A superb century by southpaw Tariq ur Rehman (119) enabled Air India to flypast Central Revenue Sports Board by 68 runs. In the process they booked aberth in the semifinals in the 7th JP Atray Memorial tournament at theSector 16 cricket stadium in Chandigarh today.Rakesh Jolly, skipper of CRSB XI won the toss and elected to field.Tariq ur Rehman and Dheeraj Jadhav opened the innings for Air India.Bhupinder Singh (sr) who was bowling an excellent line and length wasrewarded when he bowled Jadhav (16) with the scoreboard reading 24 after8.3 overs. Piyush Soneji joined Tariq ur Rehman and started offconfidently. The duo added 86 runs off 114 balls and provided stability tothe innings. But while trying to pull a ball which was not exactly short,Soneji was trapped in front of the wicket by Dahiya with the score 110 in26.5 overs. Piyush scored 34 in 55 balls which included two hits to the fence.Former Test player Praveen Amre and India under-19 player Neeraj Patel bothwent cheaply. Sairaj Bahuthule joined Tariq ur Rehman who was holding thefort at one end and they started scoring briskly. The duo added 102 runs injust 88 balls. Bahuthule remained unbeaten with 51 which came off just 47balls with the help of six powerful hits to the fence. Tariq ur Rehmanafter completing his 50 off 72 balls changed gear and played a number ofelegant shots to all parts of the ground. But he miscued a pull shot offRanade and was caught at mid wicket by Praveen Thapar. His knock came off136 balls which included 13 boundaries and two huge sixes. Air Indiafinally posted a respectable total of 249 for six wickets in 50 overs.Praveen Thapper of CRSB XI was the most successful bowler as he capturedthree wickets for 43 runs.Chasing a target at the rate of five runs an over, CRSB XI lost the wicketof Bhupinder Singh (sr) in the seventh over. The pinch hitter, trying toclear the mid off fielder, ballooned the ball and was caught by Bahuthuleoff the bowling off HS Sodhi for just four runs. Satrajit Lehri joinedPadamjit and the pair scored at a nifty pace by adding 56 runs off 74balls. Then Lehri, trying for a big heave was brilliantly caught by NeerajPatel of Bahuthule with the scoreboard reading 77.Amre applied a double spin attack in the shape of Narender Hirwani andBahuthule which paid dividends as both captured two wickets. Off spinnerPritam Gandhe bowled a tight line and length and claimed four vital wicketsfor just 38 runs.Except Padanjit Sherawat (53), none of the other batsman stayed at thewicket as the CSRB innings folded up for 180 runs with 2.5 overs tospare.Tariq-Ur-Rehman was given the man of the match award.

That has been the Terriers’ main downfall, hasn’t it? Accompany a lack of defensive stability across the course of the season has been a lack of a regular goalscoring output, which is key as to they find themselves slumped at the bottom of the Premier League.

Huddersfield Town have scored just 18 goals this season in the League, with their joint top scorer being Karlan Grant, a January transfer window signing.

Following Grant’s brace at the weekend, it seems certain he will be Jan Siewert’s first-choice striker for their remaining seven games of the season, but we can still discuss the impact that the main two options offer…

Steve Mounie

Mounie has just two League goals and three assists in 26 League games this season. A woeful return.

The 24-year-old’s all-round game has been poor this season as although he has had a lack of service, he has certainly struggled to bring teammates into play and be clinical in front of goal, which is what his play-style is based around.

Grade: D-

Karlan Grant

After scoring 14 goals and providing five assists for Charlton in the first half of this campaign, Grant signed for Town in late January and since his arrival, he has looked bright in his six appearances so far.

The 21-year-old offers a completely different outlet to Mounie and one that is more efficient too, given his three goals in a Huddersfield shirt already. He makes lots of runs in-behind the opponent’s backline, gets involved in the build-up play often and has a relentless work-rate – all of these traits will serve him well with Town in the future.

