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The Indian cricket selectors would meet in Mumbai on August 2 to pickthe Test squad for the three Test matches against Sri Lanka fromAugust 14.The Indian Cricket Board executive secretary, Sharad Diwadkar, toldPTI in Mumbai on Thursday that four to five changes are likely fromthe squad which is playing in the on-going triangular series with NewZealand as the third team.The three Test matches would be played at Galle (from August 14 to18), Kandy (from August 22-26) and at the SSC in Colombo (from August29 to September 2).

Virat Kohli has won his last three Test matches as India’s captain, and his team leads an important series against South Africa, but appreciation of his players’ skills has been overshadowed to a certain extent by talk of the conditions that helped them achieve their latest win in Mohali. Kohli, though, is not unduly bothered by the lack of praise coming his team’s way.”It’s only disappointing if you are looking to take what is written or said to heart, or think about it too much,” he said, on the eve of the second Test in Bangalore. “We focus on the process and don’t really think about what’s being written or what’s being said.”The fact of the matter is we won a Test match and that’s what we feel good about as a team. We are not worried about any external factors or what’s being discussed about things that are not in our control. If someone chooses to say or write about something which they feel is a topic of interest, that’s their choice. It’s up to us if we take it to heart or sit down and feel disappointed. We are not at all disappointed. We won a game of cricket. We are very happy about it.”One of the overlooked factors in India’s Mohali win, according to Kohli, was their seam attack. Though Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron only picked up a wicket between them, in a total of 20 overs across two innings, Kohli felt they still contributed by keeping the runs in check – they only conceded 40 runs in those 20 overs.”If those 20 overs go for 100 runs then you are not in a position to win a Test match,” Kohli said. “So they played their role perfectly. It is important for the three guys bowling the most of the overs to have two guys after them who can also maintain the same momentum and control the run rate as well, which is very important in Test matches.”Either Umesh or Aaron will have to make way in Bangalore for Ishant Sharma, who returns to the side after serving a one-match ban. Kohli looked forward to the return of senior pace bowler, whose 13 wickets at 23.23 were crucial to India’s success in Sri Lanka.”With Ishant coming in, he brings in a lot of experience,” Kohli said. “He’s bowled well in subcontinent conditions, knows how to reverse-swing the ball, can lead the pace attack. The combination can or will change according to the conditions. So I would rather have a guy who will give me control in an important time in the game rather than someone who will just get the overs out of way. That combination has worked for us.”We are just trying to figure out, according to the pitch and conditions, who will be doing more of the bowling and what stage in the game. I’m very delighted that Ishant is back. The way he is bowling and the way he bowled in Sri Lanka brings a lot to the table. It is not just about the spinners. We have quality seamers as well. We saw that in Mohali as well. For those two [Umesh and Aaron] to rush the batsmen on that sort of a wicket, takes a lot of heart, takes a lot of effort. So I was really happy to see that personally.”Also critical to the Mohali win were M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara. The second-wicket pair added 63 in the first innings and 86 in the second, utterly vital partnerships in a low-scoring match.”We all are very proud of both of them, the way they batted in the last game,” Kohli said. “We can learn a lot from them, the way they applied themselves. The batsmen didn’t apply themselves as much as we wanted to as a batting group and we are aware of that. But not taking credit away from the way both of them batted. I think they kept us in the game throughout and that is very important I think, two guys standing up in each innings.”Their contributions in both the innings were very crucial to us. I cannot be relaxed as a captain because I have to bat at four, so if I relax I will probably not be in the right kind of mindset to go out and play. But it is a nice feeling to see two professionals building a partnership and it is always a good feeling to know that you have two guys in front who know how to score runs and who know what they are doing out in the middle. It is always a very calming influence in the change room for the guys sitting outside or the bowlers.”I hope they can keep going in the same way, they are doing a wonderful job. Vijay has been so consistent for us, Pujara has made a tremendous comeback, he is willing to play at any position and give the team a kind of flexibility. That is a great attitude to see from both of them, looking to improve each other and stringing in those consistent performances which are indeed making the team win. I am really, really happy about that and I hope they can continue in the same way.”With AB de Villiers set to play his 100th Test, Kohli had words of praise for his Royal Challengers Bangalore team-mate, calling him a “genuine and good person”.”I want to congratulate him on playing his 100th Test,” Kohli said. “As an individual, I know him well. He’s a very genuine and good person. As an opponent he plays hard cricket. As a batsman, he’s among the top four-five batsmen in the world. I cannot say much more than that. His game and the kind of person he is are there for all to see. For me, he’s a very good cricketer and a very good person.”

