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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: KL Rahul struck his second century of the match•Getty Images

Midway through the day, Robin Bist’s century and his 104-run partnership with Ali Murtaza for the eighth wicket had boosted the lead to 300, and seemingly put Central Zone in control of the Duleep Trophy final. By stumps, it was South Zone who were in control of the game as Karnataka opener KL Rahul hit his second century in the match, reaching triple digits at almost a run-a-ball. South ended 117 runs away from the title, with nine wickets – including Rahul’s – still in hand.Rahul signalled his intentions with three crisply driven fours off Ishwar Pandey in the second over of the chase. The boundaries flowed right through the innings, including sixes over midwicket to reach both his half-century and his century. His belligerence meant that even though his opening partner, Robin Uthappa, played cautiously, the run-rate hovered around four an over.Uthappa was lucky to be reprieved when he looked plumb lbw early in his innings against Pankaj Singh, and was finally dismissed for 30 in the 25th over. That only prompted a further flurry of boundaries from Rahul, who first lofted offspinner Jalaj Saxena over midwicket for six, before twice reverse-sweeping him for four in the same over. With B Aparajith giving support, the stand for the second wicket grew to an unbroken 88, with Rahul 121* at stumps.Rahul’s performance, watched by national selectors Vikram Rathour and Saba Karim, took some of the shine off what had been an outstanding effort earlier in the day from Bist. South’s spinners were getting the ball to fizz in the morning, and when Arindam Ghosh and Piyush Chawla were dismissed in successive overs to leave Central at 260 for 7, a quick end to the innings loomed.Instead, Bist and Murtaza counterattacked to put the pressure back on South. As the partnership flourished, with Bist reeling off plenty of big straight hits, South began to flag, and the score ballooned towards 400. Bist was left stranded on 112 and walked off to the applause of his team-mates. The bowling couldn’t follow up on his efforts though, and Rahul cashed in.After a hugely successful season with Karnataka in 2013-14, Rahul was keen to bag more titles. “I feel happy to score back-to-back hundreds, especially on a big stage like this, but my mind is on the target. I want to win this tournament, last season we won three, I want this one in the bag as well,” Rahul said after the day’s play. “I want to stay not out, and see my team through.”

First innings hundreds from Naeemuddin and Khurram Shehzad set up Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited‘s nine-wicket win against National Bank of Pakistan in Faisalabad, taking the team to the top of the table. Opting to bat, SNGPL scored 506 for 7 in their first essay before declaring. Their innings was built around Naeemuddin’s 156, Shehzad’s 107, and fifties from Hussain Talat and Mohammad Rizwan. Naeemuddin’s knock meant that he has now hit four centuries and a fifty from his last nine games, and is currently the second highest run-scorer in the competition behind Iftikhar Ahmed. SNGPL enforced their advantage by bowling National Bank out for 191, with Talat and Samiullah Khan snaring three wickets apiece. SNGPL enforced the follow on, and despite a fighting 91 from Mohammad Nawaz, National Bank could only make 340, setting their opponents just 26 for the win. SNGPL chased down that paltry total in 4.4 overs to register their seventh victory of the season.A nine-wicket match haul from Waqas Maqsood was the cornerstone behind Water and Power Development Authority‘s 168-run win versus Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited at the Multan Cricket Stadium. Having been inserted, WAPDA were shot out for 193 in the first innings, thanks to a five-wicket haul from Mohammad Khalil (5 for 51). ZTBL, however, failed to capitalise, and could only muster 185 in reply, handing WAPDA a crucial eight-run lead. Maqsood took 5 for 68, while Asif Ali chipped in with 2 for 34. A six-for from the ZTBL fast bowler Sajjad Hussain wrecked WAPDA’s top and middle order in the second innings, but the captain Adnan Raees (57) and Ali Azmat (60) both raised half-centuries to lift the total to 291, meaning that ZTBL needed 300 to win. The team, however, lost wickets right from the off in the chase and were dismissed for 131 inside 33 overs. Zulqarnain Haider was the team’s top scorer with 45, and one of only four batsmen to reach double figures. Maqsood collected 4 for 54, while Mohammad Irfan picked up 4 for 35.Karachi Dolphins managed to comfortably hold on for a draw despite following on against Islamabad Leopards, courtesy an unbeaten double-century from Mohammad Waqas. Waqas’ career-best 205 carried Dolphins to 383 in their second-innings, after they had folded for 185 in their first – with Waqas picking up a golden duck – in reply to Leopards’ 384. Medium-pacer Hamza Nadeem in particular proved to be Dolphins’ undoing in their first knock, bowling eight maidens out off 22 overs, and picking up four wickets. Before that, a maiden first-class century from Mohammad Irfan in his debut first-class season had ensured Leopards got close to 400. That set them up in the game and not long after, when Dolphins showed little resistance the first time around, they must have been eyeing a big win, but Waqas had other ideas.Rawalpindi Rams and Peshawar Panthers played out a high-scoring draw, after a bizarre first innings from Rams; they made 340 on the back of centuries from No. 4 Zahid Mansoor (165*) and No. 8 Yasim Murtaza (120), but no other batsman got past 12 and five were out for ducks. Panthers managed a slim lead courtesy 146 from Ashfaq Ahmed, but Rams then easily played out a draw, putting up 302 for 8 from 98 overs in their second innings – this time around, every single batsman contributed something, with no one bar one of the openers getting out in single digits.