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Grade: B+

TT VERDICT

Provided he is fit, Grant must be Siewert’s only striking option for the latter stage of the season. With fate all but sealed, it provides a good opportunity for Grant to develop chemistry between his teammates and continue to prosper in West Yorkshire, which will only better Town’s chances of making it back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

beat Leicestershire 151 for 8 (Clark 3-41) by 40 runs
ScorecardSteven Croft starred with bat and ball as Lancashire pushed for a last-eight spot•Getty Images

Half-centuries from Karl Brown, Paul Horton and Steven Croft enabled fast-improving Lancashire to set Leicestershire a target that proved far beyond them on a good pitch at Grace Road.Croft followed up his innings with a fine bowling spell, with his four overs going for just 17 runs and including that rare event in T20 cricket: a wicket maiden.Leicestershire captain Mark Cosgrove put the visitors in after winning the toss, but although Ashwell Prince went early, bowled off the inside edge by Ben Raine, Brown and Horton ensured the power play was a productive one, with Brown particularly effective, hitting six fours and two sixes in going to his 50 off just 31 balls in the ninth over.

Insights

Leicestershire’s season has flown off course and they need to win both of their remaining matches if they are to qualify for the quarter-finals. Insights pointed out earlier in the season the value to Leicestershire of players such as Kevin and Niall O’Brien, who are regularly available for domestic cricket despite being international quality players. Well, the World T20 Qualifiers could’ve have come at a much worse time, snatching the O’Brien brothers and Rob Taylor away from Leicestershire just as they needed them most.

His dismissal was a curious one, run out after backing up too far and failing to regain his ground when Cosgrove back-handed the ball into the stumps, but Horton was joined by Croft in keeping the run rate high. Horton’s 50 came off 38 balls, including seven fours, and in the same over in which he holed out to long-on off Clint McKay, Croft went to his own half-century, from just 25 balls.Leicestershire lost wickets regularly in their reply after Jordan Clark persuaded Cosgrove to hit a length delivery into the hands of Horton at extra cover, and though debutant Aadil Ali hit two sixes in his lively 26, they fell well behind the run rate after Croft, bowling the 12th over, did not concede a run and saw Elliott loft a leg stump full toss to Liam Livingstone on deep backward square.With James Faulkner almost as economical, the win was assured, keeping Lancashire in the frame to qualify for the quarter-finals, and Leicestershire, after three consecutive defeats, needing to win their final two games to have any chance of doing the same.

David Willey, Northamptonshire’s England allrounder, is likely to be one of the most sought-after close season signings after the county agreed in principle to him leaving with a year of his contract still to run. There will be a price, though, for his suitors, with reporting that the club want £50,000 compensation for his early departure.Northants have honoured a verbal agreement with Willey, 25, that he could move this winter, provided the move clearly represented an advancement for his career and that they were suitably compensated.ESPNcricinfo reported last month that Willey was likely to be on the move after England’s exciting new look in one-day cricket had caught the eye.Willey made his ODI debut in May during a 3-2 series win over New Zealand and also played in the subsequent Twenty20 victory. He has taken 11 wickets in five appearances over 50 overs. But he is regarded as a long way from Test selection and he has concluded that only First Division championship cricket will further his career.Warwickshire are in the running, and want him to open the batting in limited-overs cricket, and Yorkshire, who have serious limited-overs issues to address but who have stiff competition for Championship places, Middlesex and Durham have also been touted. The list is not likely to end there.Willey first came to prominence when he won the man-of-the-match award in the 2013 Twenty20 final, combining 60 from 27 balls with a hat-trick as Northants saw off Surrey, but he wants to win opportunities in all forms of the game.Ben Duckett has been another player on Northants’ mind. He was banned from driving for 12 months by Northampton Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to a charge of drink-driving.Northants Cricket said it was very disappointed in the player, who had made “a huge mistake and he will now have to deal with the consequences”.The club statement added: “This is a judicial matter and we completely respect the decision and authority of the court and, therefore, we will not be applying further punishment ourselves. We expect the highest level of behaviour from our players and impress on them regularly the social responsibility that they carry.”Duckett was said to be “extremely remorseful” and would be starting a programme of education. He said: “I made a stupid decision that night and I deeply regret my actions and wish to apologise to my family and to the club for letting, not just myself, but, them down too. I am extremely grateful that my actions didn’t lead to anyone getting hurt.”Duckett is the second professional cricketer in England to flout drink-drive regulations this summer. James Faulkner will not be considered for Australia’s one-day squad in England after being charged with drink-driving. He is due to appear in court in Manchester on July 21.