Test cricket is a fascinating affair and this test match is ample proof. Pakistan players must have made some serious pledges last night but within 45 minutes of this morning’s play, they looked in a sorry state. It’s easy to talk a good game but damn difficult when you come to execute it. Plan must have been to restrict English batsmen’s free scoring for the first 18 overs and then declare an all out war with the second new ball.Saqlain sent down only three overs in the morning and fell well short of requirements. Waqar too, was unsuccessful from the other end even though the ball was reverse swinging. In forty-five minutes Pakistan used up five bowlers and the plan by this time was in tatters.

In the meantime, Thorpe and Vaughan had completed their well-deserved centuries. Thorpe in rich vein of form was at times almost making fun of Pakistan bowlers and Vaughan once again was composed and ready to pounce on any gift the Pakistani’s offered him. Despite all of this, Pakistan was given a tremendous reprieve. Thorpe blocked a ball from Wasim and set-off for a run which was insane. Wasim pounced on the ball in his follow-through and threw down the stumps in an instant. From then onwards it was an inspired performance from Pakistan bowlers.Wasim and Waqar remained aggressive throughout the day. They bowled their hearts out for the Pakistan team. Five years ago, with this kind of effort, they would have sentenced any team in the world to the dungeons.Post lunch session was always going to be crucial. Stewart is at his best on a pitch like this. Waqar had earlier out-thought Vaughan with a cleverly disguised bouncer and after only fifteen overs the ‘new’ ball had started to reverse swing. Wasim looked at his most offensive in this series and deserved much better figures in the end. Anyway, his spell must have inspired Razzaq who at last, bowled a tight and searching line.

They say, ‘never run on a misfield’! Ian Ward did just that, paying no heed to this saying and was run out by an alert Azhar Mahmood. At this time, England was surely destined for a total of above 500 runs. You can say Razzaq’s spell was commendable. But Stewart played a leading hand in conceding a first innings lead to Pakistan. Inexplicably, he kept exposing his lower order batsmen to the rampant Pakistan bowlers who gleefully accepted such gentle offerings. Pakistan was thus able to bowl England out with considerable ease.

Saeed and Razzaq started off the Pakistan innings at a brisk pace but the left-hander was decidedly uneasy against Darren Gough and the tough demand confronting him as the senior opener. I’d admit anytime, I was a player of limited ability but with plenty of resolution and often wish I had the natural ability of players like Saeed Anwar. It really irks me when they concede to the opposition so tamely. Gough peppered Saeed with a few rising deliveries which was nothing out of the ordinary. Saeed coped with this barrage miserably and did not seem to be on the same planet as rest of his team. At the end, his demise though expected was degrading. He guided a simple catch to Thorpe at about fifth slip and walked off the pitch mighty relieved. Pakistan players and Caddick had been at loggerheads this entire match and more words were exchanged when he got in to bat earlier. Perhaps upset or unnerved by it when he came on to bowl in the second innings, he was hit around by Razzaq and taken off quickly. Darren Gough, I am afraid is made of other stuff. He came charging in and relaying a message that we are not down and out in this game. I simply admire his spirit.Razzaq buoyed up by his productive bowling spell was eager to get on top of the England bowling. His on drives off Caddick were immaculate and a six over mid-wicket was of some caliber. He is predominantly a front foot player and must learn to deal with or avoid a short-pitched ball. You are playing with fire if you decide to hook and pull and your feet are not in perfect position to execute this most difficult stroke. Hoggard, aided by his senior bowlers, preyed on Razzaq’s lack of understanding.Faisal, I am afraid was incessantly peppered with short balls. He was full of resolution but at international level this is not enough. By persisting with this formula Caddick was able to send Faisal packing to the pavilion. This boy does need to learn how to cope with short balls as well if he wants to bat high in the order.Inzamam & Youhana played for the end of the third day’s play. Although they were intact at the end but with two days remaining, there is a lot left to play for in this test match. While England are striving hard to gain firm footing, Waqar and his men have to play very poorly to lose this initiative. Let us hope they don’t lose any ground and resolve to go for a win.