Preston Mommsen has been preferred to Kyle Coetzer as Scotland’s captain for the World Cup. Coetzer, who was relieved of the job in September ahead of the acclimatisation tour of Australia and New Zealand in September, will be Mommsen’s vice-captain.Grant Bradburn, the Scotland coach, took the decision to allow Coetzer to focus on his batting earlier this year after a difficult season for Northamptonshire. The move paid dividends as Coetzer was Scotland’s leading batsman on their pre-World Cup trip with 333 runs at 55.50 including the only hundred of the tour.Although Mommsen’s tour was less impressive, with 182 runs at 26.00 from seven matches, he has had a productive year including being Player of the Tournament at the World Cup Qualifiers in New Zealand in January and he was named ICC Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year.”It’s a huge honour to be leading the Scotland team into the 2015 Cricket World Cup,” Mommsen said. “This group of players have been together for a couple of years now, and this has always been the dream.”The preparation over the past couple of months has been hugely productive, with the squad fully focused and committed to delivering on the World Stage. It’s an exciting time for everyone involved in Scottish Cricket and hopefully our performances in Australia and New Zealand will help promote the game, and inspire the next generation in Scotland.”Bradburn said: “We have a strong squad line up and excellent leaders in Preston and Kyle, as we prepare to play some international cricketing giants on the world stage next February in New Zealand. We don’t underestimate the challenge but we have been training hard and will be bringing our absolute best to this hugely important global event.”

Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd has said that West Indies cricket has been “messed up” by the T20 format, creating a situation where playing Tests for the country did not seem to be a paramount goal for players.Speaking at the Annual New Year’s lecture in Cape Town, which is also hosting the third Test between South Africa and West Indies, Lloyd said that the ICC needed to be stronger and that the game could not be ruled by only three countries – a reference to the governance and financial restructuring of the ICC cricket’s governing body, which took place last year and was based on changes devised by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and the ECB.”They [the players] earn a good wage and that’s the situation that they have. They have the choice to play Test cricket or T20,” Lloyd, who is head of the West Indies selection panel, said. “We are small islands and if you get a whole host of money, you are a king. This T20 competition has messed our cricket up.”Someone like Andre Russell, I spoke to him only a month ago and said you can get into our Test side because you are one of the best allrounders in the world. A couple of weeks later he told me he has got a bad knee and could only play one-dayers. It’s such a waste that we have a guy who could be a great cricketer who is now not thinking of playing both formats. We have contracts, probably not as exorbitant as others, but they are getting good money. It doesn’t seem playing for our country is paramount where these players are concerned.