ScorecardAlex Hales reached his half-century off 46 balls before the rain came•Getty Images

Samit Patel picked up four wickets for the second day running to help Nottinghamshire into the semi-finals of the Royal London Cup after defeating Durham by 49 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.Patel, who helped spin his county to a Championship success over Warwickshire a day earlier, produced figures of 4 for 11 to end Durham’s reign as domestic one-day cup holders. The visitors had been set a target of 194 but they lost their way once pace had been taken from the ball and were bowled out for just 144 in 21.2 overs.Earlier in the day Notts had reached 94 for 1 in 17.2 overs, after being put in, before deteriorating conditions forced the players from the field. After a stoppage of almost five hours, the contest was then reduced to 24 overs per side. The home team managed to advance their innings to 170 for 4, with Alex Hales making 62 and Dan Christian blasting an unbeaten 48.

Semi-final draw

Nottinghamshire v Surrey or Kent
Essex or Yorkshire v Gloucestershire or Hampshire

Hales and Riki Wessels gave the Outlaws a perfect platform as they posted 55 for the first wicket, making the best of any width offered by Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth.The introduction of John Hastings into the attack accounted for Wessels, who pulled the Australian straight into the hands of Scott Borthwick at short midwicket for 25.Dan Christian, promoted to No. 3 in the order, punched Onions down the ground for four from his first delivery and repeated the dose two overs later. Hales moved to his fifty in spectacular style, slog-sweeping Borthwick for the first maximum of the match, with his half-century coming from 46 deliveries, seven of which were struck for fours.When play resumed after the rain interruption Hales hit another six before holing out to Ryan Pringle at deep midwicket. James Taylor wasted little time in finding his range, striking Borthwick for three consecutive sixes on his way to 29 from just 15 balls. Taylor fell in the final over of the innings and was followed back to the pavilion by Patel, who hit the last delivery into the hands of Rushworth at third man.Mark Stoneman and Phil Mustard gave the northeast county a flying start to their reply by putting on 63, but the contest swung back again when three wickets fell in six deliveries. Christian enticed Stoneman to hit to midwicket for 36 and then Steven Mullaney picked up two wickets in his first over. Mustard lofted to long-on for 24 and then Paul Collingwood drilled his first delivery straight back into the waiting hands of the bowler.Calum MacLeod and Graham Clark shared in a stand of 61 for the fourth wicket but Durham collapsed dramatically as the required run rate soared. Patel’s introduction saw off both players and he then removed Hastings and Pringle in quick succession, having also caught Gordon Muchall off Mullaney’s bowling.Rushworth was run out and Onions had his stumps knocked over by Jake Ball as Durham’s reign came to an end. Notts progress to the last four, where an away trip to the winners of the Surrey versus Kent quarter-final awaits them.

Amit Mishra’s return to Test cricket has been marked by two opposite ends of a third afternoon experience. In Galle, he was part of the dazed Indian bowling unit, that found itself blindsided by Dinesh Chandimal after having the match virtually in their pocket. In Colombo, on a slow pitch after Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimane held off the Indian bowling for an entire session, Mishra finished with figures of 4 for 43 in a 7 for 65 batting collapse in the second session and 50 Test wickets to his name.The numbers the Indians would be looking for at the end of their second innings are clear to Mishra. “Another 250-300 runs more and 100 overs to bowl at the Sri Lankans.” The P Sara surface, Mishra said, had started to spin a bit but “even now, the wicket is good for batting because it is still a bit slow.” India’s aim will be, “to bat for as long as possible so that on the final day, we can see what happens. No doubt it is helping the spinners a bit but because there is not much pace, it is still decent for batting. It is possible that on the final day, it might be difficult to bat on.”Mishra tossed the ball up today and his four wickets were a beautiful demonstration of conventional legspin bowing, using drift and the breeze to land legbreaks, straighter ones and the occasional googly. A gentle-speaking man, who walked off with his shirt covered in patches of dirt from sliding around while fielding, Mishra said that while he had enjoyed being able to use old fashioned gifts of flight and drift, getting wickets as a result of them gave him most satisfaction. “I always believe my wicket-taking ball is the flighted legspin. Even today, I got two wickets with that.”The dismissal of Jehan Mubarak fell well within the ‘ball of the century’ category on the basis of the skill it involved, the execution that came with it and the stupefaction of the batsman in watching his stump knocked over.Mishra had chosen to bowl slow because he hoped to exacter greater turn and grip off the new ball. One of the more under-regarded and undermined Indian spinners, Mishra said he had made sure he kept putting in the hours in domestic cricket while he, “waited for his chance.””I didn’t want a situation where I get the chance and I am not ready.” he said. “It’s new phase, new boys. Important for all to do well. If we can win, that will be more special – that my wickets helped the team win the match.”