Ed:Mudassar Nazar is a veteran of 76 tests and 122 ODIs. He is currently the chief coach of Pakistan’s National and Regional Cricket Academies. In view of the overwhelming interest of users in CricInfo’s articles, we have invited him to write for us.

It may be old hat to some counties, the novelty may have worn off elsewhere, but at Hampshire a sell out crowd is expected to pack the new Hampshire Rose Bowl as the county venture into new territory with their first home floodlit (day/night) match on Wednesday at home to Sussex 4:10pm start.The ECB Event Management team will take over the event and Musco the American company hired by that team to install the floodlights have come to town. Like Billy Smart’s Circus of old, the ground will look resplendent for Hampshire’s most lucrative one-day match ever.Mike Taylor, Hampshire’s Marketing Manager will be welcoming 40 companies who have taken up corporate hospitality for the evening, with the caterers ready to feed 800-900 meals to them alone.”Various catering outlets will be on hand, to feed the spectators also” said Taylor. “We are keeping fingers, in fact everything crossed, that the weather holds good”.There will be music before the event, music selected by individual players to greet them out to bat, noisy when a four or six is hit, or a wicket falls.The Hampshire side are not unknown to this treatment as they have played in a number of day/night matches over the past couple of years, but only so far away from home. And the circus will also have its famous Rollerball competition during the interval, with the winners going on to represent the county in the grand final at the end of the season.Sky TV will also be covering the event.Hampshire captain Robin Smith expects it to be a super night out, but he is also aware that the events off the field will not distract the main event and that is to keep their push for promotion on track with a victory over Sussex. “We must instil into the players, and particularly the youngsters, what is happening on the cricket field is the prime aim for the team”. Smith remarks.Shuttle buses will run both before the match from Hedge End and Southampton Parkway railway stations from 2:30pm to 4:30pm, and returning immediately after the match. A coach has also been booked for travellers returning to Southampton City centre and in particular timed to catch the 11pm sailing to East Cowes. The buses will leave promptly at 10:30pm from the bus shelter on Marshall’s Way near the main entrance to the ground.There are still tickets available during the probably last day of the Derbyshire match on Sunday, or from the County Office on 023 8047 2002.

QUALIFICATIONS:

This match is set up for what could be an exciting finishtomorrow morning, as Manicaland, set the highest total of thematch for victory, 210, finished the day more than halfway there,on 117 with three wickets down. On the first day both inningshad been dominated by one player; a third and less experiencedplayer was to stand out in the Matabeleland second innings.Development player Wisdom Sibiza, making his first-class debut,held the batting together by carrying his bat throughout thecompleted innings.The day’s play began in sunshine, with Matabeleland having a59-run advantage on first innings which looked likely to provedecisive unless they made a major hash of their second innings.Charles Coventry and Sibiza gave their team no immediate causefor alarm with the first double-figure opening stand of thematch.Gary Brent, though, struck back for Manicaland with three wicketsin the morning session. Although still bowling the occasionalloose ball, he found much more control, holding the ball down theseam for most of the time, and found good movement and occasionallift. Coventry (24), the more enterprising of the two batsmen,gradually found his confidence and was feeling quite comfortable,by his own admission, when he fended off a lifter from Brent tobe caught by Steve Lawson in the slips with the total on 34.Captain Mark Vermeulen came in but had only two to his name whenhe played forward to Brent and was adjudged lbw, possibly outsidethe line of off stump. Dion Ebrahim quickly received a flierfrom Brent and gave a low chance in the gully that was put down.Almost immediately a light shower of rain drove the players fromthe field.Ebrahim was not to last long, though, turning a ball from Brentfirmly but straight to short leg Stuart Matsikenyeri, out for 3with the score on 46 for three. Neil van Rensburg came in butthen came more rain; a total of 35 minutes was lost before lunch.Play resumed with 14 minutes before lunch, and van Rensburg wasdropped at the wicket slashing outside off stump at Patrick Gada.At the interval the score was 50 for three (Sibiza 16, vanRensburg 2), and the light rain started again almost immediately.Only a few minutes were lost before play started againafterwards. Van Rensburg played a handsome cover drive but then,on 10, padded up to a ball from Soma that came back in and wasgiven out lbw. Brent was more erratic after lunch, but took afourth wicket with a bad ball, a short one down the leg side atwhich the new batsman Warren Gilmour (0) swung and walked for atickle to the keeper. At 63 for five, Matabeleland were indanger of throwing it away.Sibiza was still there, driving and missing occasionally butkeeping his head down the rest of the time and batting soundly.He had sound support for a while from Shaun Commerford (14) andIan Engelbrecht (13), both out to Mark Burmester, to take thescore to 110 for seven. Then Matthew Townshend, son of formernational player and current Matabeleland manager Derrick, decidedto take the long handle and hit out powerfully, strikingBurmester for 4, 6 and 6 off successive balls, the sixestravelling over midwicket and long-on. He was given out for 22,caught at slip by Dion Yatras off off-spinner Steve Lawson,although it appeared the ball came off his pad, and there was ageneral feeling that the umpires were rather too trigger-happy,as there were several dubious decisions in the innings.At tea the score was 148 for eight (Siziba 38, Brown 10), thelatter having scooped Lawson for two successive fours over mid-onjust before tea. The innings was to fold meekly soon afterwardsfor just two more runs, though, both to Lawson, Brown beingsmartly stumped by Neil Ferreira and Hitz, doubtless hindered bynerves, driving loosely and lobbing a catch to Brent at coverwithout scoring. Sibiza carried his bat through the innings fora determined, if somewhat fortunate at times, 40. Brent, despitehis post-lunch wildness, finished with the commendable ifslightly flattering figures of 16-5-16-4.Manicaland were left to score 210 to win, the highest total ofthe match – which seemed unlikely in the context of this matchbut they had scored 357 against Midlands the previous weekend.They made a positive start, with Ferreira and the promoted Brentmoving the score along with some enterprising strokes. Bothsides appeared more fired up than at any stage in the match,especially when the score reached the thirties and it was clearthat Manicaland were not going to roll over.Matters changed immediately the spinners were brought on. In hisfirst over Engelbrecht yorked Ferreira (16), beating him inflight, and the wicket-keeper left the field during play for thefirst time in the match. Then in the next over Brown had Brentcaught by van Rensburg at slip, both wickets falling at 50.Burmester’s policy seemed to be to wait for the wide ball andhammer it for four, and for a long time it worked. His firstfive scoring shots were all boundaries, although one was a thininside edge that just missed the stumps. He had a couple ofother narrow escapes, but fortune favoured the brave for quite awhile. At the other end Gada played a valuable supporting role,playing the occasional good attacking stroke but generallyfinding the fielder.Burmester was just past fifty when an attempted pull lobbed theball just over slip, but he did not enjoy his escape for long.Moving down the pitch to Engelbrecht, he played over a ball to bebowled. His 53 came off 69 balls and included 8 fours; it wasscored out of a stand of 59 with Gada. With the lightdeteriorating rapidly, the umpires refused to come off until tenminutes to six, and Gada (12) and night-watchman Terry Denyer (0)fought successfully for survival and will carry on the fight inthe morning. Manicaland’s last seven batsmen need another 93runs to win, and with their best men gone they will have to dowell to get them.