Lloyd to SA: Don’t take dominance for granted

As one of the most successful captains in cricket and a leader of a side that dominated their era, Clive Lloyd offered a few words of advice for South Africa, who are the No. 1 ranked Test team in the world. Lloyd said that South Africa will need to maintain a high standard of domestic cricket and that administrators should ensure that the game benefits from all new forms of technology and innovation.
“I am hesitant to offer advice to a nation that sits atop world cricket. My first bit of advice is not to take one’s dominance for granted the continued success of a team is to plan for the future,” Lloyd said. “The West Indies made the mistake of believing we had an endless supply of cricketers and fast bowlers. A high standard of domestic cricket needs to be maintained to ensure continued success at this level.
“The administrators and managers are absolutely necessary. The administration must ensure the cricket being played benefits from all the new innovations and technology, and nothing is done to undermine the administration of cricket.
“There has been a concept that cricket should be left to people with managerial skills. I believe strongly the involvement of cricketers is necessary.
“It is my dream that West Indies recover and beat South Africa here and recover its glory. In the future, I see a South Africa that remains strong, competitive and contributing to the development of the game. I also see a strong West Indies, bringing its particular genius to a part of the world.”

“I don’t think there is any cricketer who should strike for money now because they are well paid. We have to impart to our young people the importance of playing for your country. Money is a subsidiary of success.”Lloyd, who has had stints as an international match referee and as chairman of the ICC’s cricket committee, said that the ICC should be running the game and it was important for the governing body to work out a better system of revenue distribution for all countries. The revamp of the ICC last year, based on changes devised by the Indian, Australia and English boards, gave more influence to the three boards. Lloyd also stated that policies like the use of Decision Review System (DRS) should be unanimously followed.”I agree that the ICC must be stronger. It should be like the FIFA or the IOC [International Olympic Committee] – very strong in the things they do. FIFA said when you kick the ball back to the goalkeeper he has got to kick it out. I don’t see Italy and England and France saying we are not playing. We have one team playing without DRS. If we have something it has got to be globally done. Everybody has got to work together.”We can’t have three countries ruling cricket. It can’t be done. It comes back to money. I hope one day everything will come back to normal. I think the ICC should be running cricket. They should say to the highest bidder, television company to send out a tender – saying we want 5 million for so many Test matches for the next couple of years. That money should be distributed either on rankings or equally. That money can be used to run cricket properly. Players can be paid better. If we are saying Test cricket is the highest cricket you can play, you should be paid better. We all have to sit down and work out a better system for all countries.”Lloyd gave the example of West Indies, who could benefit from the distribution of TV revenues: “Where West Indies is concerned, we have a special case. We have to fly everywhere. We can’t drive anywhere. you can’t go by boat either. It’s expensive for West Indies to hold Test series. It’s in high season and we have to compete with that. We can’t fill the stadium. We don’t have the amount of people to do so. Television would help us out in that respect. We would just play cricket and we wouldn’t have any wranglings. We have a system.”Lloyd said that the establishment of a national cricket fund, to aid retired cricketers, is imperative and the fund could be built through proceeds from one game of a Test series, or a percentage of television deals.”In spite of the big contracts a few of our players receive for various T20 tournaments, we must recognise that these are only a few players and it is imperative that a national cricket fund be established,” he said. “We should play a game in every Test series and those proceeds should go to a fund for retired cricketers. When we have television deals, a percentage of that should go to the fund. There are quite a few people who played for their country and I think they should have some remuneration.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