Ben Stokes reported for training on Wednesday with Alastair Cook hopeful he will be fit after a suffering a stomach illness in the build-up to the second Test in Dubai. However, Cook added that Stokes would need to be 100% fit given the oppressive conditions.Stokes was laid low on Tuesday and missed a function at the British Consulate in Dubai. A decision on whether he will play is not expected to be taken until the morning of the match.Stokes’ absence would be a significant blow for England. He took four wickets, scored a half-century, and produced a brilliant run-out of Mohammad Hafeez that helped set up England’s unlikely victory push on the final afternoon in Abu Dhabi.If he unable to play, then the spin-bowling allrounder Samit Patel is the likeliest replacement, with Cook in favour of a variety of bowling options. There is an outside chance that Patel will come into consideration anyway if the pitch looks heavily in favour of spin, but Cook indicated that this was an unlikely route.”Ben’s a concern, but everyone else has pulled up pretty well,” Cook said. “He’s had a 24-hour bug, he didn’t look very well yesterday apparently but he’s here now and we’ll see.”He should be fine, but we have to be careful – it depends how badly he has been knocked about – because five days in this heat you need to be 100% before you start. We’ll play it by ear and make a decision tomorrow morning.”If Stokes recovers England are set to name an unchanged XI after coming within 25 runs of victory in the first Test in Abu Dhabi.”I haven’t seen the pitch yet, whether it’s a three-spinner wicket here,” Cook said. “We have to have a look at that option but my gut is we’ll stay the same.”Fielding six bowlers – four quicks and two spinners, even before Joe Root is factored in – has given Cook a host of options and meant that none of the fast bowlers had to be over-bowled in the heat.Pakistan, meanwhile, will welcome back legspinner Yasir Shah who went through a full session of batting, bowling and fielding after suffering a back spasm on the eve of the first Test. However, they will again be without Azhar Ali who has returned to Pakistan after the death of his mother-in-law. It means that Shan Masood, who failed twice in Abu Dhabi, is likely to be retained.