ScorecardRavi Bopara picked up four second-innings wickets to hurry Derbyshire to defeat•Getty Images

Essex completed a comprehensive victory over Derbyshire in their Championship Division Two match by an innings and 188 runs to boost Chris Silverwood’s chances of landing the job as head coach.Silverwood has made it clear he wants to succeed Paul Grayson, who left the club two weeks ago, and this professional performance at Derby can only help his application. Essex were always likely to wrap up victory inside three days given the injuries to Tony Palladino and Shiv Thakor, which prevented them batting, and they sealed a maximum points haul 10 minutes before lunch.Ryan ten Doeschate was the catalyst, taking three wickets for one run in nine balls, as Derbyshire subsided tamely to 182 after skipper Wayne Madsen and nightwatchman Ben Cotton had kept Essex waiting 47 minutes for a breakthrough. But once Ravi Bopara had Cotton pouched at first slip, the end came swiftly leaving Silverwood to reflect on an impressive three days’ work.”It was a fantastic team performance,” the acting head coach said. “We are getting first-innings runs and the bowling attack stuck at it. We did exactly what we said we were going to do and we got the rewards.”I will be putting my hat in the ring and see what comes but first and foremost for me was to see us through the last games and do the best we can. We said next season starts now and we want to set the bar high.”Derbyshire’s season is in danger of disintegrating after they were largely outplayed in this game and Madsen admitted: “We are not trying to make any excuses, this is just not good enough and we’ve got to find solutions to compete in games and stay in them longer. It’s very disappointing the way that we played. There’s no consistency to our play, you need everyone chipping in over the course of the season and we haven’t had that this year.”Madsen and Cotton, who dug in for just short of an hour, at least showed some fight to raise hopes of Derbyshire taking the game deep into the day but Bopara tempted Cotton into a flash that was held above his head by Jesse Ryder.James Foster’s decision to turn to ten Doeschate at the Racecourse End proved inspired as the allrounder had Madsen caught behind down the leg side for 38 and then saw Scott Elstone edge a drive to second slip. When Tom Poynton played back and was lbw, Essex sensed they could finish it before lunch and Footitt’s sliced drive left Wes Durston high and dry with Palladino and Thakor remaining in the pavilion.Derbyshire now have one last chance to win a Championship home game this season when they play Leicestershire the week after next. “We’ve got to perform well in the last game of the season. We don’t just owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the supporters and everyone at the club,” Madsen said.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
What began as a low-percentage humpty from Dinesh Chandimal ended as a high-quality counterattack of 162 not out off 169 balls to set India a tricky target of 176, nearly double the highest successful chase in Galle. He came in with Sri Lanka still 100 runs behind with only six wickets in hand, which soon became a deficit of 97 with five in hand. He scored 162 of the 275 runs that came while he was at the wicket. He did enjoy some good fortune, surviving early on through an umpiring mistake and then through inferior technology available for third-umpire decisions, but the second half of his innings, shepherding the tail, was special. He was helped along by 40s from Lahiru Thirimanne and Jehan Mubarak. India ended the day by losing KL Rahul, lbw playing back to a full ball from Rangana Herath.India were rattled by him, and for large parts you couldn’t tell how they were planning to get a wicket. R Ashwin, though, kept at it, and ended up with four wickets, his first 10-wicket haul outside India. Ajinkya Rahane at slip and gully helped him along, taking five in the innings to reach world-record eight catches in the match.India will, or should, be forced to rethink their absolute stance against DRS. The two decisions that went against them with Chandimal and Thirimanne, both in single figures, did not involve any technology that the BCCI is suspicious of. They were clear edges missed by the umpires – who have been ordinary in this match – and would likely have been easily overturned without looking at any projections of the ball path.This was minutes before lunch, just after Ashwin and Amit Mishra – the latter took three wickets – had broken a brisk and assured 87-run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews. Chandimal came out playing his shots, and his first one was a top edge onto his helmet and through to backward short leg. Not given. If Ashwin was the aggrieved party here, Mishra was to be denied soon. A legbreak took the inside edge of Thirimanne onto his pad, and then into the hands of short leg only for Nigel Llong to join Bruce Oxenford in making mistakes in those frenetic minutes before lunch.Soon Chandimal drove Mishra into the boot of silly point. The ball lobbed up for a catch that India claimed. Replays suggested there was no touch with the ground but not conclusively so. Even though there was no puff of dust, the third umpire couldn’t have been sure given the frame rate of the visuals provided to him.Everything went right for Chandimal. It looked like an innings impossible to sustain. When he connected he connected well, when he mis-hit the ball somehow failed to find a fielder, and the reverse sweeps and the switch hits played with the field. He played a bit like Ravindra Jadeja at Lord’s last year, a low-percentage innings during which all risks came off. Jadeja’s half-century back then gave India a winning lead. Chandimal certainly gave Sri Lanka a chance.Chandimal might have had all the luck with him, but he should get the credit for making the most of his early luck, and at that time Sri Lanka needed someone to break India’s wicket-taking template. He attacked them off their rhythm. His sweeping, reverse-sweeping and switch-hitting distracted the spinners, and the quicks failed to string together good deliveries when attacked. There was a spell of 20 overs without a maiden when India kept going past the bat, but also were taken for easy runs. Whatever pressure would build would dissipate as Chandimal and Thirimanne broke through with some excellent shots. The slog sweep remained their favourite.As Sri Lanka attacked, Kohli’s worried demeanour suggested how tricky chasing on this pitch could be. He will be disappointed that none of his bowlers could maintain any control when attacked. Even with the ball reversing the quicks failed to string together tight overs. Harbhajan Singh remained unimpressive, bowling with little venom or patience. Ashwin, who remained persistent even when Mathews attacked, lost his line and length in face of an unconventional attack from Chandimal. Against Thirimanne, though, he kept the examination on, and made him his seventh left-hand victim in the match when he drew the edge for another excellent catch for Rahane at slip.Mubarak, with an average of 17 after 11 Tests and on a pair, jumped out of the crease third ball, and hoisted Mishra for an emphatic six. Mubarak failed to get a maiden fifty, but played arguably the cleanest innings of the match, driving languidly, using the depth of the crease after front-foot shots, adding 82 with Chandimal to take the lead 110.It was still quite comfortable for India with three tail-enders of modest batting credentials to follow, but Chandimal manipulated the strike expertly, taking 45 of the 83 balls bowled after the seventh wicket and scoring 52 of the 65 runs. He was not averse to taking a single off the fourth ball or later, but when he couldn’t, he managed hit five boundaries off the last two balls of overs from Ashwin, Ishant and Varun Aaron. In the second half of the innings Chandimal looked assured, his risky start a distant memory.Another distant memory was an easy win for India, which looked quite probable in the minutes before lunch. Facing the tricky target, having to play eight overs before stumps, India lost Rahul, but the nightwatchman Ishant Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan – allowed to open despite not taking the field because his hand injury was external – went to stumps unseparated. An interesting chase was set up for India’s Independence Day.Rahane had earlier taken a stunner diving to his left to send Sangakkara back. Sangakkara had been excellent at playing inside the line of sharp offbreaks in scoring 40 in his last innings at Galle, but with 20 minutes to go to lunch he was a little late in withdrawing his bat when he intended to leave a flat offbreak well outside off. Mishra then got a legbreak to kick at a forward defence from Mathews for a catch at silly point. The two looked unplayable during that spell, and might well have been in their hotel by tea but for India’s inexplicable resistance to any form of DRS.