West Indies must be sick of AB de Villiers and South Africa by now. As if all those records broken in Johannesburg earlier this year were not enough, South Africa returned to embarrass them with another plethora, this time in a World Cup match. The most significant of those were 261 runs in the last 20 overs, a World Cup record and second only to the Johannesburg loot in all ODIs, de Villiers smashing the fastest 150 in ODIs, and the highest team total on Australian soil, an astonishing 408 on what was – believe it or not – a slow somewhat two-paced pitch. West Indies couldn’t even score as much as de Villiers did, registering the joint-worst defeat in World Cups to give Pakistan and Ireland a boost should the final equation come down to net run-rate.De Villiers now has the fastest fifty, hundred and 150 in ODI cricket – all against West Indies – and the fastest double cannot be too far away. Some might say West Indies did themselves a favour by not employing a slip during the stabilising partnership of 127 in 23.4 overs between Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis. Had West Indies been more urgent and less content with the calm before the storm, they could have brought in the lower middle order early. Going by the carnage in the end, that might not have been that good a thing for West Indies.Amla and du Plessis played important innings when the ball wasn’t coming on, and when West Indies were bowling well at the top of the innings. Rossouw went one better and refused to slow down when Chris Gayle removed both Amla and du Plessis in the same over. He scored 61 off 39. Yet all three shall be consigned to being footnotes on a day that de Villiers showed there is no better front-runner in contemporary cricket.This whole innings had followed the disturbingly frequent norm between bigger teams where the pitch has little in it for the bowlers, nothing happens in the first 30 overs of the first innings, and then the batsmen erupt thanks to the new fielding regulations. The only way to counter it is to keep taking wickets or be exceptionally good with defensive bowling in the end. West Indies didn’t quite go out of their way to take wickets in the initial middle overs, and their bowlers wilted in the end. However, de Villiers’ hitting – a triumph of imagination and orthodoxy in the same brief while – managed to bring joy to what is becoming mundane.The plunder began when Rossouw and de Villiers – batting first as opposed to chasing, which is when their team tends to struggle – showed no signs of the circumspection that was a feature of their defeat to India. The two added 134 in 12.3 overs. West Indies managed to get only 12 dots in during the partnership, including none in the Powerplay that cost them 72 runs. Rossouw and de Villiers matched each other stroke for stroke, and at one moment for statistics too: when the two were 55 off 34 with five fours each and a six each. That’s not a double whammy you want to be a part of.West Indies managed to break the prospect of twin centuries by sending Rossouw back with the score at 280 in the 43rd over, but the real true unadulterated mayhem was yet to be unleashed. West indies had even drawn themselves some relative quiet by keeping South Africa down to 330 by the end of the 47th over. De Villiers was 95 off 50, and hadn’t yet hit top gear.Now Jason Holder brought himself on. He had bowled two maidens. Taken the wicket of de Kock. Conceded only 40 in eight. At one point only nine in five overs. Now imagine the pressure on the 23-year-old captain of what was once an intimidating side. In a complete meltdown he bowled length deliveries, two no-balls and went for 34 runs in the 48th over. The intimidation was well justified. De Villiers, though, was just having fun: going down the ground, going over fine leg, reversing over third man deliveries that were pitched in almost identical spots.Andre Russell got lucky in the next over as he bowled the first three deliveries to Farhaan Behardien, for nine runs. Holder – poor Holder – again started the last over to de Villiers. He kept feeding that driving slot, and de Villiers kept hurting him for 30 more in that over. He had brought up his 100 off the 52nd ball he faced, two behind the World Cup record held by Kevin O’Brien, but reached his 150 off the 64th ball he faced. And then celebrated with back-to-back sixes to end the innings. Holder had now conceded 104, fifth-worst overall, and the worst 10-over analysis in World Cups.You can hardly fault a side for being demoralised after such repeated beatings. Once Kyle Abbott removed Gayle early, with an outswinger that hit the top of the leg stump, the fight was going to be in short supply, which was reduced further by the excellent fielding and the legspin of Imran Tahir. There was small consolation for Holder in that his 56 off 48 helped West Indies avoid the worst defeat in ODIs.