Australia captain Steven Smith has confirmed he will drop down to No.4 for the Test series against New Zealand in an effort to spread the experience around in Australia’s batting order. The move means that Australia’s top three will feature two players short on Test experience, with Joe Burns set to be David Warner’s latest opening partner and Usman Khawaja the new No.3.Burns will be playing his third Test match and Khawaja his tenth when the teams walk out at the Gabba on Thursday. Smith’s self-demotion is a curious move given that since shifting up to No.3 for the tours of West Indies and England this year he has scored 199, 215 and 143, as well as a pair of fifties, and averages 71.90 in the position.His average of 80 at No.4 came entirely as a result of his prolific home summer against India last season, but finding a productive No.3 has been more of an issue for Australia since Ricky Ponting finished up in the position. In that time, Shaun Marsh and the now-retired Shane Watson are the only other Australians to have scored centuries at No.3, of more than 10 who have tried the spot.”I think breaking the more experienced players up a little bit in the order [is the right thing to do],” Smith told the . “If there’s a run of wickets hopefully I can stop it. I think a lot of the players that are coming through at the moment are top-order players. It’s just the way I see it at the moment. Breaking it up between Davey and myself and hopefully the guys at the top and No.3 do well and then I can just come in and get some runs on the board as well.”Khawaja has played 116 of his 157 first-class innings at No.3, whereas Smith has been less fixed to a certain position and has floated between No.3 and No.6 for most of his red-ball career. His versatility up and down the order means that should the new top order fail to fire, he would have no qualms about switching back to first drop.”I think it would probably be more if it doesn’t work out for certain players [that I would change back],” Smith said. “If it didn’t work out and I saw it fit to go to three, that’s no drama as well. I really don’t see a big difference between three and four playing wise.”This will be Smith’s first home summer as Australia’s full-time captain, and he is hoping to replicate his personal results of last season, when he captained Australia in three of the four Tests against India and scored hundreds in all four games.”One of my philosophies is to make sure I am leading from the front,” Smith said. “So hopefully I can do that this summer and a summer with the bat like the last one would be nice, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Worcestershire, having chosen to bat first, laboured through the first day but thanks to a century opening partnership between Elliott Wilson and Philip Weston laid the platform for a sizeable first innings total. Four late wickets will give Notts hope of dismissing the home county on the second morning though when Worcs will resume on 248-5.91-0 at lunch, both Weston and Wilson passed their half centuries shortly afterwards but were parted when Paul Reiffel induced Weston to nick the ball through to Chris Read.Wilson maintained a watchful vigil, often his score was less than the number of overs bowled, but he had ground his way to 74 not out by tea. In gloomy, overcast conditions after the break he played a supporting role as Paul Pollard, tried to be the aggressor with his highest Championship score since May last year.Jason Gallian, the Notts skipper, rotated his bowlers regularly and although wickets were hard to come by, the scoring rate was always kept in check on a fairly lifeless surface. Wilson only scored 11 runs in the first eighteen overs after tea as the pressure of getting in sight of the third first class century of his career began to mount.The Worcestershire 200 didn’t come up until the 92nd over, courtesy of a fluent square cut by Pollard off the bowling of ‘AJ’ Harris, in the same over a more ‘uppish’ drive through the covers took him to his 50, off 148 balls with 9 x 4’s.Pollard wasn’t to add many more runs though as, on 53, he played on to a ball from Jason Gallian. It looked as if the batsman had tried to leave the delivery but the ball just flicked the underside of the bat and dislodged a bail. Pollard and Wilson had added 93 for the second wicket in 43 overs.The dismissal of Pollard brought David Leatherdale to the crease. Leatherdale, who had scored a century when the sides met at Trent Bridge last month, survived a confident shout for lbw first ball from Gallian, bouyant after capturing only his second wicket of the season.A streaky four through slips took Wilson to 97 and the 23 year old reached three figures with a legside push off Harris. His hundred had come off 258 balls, with 15 boundaries and arrived in the 98th over.In rapidly fading light Notts picked up a third wicket and with it their first bonus point. Century maker Wilson drove loosely at a widish delivery from Harris and Gallian at point pouched the catch.Worcestershire sent in Matthew Rawnsley as nightwatchman but after a couple of streaky shots he fell lbw when Reiffel took the new ball. More success followed in the next over when Ryan Driver fell for a duck, also lbw, not playing a shot at Harris. Worcestershire had lost wickets in three consecutive overs and needed Leatherdale and Kadeer Ali to see them through tot he close.

Malaysia-inningsThe match being played at the Asghar Ali Shah Stadium commenced with Malaysia batting first. They opened the innings with Hairul Amirudeen and S. Sathiswaran against Singapore’s bowling attack of Maxim Mok Kar Yuen and Siddharth Verma. The Malaysian openers provided their team a solid start when at the total of 86 Ameer ud Din was adjudged LBW to Zeeshan for 38. Sathiswaran the second opener was the next to go, being bowled by Zeeshan for 36. Malaysia lost 2 wickets for 100.It was followed by a long and defiant partnership between Indran (55) and Vickneswaran (57) that yielded 98 runs. Piling up runs valiantly Malaysia ended its innings at 240 for the loss of only 4 wickets, offering Singapore a victory target of 241.Singapore’s inningsFacing a challenging target of 241 runs Singapore opened with Zeng Renchun and Anand Santhanam. They provided a sturdy start to the innings till Renchun was out after playing an exciting innings of 40. Singapore lost the first wicket at 72.To their dismay a collapse followed in which the team lost 5 quick wickets that brought down the score to 97 for 6 in 24 overs.Zeeshan (50) and Glenn Meyer (32 not out) put up relentless efforts to stabilize the innings but the initial loss was rather too much to recover. They were still able to raise Sri Lanka to a respectable total of 192 in 39.5 overs. Peter Chung grabbed 4 wickets for 28 runs. Malaysia thus defeated Singapore by 48 runs.