This was a day so tense and full of unexpected twists and turns that it would have been no surprise had Al Gore turned up to demand a recount. It finished with Auckland 74-2 in their second innings, a lead of 42.The highlight was a gutsy tenth wicket partnership of 80 by Bruce Martin and Graeme Aldridge for ND. This swung the game ND’s way, but Blair Pocock and Richard King did much to move it back again in the final session.With thirteen wickets having fallen on the first day the batsmen had as much trust in the pitch as in a Florida election official. Their lack of faith appeared justified as the heart of ND’s middle order was removed in the first hour.Auckland’s left-arm seamer Richard Morgan was the main destroyer, removing Bradburn caught behind from a bouncer, Bailey caught at short leg and Hood, off stump removed for a debut duck. Morgan demonstrated the twin dangers of the pitch. There was bounce and there was movement. It was difficult to deal with one while remaining alert for the other.Morgan finished with career best figures of 5-44.At 49-7 ND faced a substantial first innings deficit. Simon Doull began the recovery. Doull has a good record with the bat against Auckland, mostly by adopting the no-nonsense aggression he showed here. His 27 included a six over mid-wicket.When Doull’s departure was followed shortly afterwards by that of Robbie Hart, clearly annoyed to have been given out caught behind, it seemed that Auckland would have a lead of forty or so.Martin and Aldridge were soon to prove that to be a false assumption.Their partnership contained strong elements of good fortune, particularly in the early stages. But it contained a good deal of skill too, as well as a large slice of bloody-minded determination. There were few memorable shots, though Martin’s effortless lift over square leg to level the scores was one. The way in which both men resolutely stood up to short-pitched deliveries will be recalled as will their discipline in leaving as much as possible alone.The innings ended when Barnes found the shoulder of Martin’s bat to have him caught in the gully by Canning with the score on 178.Both batsmen left the field with personal highest scores (Martin 51, Aldridge 21 not out). They were only two short of breaking ND’s tenth wicket record against Auckland, set up by Martin in partnership with Simon Doull in the Shell Trophy final last April. Most importantly, they handed ND an unexpected lead of 32.Auckland’s second innings got off to the worst start when McIntosh was caught at second slip by Bailey off a Doull delivery that moved from leg to off. No runs were on the board.A quiet, but important phase of the game followed. Pocock and King put on 70 for the second wicket. It was slow at first, but gradually the shots came more freely. A slow outfield helped to keep the scoring rate down.Almost imperceptably, the balance of the game shifted towards Auckland. Joseph Yovich was the most dangerous bowler, twice having appeals for legside catches to the wicketkeeper, one for each batsman. However, Yovich was limited to one four over spell and may be injured.Doull returned to remove Pocock lbw to one that kept low shortly before the close of play.Today was first class cricket of a high order, not in terms of shot making, but as a contest in which concentration and determination are allied with skill to overcome the opposition and the conditions.These are the factors that will decide the outcome of the game, but in whose favour? To use the phrase with which we have become so familiar in recent weeks, it is too close to call.