Captain Fahad Babar scored back-to-back half-centuries to lead his Central East Region team to a pair of wins on the opening day of the 2015 USACA T20 National Championship in Lauderhill, Florida.Central East recorded a nine-wicket win over North East to start the day, with Babar producing an unbeaten 50 off 39 balls to steer his side’s chase of 97. Against Atlantic Region, Babar hit 56 in Central East’s first innings total of 145 for 8 on the turf wicket at Central Broward Regional Park. Atlantic’s chase was wrecked by the part-time offspin of Abhijit Joshi, who claimed 5 for 19 in 3.5 overs as Atlantic were wiped out for 112.South East also made it through the opening day undefeated after knocking off Central West on the stadium turf wicket by 24 runs and then defending a target of 117 on the artificial wicket against USA Development XI to win by 10 runs.Star USA batsman Steven Taylor clobbered 91 off 63, including 10 fours and four sixes, in an imposing total of 176 for 4 before restricting Central West to 152 for 7. Taylor and Timothy Surujbally each took three wickets to stifle USA Development XI’s chase, which ended on 106 for 9.Pre-tournament favorites North West stumbled to a 13-run loss to USA Development XI before bouncing back with a 57-run win over New York in the day’s primetime match inside the stadium. Roy Silva top-scored with 61 for USA Development XI in a total of 185 for 4 before taking three wickets in North West’s chase which ended on 172 for 8. Srinivas Salver produced 84 at No. 6 but got little support as the next best score was extras with 15.In the late match, wicketkeeper Ritesh Kadu struck 58 off 43 opening the innings for North West in a total of 162 for 6. Spin did most of the damage to New York’s chase, accounting for nine of the 10 wickets. Legspinners Rahul Singh and Saqib Saleem took 3 for 21 and 2 for 25 respectively before offspinner Pranay Suri wiped out the tail with 4 for 8 in 3.3 overs as New York were bowled out for 105 in 19.3 overs.In the day’s other two matches, New York defeated Atlantic by nine wickets and Central West defeated North East by 58 runs. Atlantic were bowled out for 117 in 18.4 overs with opening bowler Muhammad Ilyas wiping out the top four. Akeem Dodson opened New York’s chase and finished 50 not out in 46 balls with the target reached in just 12.4 overs.Central West made the biggest total on day one by racking up 196 for 6 against a weak North East attack. Former Tamil Nadu Ranji player Dhandapani Devarasan scored 73 off 43 with six fours and five sixes at No. 3 for Central West. Fast bowler Shuja Naqvi put a major dent into North East’s chase by producing a double-wicket maiden in the second over and from there they struggled to recover, finishing on 138 for 9.

ScorecardFile Photo – Dane van Niekerk’s all-round effort ensured South Africa pulled one back in the three-match series•Getty Images

Dane van Niekerk took 3 for 12 to limit Pakistan Women to a manageable 106 and then knocked 67 off the target herself to lead South Africa Women towards victory. It was tense though. With 11 needed from four balls, captain Mignon du Preez struck a four and a six to seal the deal.South Africa began their chase steadily and were 55 for 0 at the halfway mark. Trisha Chetty’s run-out the 11th helped Pakistan were able to string some quiet overs together. But van Niekerk’s threat remained as she reached her third T20 fifty in the 14 over.It came down to 20 off the final two overs. Van Niekerk and and Lizelle Lee, who had put on 37 for the second wicket, fell in the space of four balls to keep Pakistan’s hopes alive. Until du Preez’s unbeaten five-ball 13.Pakistan did well to push the chase to the penultimate ball, considering their top-order collapse to start the day. Sidra Ameen was lbw to Shabnim Ismail off the fourth ball of the match, Moseline Daniels struck four balls later to bowl Iram Javed. Van Niekerk’s three blows then left Pakistan at 31 for 5 in the ninth over. Bismah Maroof, with 34 off 42 and Asmavia Iqbal, with 31 off 28, resisted with a 50-run partnership to lend their bowlers with some cushion. However, having won the previous two T20s, Pakistan took the series 2-1

Phil Simmons could be forgiven for phoning his old friends at Ireland and asking if his former job was still available. Less than a month into his new role as West Indies head coach, the sheer enormity of his task has become apparent.It is not that his team lacks talent. It is not that they lack the will to win or the stomach for the fight. It is that regional cricket in the Caribbean has declined to such an extent – and is played on such rotten pitches – that the gap between it and international cricket has become a chasm.Simmons’ job, then, is not just to coach a team, not just to improve a squad of players, but to cut through the politics and self-interest and apathy to improve cricket across the Caribbean. It is a colossal task and will surely feel, at times, like herding cats.But he is not the sort to be easily discouraged. Far from it. While he admits to having been “startled” by the “reckless” batting on the final day in Grenada, he is “very encouraged” that West Indies have recorded four centuries in the two Tests and that three of them have been scored by players aged 23 or younger.

Phil Simmons on…

• Injuries: “Jerome Taylor bowled two spells in the nets on Tuesday, so we’ll see how his shoulder reacts. Jason Holder has recovered well and will bowl on Thursday.”

