by having full-time selectors then cricket will move in that direction but just by making people full-time doesn’t automatically give you the best outcome.”You have got to have the best people, the best structures, the best position description for them, and make sure they are accountable. If we are about making the game go forward that issue needs to be considered and I’m sure it will be by the [Argus] Team Performance Review.’This panel puts on the ground what it thinks is the best team to win every game of cricket it plays in, it doesn’t bat and bowl. Yes it has [been] accountable for selection and for outcomes once performances have been made but to say that the selection panel has lost Ashes series, that’s incorrect.”

Australia 147 for 4 (Poulton 61, Cameron 47, Bates 2-17) beat New Zealand 146 for 6 (Perry 50*, Sthalekar 2-33) by six wickets
Scorecard
Leah Poulton drives down the ground during her 61•Getty Images

Leah Poulton and Jess Cameron powered Australia into the finals of the NatWest Women’s T20 Quadrangular Series, their 82-run partnership for the second wicket setting up a six-wicket win after New Zealand had set a competitive 146 for 6. Cameron fell just short of her fifty but Poulton batted on, adding a further 47 with Shelley Nitschke and reaching 61 before she was dismissed with victory in sight.Medium pacer Lea Tahuhu appeared to give her team a chance when she bowled Meg Lanning for single figures, but Poulton and Cameron’s partnership helped put Australia on top. Bates threatened to spark a late fightback, trapping Cameron and Alex Blackwell in front of their stumps with consecutive deliveries to put herself on a hat-trick, but Poulton and Nitschke locked the game down with their aggressive batting.New Zealand had got off to a similarly enterprising start with the bat after Aimee Watkins had won the toss and opted to set a target, Watkins herself leading the way with a 22-ball 29 that included four fours and a six.She put on an opening stand of 52 with Bates before a flurry of wickets dented the middle order, and New Zealand were thankful for the in-form Liz Perry’s unbeaten fifty, which ensured they set a defendable total. That was not to be, however, and Australia will now meet a rampant England in the tournament final at the Rose Bowl on Monday.”The ground had a fast outfield and the wicket was good,” said Watkins. “We thought that we had enough. But obviously it wasn’t. I think it was a par score on that pitch. But Australia took the opportunities that came their way and put away the bad balls. They chased down the target well.”Watkins also praised Perry for her second successive knock under pressure. “It was a good back-up performance from Liz. She came up with another good performance for us today. I hope that continues tomorrow in the play-off and then onto the 50-over competition.””It was a good ground to chase down scores,” said Player of the Match Poulton. “The pitch was good for batting. The target was gettable. We had some clear plans on how many runs need to be scored in every period of the match. I am glad the plans we had came good as we reached all targets set for the game.”Poulton recalled a similar chase against England at the same ground previously and said the batting derived confidence from that match. “We had played England here and chased down 150 then. So we knew that 146 was a gettable target. We thought 140 to 150 was a par score and Kiwis did well in getting there. But we were always confident going into the chase.”Jess and I had a good partnership. She was striking the ball well and I quite liked to play second fiddle. We have batting all the way down, it was nice to be able to play my game. It was good to have a win in the lead-up to the final. We are confident about our chances. We have played England quite often and know what to expect of them. They are also a good, strong unit and as confident as us. So it will be a good contest.”

Match facts

Wednesday, May 11, Jaipur
Start time 2000 (14.30 GMT)Shane Watson’s batting form has hurt Rajasthan•AFP

Big Picture

Shane Warne is screaming in the headlines. He is angry, and letting the world know. His fans believe he is right about his pitch complaints, his critics believe he is whining and the neutrals are puzzled. Meanwhile, Rajasthan’s campaign is in a crucial phase: Fifth in point tables, five wins and five losses, and can either ascend the ladder or slip down the snake. An angry Warne might just be the inspiring factor that can propel this team.If only Shane Watson can stir himself out of his slumber. He has scored just 187 runs from eight games; it could just be fatigue or it could be the pressure of being the main man and Rajasthan will hope that he can turn the corner. Even Ross Taylor, the other batsman expected to lead from front, has dawdled, tallying 168 runs from 10 games. It’s been a tad puzzling, and disappointing, to see Taylor pigeon-holing his arsenal to one big shot- that heave to the leg side.Meanwhile, Chris Gayle has violently changed the fortunes of Bangalore Royal Challengers. The laughter, not seen very often in maroon colours in recent times, is back, the big shots are booming and Gayle looks a happy man. And Bangalore have prospered. If Gayle is the man who has transformed their batting, S Aravind has been the silent force of change in the bowling fortunes. He has taken 10 wickets at 16.20 and his form has eased up the pressure on Zaheer Khan.

Form guide (most recent first)

Bangalore: WWWWW (fourth in points table)
Rajasthan: LLWWW (fifth in points table)

Team talk

The question of who will replace Tillakaratne Dilshan for Bangalore has been pushed back by one match, as Dilshan has extended his stay in the IPL. Rajasthan dropped Stuart Binny for the last game and they are unlikely to make any more changes.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.

In the spotlight

Johan Botha is what they call the “100% cricketer”. Many wondered how he would fare without the licence to bowl his after their legality was questioned couple of years back. What did he do? He became the Twenty20 captain and even led in a few ODIs, and now in IPL averages over 50 in batting.Daniel Vettori has been supremely miserly with an economy rate of just 5.58. He has picked up only seven wickets but his accuracy and change of pace has strangled the batsmen. He has been rarely collared and the other bowlers have profited from his parsimonious bowling.

Prime numbers

• Vettori’s economy rate this IPL is an outstanding 5.58. Overall, in the all the editions, his economy rate is 6.76 which is the 12th in the list of best rates
• With 55 wickets, Shane Warne is the fourth highest wicket taker in IPL history. However, this year, he has taken just 11 wickets

The chatter

“He [Zaheer Khan] is a key bowler for us and swung the match for us against Pune Warriors. He bowls economically in the last overs and he and I bear the brunt of the attack.”
Daniel Vettori backs the Indian seamer</i