Mumbai Indians’ physiotherapist Nitin Patel is likely to be appointed to the Indian team for the upcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup in June. The BCCI has also decided to appoint Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh as the bowling and fielding coaches respectively until the Asia Cup on an ad-hoc basis.Prasad, who is also the bowling coach with the Bangalore franchise, confirmed his appointment to Cricinfo. “The BCCI told me they were appointing me as the bowling coach for the Bangladesh tri-series and the Asia Cup after which they will negotiate a contract,” Prasad said. Both his and Robin’s contracts expired on May 30.A BCCI official told Cricinfo that Patel was close to signing his papers, and if that happens he will replace Paul Close, who was a stop-gap physio for the home Test series against South Africa earlier this year.Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, neither confirmed nor denied the news.Patel has already worked with the Indian team, when he replaced John Gloster during the tour of England in 2007. Gloster had fractured his elbow during a fielding session and had to undergo surgery, so Patel continued as the physio for the remainder of the series. The team was impressed by Patel’s performance and a BCCI official pointed out that even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s one-day captain, was happy with his work. Before going to England, Patel was the physio with the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team for three years.The BCCI had to fill the positions of physiotherapist and physical trainer after the simultaneous exits of John Gloster and Gregory King after the CB Series in Australia. Close, who was appointed as the National Cricket Academy physio, was asked to fill the vacancy temporarily but it has been learnt that he injured his Achilles tendon and had to undergo surgery recently.Andrew Leipus, the former physio of the Indian team, and Ewan Speechley, a renowned South African physio who was with Bangalore Royal Challengers, were the other names discussed by the BCCI. Leipus came close to taking up the offer but he might be heading to the ICC’s headquarters in Dubai.