• Shivnarine Chanderpaul: “He’s having a bad series, but all the greats have had bad series. We didn’t drop them. I remember Clive Lloyd at 41; I remember Gordon Greenidge at 41. Shiv is still 40. And he is working as hard as anyone. We have four experienced guys in the side and they all need to make their presence felt.”

• Pitches: “In an ideal world, I’d like a nice, quick, bouncy wicket where who can bat, will bat and who can bowl will take wickets. But I can’t think of anywhere in the world where there’s one of them now. I know there’s a cynical view that we’re doing this for a tactic or to make sure that Tests last five days, but I don’t think it’s true.”

• James Anderson: “I was impressed by the extra effort he put in on the last day. It was what his side needed. That’s why he’s played 100 Tests and taken most wickets for England. When he sees a small gap, he pushes through it. He showed his leadership skills.”

His challenge is to help the team extend their good play from one session to three a day. And to do that, he feels the standard of regional cricket must improve.”The thing is, our young players are learning international cricket on the international stage,” Simmons said. “And that’s not ideal.”When you play county cricket, the level is close enough to Test cricket. And when I think back to my days – and I hate to do that – I learned a lot in regional cricket. But I don’t think there’s a lot to be learned at that level now. So it’s when you come up here that you start learning.”You can get away with reckless batting in our four-day game. It seems to be the normal thing to do. But you don’t get many bad balls and you have to bat for longer when you play international cricket. And if Bishoo bowled 50 overs in our four-day cricket, he would take 20 wickets.”I saw a 50-over game a while ago. The standard of the wicket was terrible. Terrible. That is the first part of my job. Not the international team. The biggest part of my job is getting the proper coaching set-up, the proper fitness set-ups, the proper wickets in our regional cricket right around the Caribbean.”We have to address these things. I don’t know how yet, but we’ll find a way. That’s the only way we’ll produce better cricketers.”Simmons has decided to take a ‘glass half full’ attitude to West Indies’ performances in the series to date. So while he could have been infuriated by aspects of the batting in Grenada or the bowling in Antigua, he has instead seen the largely untapped potential in his side.”I’m very encouraged by what I’ve seen,” Simmons said. “We had two hours of negligence on the last day in Grenada and we lost the game. It was a reckless period. It just needed a couple of guys to bat for another half-hour or so and we would have saved the game.”I’d like to see us play two or three sessions consistently. We’ve played well in one, been bad in the next, then come back in the one after that. But we’ve not played consistently well for three sessions.”We just need our young players to understand that how they play must be determined by what the teams needs and what the scoreboard reads.”But they don’t do that because of the level of our first-class cricket, so they have to learn here that, if the score is 40 for 4, you might have to bat for two sessions and come back the next day to get your big score. The mindset has to change. They have to realise you have to bat for longer.”Jermaine Blackwood exemplifies the issue. While he made an impressive century in the first innings in Antigua, he has been dismissed in both second innings in remarkably reckless fashion: once coming down the pitch and attempting to slog over the leg side and once caught at mid-off as he tried to drive Chris Jordan over the top. For a side looking to save a Test, they were odd shots.”He didn’t assess the situation properly,” Simmons said. “He assessed it properly in the first innings of the match. He still played his shots, he still hit over the top off the fast bowlers, but he did it in the right situation. In Grenada he didn’t. But he’s in his what? Fifth Test? It will take him some time to learn.”You hear people talk about how bad this is, or how bad that is. But when you’re in the camp, it’s not all as bad as people say. But there has been nothing as startling as the way we batted on the last morning in Grenada. There is learning to be done.”

ScorecardOwais Shah’s late dash proved enough for Hampshire•Getty Images

A superb partnership between Owais Shah and Sean Ervine of 85 from just 6.2 overs propelled Hampshire to a 19 run victory over Middlesex and to second in the South Group. Shah, who scored 58 not out and Ervine who scored 42 not out, elevated Hampshire from the fragile position of 87 for 3 after 13.4 overs to 170 for 3, a total which proved too many for Middlesex who will be disappointed that they didn’t mount a more serious challenge.After winning the toss and electing to bat Hampshire were perilously poised after sixteen overs having scored only 106 on a typically high-scoring ground. Indeed, the concern in Hampshire coach Dale Benkenstein’s voice as he spoke to Sky Sports in the sixteenth over was palpable. “We need to be looking at ten an over from here on in,” he said. He got that, and more.Despite the eighteenth over only going for five, Shah and Ervine blitzed 61 off the other 18 balls of the final four overs, including six sixes and three fours to haul Hampshire from weakness to strength in less than fifteen minutes.Shah and Ervine are two very different batsman. Shah is an almost prototypical example of classical batting evolved, while Ervine, although versatile, is less subtle; more force than flair and more beast than beauty. But regardless of their differences the havoc they wreaked was undistinguishable. The sixteenth over, bowled by James Franklin was plundered for 16 before 25 came off the penultimate over bowled by Steven Finn who looked down on pace and, from England’s perspective, worryingly lacklustre. Shah reached his fifty with a scampered two in the final over before smiting the last delivery of the innings for six to elevate Hampshire to 170 for 3.Hampshire’s problem earlier on was that of the top three batsmen only Michael Carberry could get in. James Vince struggled desperately, scratching around for 24 painful minutes and 16 balls for the reward of just 9 runs before he fell in the seventh over dragging on to Franklin. Jimmy Adams too faced six balls before being caught for 3. Adams has scored just nine runs in his last three innings.A couple of trademark pull shots from Carberry and some proactive running between him and Shah at least instilled some momentum into Hampshire’s innings, but even when Carberry moved to and beyond fifty there was still a sense that Hampshire were behind were they needed be and when Carberry fell for a well-made and platform laying 57 there was still plenty of work to be done. Even after Shah and Ervine’s partnership however, Shah felt that Hampshire were perhaps ten runs light of a winning score.Shah’s assessment was of the conditions however, and not necessarily the match and its protagonists. Although Middlesex began their innings on the back of two consecutive scores of 200-plus, the second of which was the highest ever score at Lord’s, Hampshire’s bowling attack is well-practiced at defending scores of around 170, especially at home, and they proved effective in doing so once again.Although four fours were taken from Jackson Bird’s first over once Middlesex lost Nick Compton and Dawid Malan in the space of nine balls in the Powerplay they were quickly playing catch-up.However, although Middlesex were behind the rate from very early on, while international pairing Eoin Morgan and Joe Burns were at the crease there was a chance that they would launch an assault, but it never materialised. Hampshire bowled well, conceding no boundaries between the fifth and ninth over, and Vince shuffled his attack with practiced ease. The trademark Hampshire Squeeze was on.As the innings turned, Middlesex’s patience did too. Burns was caught in the deep by Carberry off the bowling of Yasir Arafat before Morgan fell less than two overs later to leave Middlesex 86-4 and the required run rate almost at 13. Franklin and John Simson briefly threatened to spring a surprise but Hampshire’s canny and experienced bowling attack always came back with answers, to restrict Middlesex to just 153 for 6. Will Smith, Danny Briggs and Yasir Arafat all conceded less than 6.30 runs per over and stood out from a decent bowling performance. Six Middlesex batsmen reached double figures, three scoring more than 27, but none managed more than 31 and ultimately they lacked the innings-shaping performance of which Hampshire had three.

Johnson Charles has been named as Darren Bravo’s replacement in West Indies’ squad for the World T20 to be played in India from March 8 to April 3.Bravo, who didn’t sign the central contracts offered by the West Indies Cricket Board last week, cited Test cricket as his top priority at this stage.Charles, 27, played the last of his 23 T20Is during the series in Sri Lanka in November. He was also part of the squad that lifted the title in Sri Lanka in 2012; his swashuckling 84 earning him the Man of the Match award in the quarter-final against England.Charles will head into the tournament on the back of a good showing for St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League, where he finished as the third-highest run-getter for his side.West Indies have been drawn in Group 1 of the Super 10 stage where they will play alongside England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and one of the qualifiers from the first round.Squad: Darren Sammy (Captain), Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Ashley Nurse, Denesh RamdinAndre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor