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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.”

New Zealand are set to lose their second bowling coach in as many years, after Dimitri Mascarenhas announced he will quit at the end of the home series against Australia in February. Mascarenhas had begun the role after Shane Bond quit as bowling coach following the 2015 World Cup, but cited family reasons for his decision to step down.”It has been really tough being on the road for a long time,” he said. “We thought we could get by, but it is a little bit tough and I thought I would make the right decision by my family. Any support staff struggle with the current international schedule. It is 12 months of the year now – there is no season or time off. That does take its toll.”I have a great relationship with all of the squad, the players and the support staff so the decision is purely based on family. It is time for me to go home and spend some more time with them.”The announcement followed ten moderately successful months for the New Zealand bowling unit. Tim Southee and Trent Boult continued to excel as a new-ball pair under Mascarenhas – though Boult also struggled with injury. Matt Henry and Adam Milne also continued to emerge as penetrative ODI bowlers.”We have got a number of fast bowlers around the country who are producing really good performances and long may that continue,” Mascarenhas said.Mitchell McClenaghan is the oldest in New Zealand’s current pace battery, at 30 years of age. “The rest of them are all under 30 and have a long way to go,” Mascarenhas said. “If they keep improving the way they are at the moment the sky is the limit for a number of them.”New Zealand Cricket said they had already begun the process of finding a new bowling coach, though it is unclear if that appointment will be made ahead of the World T20 in March.Mascarenhas said he would like to take up coaching again in the future. He had been attached to the Otago provincial side before his stint with the national team. “I hope I can re-visit this sort of role,” he said. “The children are young now and that’s where I need to be. But it’s definitely the type of job I’d like to return to.”An allrounder in his playing days, Mascarenhas had represented England in 34 limited-overs matches, and had also played 195 first-class games, many of them for Hampshire.

The Indian team is having some trouble implementing a rotation policy when it comes to resting players but they’ve certainly managed to stick to it when it comes to fronting pre-match press conferences. Each time a different cricketer has come to the customary pre-match press conferences and it was Zaheer Khan’s turn in Nagpur. To his credit, he managed to keep his sense of humour despite being at the receiving end of some serious punishment in a tough series.When asked how India planned to stop Andrew Symonds, Zaheer said, “first we’ll have to tackle the Aussie openers.” But on a more serious note, he believed that putting Australia under pressure was the key to doing well. “We have to put them under pressure, that’s the key. We did that in Chandigarh and got the result in our favour and there is no reason why we can’t do it here tomorrow.”Spearheading a pace attack that includes two other left-armers in RP Singh and Irfan Pathan, Zaheer did not believe that it was a bit one-dimensional. “Even if we all are left-arm bowlers, you can’t say our style of bowling is the same. We do have our variations. All over the world in one-day cricket, the importance of left-arm bowlers has increased. We have three and it’s a very good sign.”Zaheer believed that the Indian bowling was doing well, given the tough conditions for fast bowlers in the subcontinent. “On the whole as a bowling unit we have been doing well and that’s the general feedback I have been getting in the team meetings and we are maintaining that,” he said. “We are playing in the subcontinent and wickets are not going to be that helpful to fast bowlers. You have sort of a fair idea that it’s very important to win the toss; that becomes very crucial. It is different playing in the subcontinent compared to abroad. So keeping all this in mind, I think we are competing well.”Despite losing heavily in the last match in Vadodara, Zaheer murmured the truism that “each match was a new one”. “We are looking very positive, putting in all our efforts in our net practices and we are gelling well as a team. Obviously we all knew it’s going to be a tough series and we are responding well to it. The main thing is to be positive, go out in the field and give your 100%, your best, and just see in the evening how you have gone in the match. That’s how you go about it.”

Craig Cumming and Mathew Sinclair return to Test cricket after being picked in New Zealand’s 13-man squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka starting December 7 at Christchurch.Sinclair last played a Test against Australia in Adelaide in 2004-05. John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach, said that he had been picked on the basis on his performance in the last season.Sinclair played nine first-class games in New Zealand’s State Championship in 2005-06 and made 723 runs with three hundreds and five half-centuries at 51.64. “In the end, it came down to a sheer weight of runs compared with the other possible candidates,” said Bracewell. “We are rewarding guys who have been successful in the early rounds of the domestic competition.”Iain O’Brien and Michael Mason, Bracewell said, were returning to the Test squad from injury. “O’Brien has been the form bowler, especially his performances on very good batting strips, and Mason’s efforts have been very encouraging.”Hamish Marshall was not included after a string of poor scores and a Test average of 14.57 for 2005-06. In fact only Jamie How got picked from the four openers tried out in New Zealand’s tour to South Africa in April and May this year. Michael Papps, the opener for the second and third Tests against South Africa, is out due to injury along with Scott Styris and Kyle Mills. Mills was troubled by an ankle injury during the South African tour and has not played any first-class games this season. He will be assessed by the medical staff on December 4.One player will be released from the squad a day before the beginning of the Test.Squad Mathew Sinclair, Jamie How, Craig Cumming, Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Shane Bond, Chris Martin, Michael Mason, Iain O’Brien

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Rain ruined the fourth one-day international in Durban, when the Kingsmead ground was saturated by heavy rain which arrived after 20 overs. Once the weather closed in their was no chance of any further action and the match was called off just before 8pm local time. The washout brings an end to South Africa’s run of 12 wins in a row.South Africa were handily placed when the rain, which had been threatening since the start of play, arrived. New Zealand took their obligatory early wickets, but could not make full use of helpful conditions. Jacques Kallis was showing ominous form on his return to the side after illness before the weather intervened.New Zealand’s new-ball bowling was its usual scattergun mix, but Shane Bond managed to remove AB de Villiers to prevent a flying start from South Africa. Graeme Smith has had a tendency in this series to appear in complete command at the crease, but failing to convert into a substantial score. His off-side play was in top working order and this time he can count himself unfortunate to have been given out against James Franklin.Kallis has struggled for his best form in recent weeks, he was far from his best during the Super Series (although he wasn’t the only one) and has been suffering from a mystery illness for the past few days. However, he showed no ill effects after replacing Herschelle Gibbs and located the middle of the bat from the moment to came to the crease. A trademark straight drive signalled his intent and, although he had to be watchful against a ball that was nipping around, he kept the scoreboard ticking over.A short-arm pull and a fierce square-cut followed as Kallis took advantage of Fleming’s decision to use both his Powerplays in succession and Ashwell Prince also threaded the ball through the infield. Franklin caused occasional moments of unease for both players and Scott Styris kept his end tight, but there was a feeling that the batsmen were about to push on when Durban’s infamous weather made a lasting impression on the match.

South AfricaAB de Villiers c McCullum b Bond 6 (14 for 1)
Graeme Smith lbw b Franklin 22 (52 for 2)

England 118 for 3 (Trescothick 64*, Flintoff 21*) v Sri Lanka – play abandoned for the day
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Persistent drizzle, which forced the players from the field shortly before one o’clock, lingered long enough to prevent play restarting, and so everyone will be back at 10.15 tomorrow to try again. England will resume on 118 for 3 with 18 overs of their innings remaining. The break came at a bad time for them, as Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Flintoff were finding their form in a fourth-wicket stand so far worth 48. After negotiating the perils of a damp pitch, England will have to do so all over again in the morning.With the toss even more important than usual at this time of year, Sri Lanka gained a distinct early advantage when Marvan Atapattu called correctly and had no hesitation in putting England in on a pitch that was expected to encourage the seamers early on. Farveez Maharoof was the pick of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, conceding just 19 runs in his 10 overs, and he was unlucky to pick up only one wicket, as two potential catches were put down.And indeed, by the end of the day, Michael Vaughan could count himself lucky that his England side had only lost three wickets, as Sri Lanka’s slipshod fielding let them off the hook. But Vaughan himself had another personal shocker as – his 74 against India in the last NatWest Challenge game at Lord’s notwithstanding – his poor one-day form continued. Vaughan moved too far to the off side in an effort to counter Nuwan Zoysa’s prodigious swing, but his plan backfired as Zoysa fired in a straight one to knock back middle stump (44 for 2).Earlier, Trescothick and Vikram Solanki had made a steady start. The first boundary, a thick edge down to third man from Solanki, came up in the fourth over off Nuwan Zoysa, who recovered next ball with one which jagged back after pitching outside the off stump. Trescothick rounded off a mixed over as he stroked a thumping cover-drive for four.Solanki had made a solid start to his innings, slapping four fours in his 18, but Maharoof struck back with an inswinger that took the inside edge of Solanki’s bat on its way through to Kumar Sangakkara (29 for 1).Andrew Strauss struggled to score on the seamer-friendly wicket, and was lucky to survive as long as he did, with an uncontrolled hook just evading Sanath Jayasuriya’s outstretched arms at midwicket. Clearly frustrated, Strauss took on Maharoof’s arm, and was caught inches short when Sangakkara whipped the bails off (70 for 3).That was one of the only bright pieces of fielding from the Sri Lankans, and the third miss came when Flintoff had scored only a single. Driving at a length ball from Vaas, he got a thick edge to Mahela Jayawardene at first slip, but a simple chance went down.At the other end, Trescothick went to his fifty, from 74 balls, with a flick to midwicket off Upul Chandana. As the grey clouds started to roll in, and a thin veil of drizzle covered the ground, Flintoff got going with a powerful sweep for four that almost hit the umpire Billy Bowden as it flew towards the boundary. He followed that up by lofting Jayasuriya’s first ball over midwicket. But just as Flintoff was starting to flex his muscles, the clouds relaxed theirs, and ended play for the day.

Brad Hodge is considering taking legal action after being called a “cheat” by Dominic Cork in the aftermath of Derbyshire’s defeat by Leicestershire in the Twenty20 Cup on Tuesday.Hodge appeared to have stepped over the boundary rope while taking a catch to dismiss Derbyshire’s Steve Selwood in the penultimate over. The umpires consulted Hodge and then upheld the decision. “It’s down to the win-at-all costs attitudes and blatant cheating which are making cricket more like football with every season, and which I hate,” Cork fumed. “Hundreds of people saw Hodge run several feet over the rope, and thousands more have now seen him doing it on television. But when the umpire asked whether he had stayed inside the line he insisted that he had and he said the same to me, which is why I called him a cheat to his face.”The decision cost Derbyshire victory, and with it a place in the Twenty20 Cup semi-finals.Kevin Hill, Leicestershire’s general manager, said that Hodge was taking advice before deciding what action to take. “He refutes totally the allegation that he is a cheat,” explained Hill. “He is currently considering seeking legal advice to ascertain whether he wishes to take the matter further.”Hodge denied that the catch was anything other than legitimate. “I caught the ball yards inside the rope and I was simply showing the ball to the crowd in celebration,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “I had no idea of whether I stepped out of the arena because I wasn’t watching where my feet were going at that stage, and that is what I told the umpire. But, in any event, the catch had been completed probably three or four seconds before and, as far as I am concerned, I could have done a handstand in the meantime.”Cork’s anger was not limited to Hodge – he also lambasted Tim Lamb, the England & Wales Cricket Board’s chief executive, for the ECB’s response when the matter was referred to it, describing Lamb’s handling of the affair as “pathetic”.”I regret the tone and substance of Dominic’s remarks,” Lamb said. “They lacked a balanced perspective of the reality of the circumstances.”Cork slams ‘cheat’ Hodge and ‘pathetic’ Lamb

Andy Flower is a great cricketer. After his feats against the powerful South African bowling attack, this can be said without any doubt at all.He is not a batting genius in the mould of Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara. He is simply a very talented player who has made just about the most of his ability that any human being is capable of making. He is in the same mould as Steve Waugh, a batsman rightly respected and admired round the world for doing exactly the same. But Andy Flower, who has a higher batting average than Waugh and plays for a losing rather than a winning side, is still not a legend in the game worldwide, as he should be. Except to his fellow international cricketers, who voted him the International Player of the Year, even before the South African tour.Andy has now scored 4330 runs in his 54 Test matches at an average of 55.51; only Tendulkar, at 57.18, is higher among current players, and he has a better record in India than overseas. Andy has 11 Test centuries to his credit, and not a single one was easy. Perhaps it would be appropriate to list them, together with the circumstances in which they were made:1) 115 v India, at Delhi, 1992/93. Facing an Indian total of 536 for seven declared. Out of a total of 322; Grant Flower made 96 and nobody else much at all. Zimbabwe still lost by an innings.2) 156 v Pakistan, at Harare Sports Club, 1994/95. Went in with Zimbabwe 42 for three and the Pakistani bowlers moving the ball all over the place. Counter-attacked, shared a record partnership for brothers in Test cricket with Grant, who scored 201 not out – but it was Andy who seized the initiative from Pakistan and led to Zimbabwe’s first victory in Test cricket.3) 112 v England, at Queens Sports Club, 1996/97. In the first innings of the First Test, worked hard for his century to give Zimbabwe a total of 376. England just failed to win the only Test so far ever to end as a draw with scores level.4) 105 not out v Sri Lanka, at Colombo, 1997/98. No Test has such bitter memories for the players as this one, when television evidence shows that one umpiring decision after another went against Zimbabwe, allowing Sri Lanka to win by five wickets. Andy set up the position for what should have been a Zimbabwean win, with his century out of 299 in the second innings after a narrow first-innings lead of 26 and the match very much in the balance.5) 100 not out against Pakistan, at Queens Sports Club, 1997/98. Again the match was in the balance, as Zimbabwe had taken a first-innings lead of 65 but were staggering at 25 for four when Andy went in. Shared an unbroken partnership of 277 with Murray Goodwin (166 not out) that gave Zimbabwe the advantage, although Pakistan successfully fought out a draw.6) 129 against Sri Lanka, at Harare Sports Club, 1999/2000. Only Murray Goodwin and Guy Whittall gave him much support as his century in the second innings, after a first-innings deficit of 258, just failed to save Zimbabwe from defeat.7) 113 not out against West Indies, at Port-of-Spain, 1999/2000. The only batsmen on either side to pass 50 in the match on a difficult pitch, he scored his runs out of a total of 236, giving Zimbabwe a first-innings lead of 49. This should have led to victory, but the team crumbled under high pressure on a difficult pitch against Ambrose and Walsh in the second innings to be dismissed for 63.8) 183 not out against India, at Delhi, 2000/01. The first innings of the First Test, always critical, and his innings gave Zimbabwe a total of 422 before, in retrospect, a misguided declaration. Despite Andy’s 70 in the second innings, Zimbabwe lost.9) 232 not out against India, at Nagpur, 2000/01. Zimbabwe followed on early on the fourth day, 227 runs behind. Thanks to Andy, Zimbabwe saved the match.10) 142 against South Africa, at Harare Sports Club, 2000/01, in the first innings. Facing a South African total of 600 for three declared. Only Dion Ebrahim (71) of the leading batsmen gave him much support.11) 199 not out against South Africa, at Harare Sports Club, 2000/01, in the second innings. Only Hamilton Masakadza (85) of the others reached 20. This innings meant that Andy scored over half his team’s entire run total in the match and avoided an innings defeat, at least.All these centuries were also scored when keeping wicket, and three (numbers two, six and seven) when captain as well. As noted, all were scored in pressure situations with the match in the balance or Zimbabwe facing defeat. Surely no cricketer in the history of the game has for so long borne such a burden with such success as has Andy Flower.The commentators felt that his certainty of shot selection throughout the series was matchless. Rarely was he beaten; hardly ever did he play the wrong stroke. I would add to that his sheer mental strength. South Africa are fearsome opponents, second only to Australia, and at Harare they were in a position of strength and eager to rub it in. Andy yielded nothing. After ten hours keeping wicket, he spent almost 15 more at the batting crease, for hour after hour, never bogged down, never giving anything away.If Zimbabwe had even one more batsman with the mental strength of Andy Flower, we would have a much stronger team. Sometime in the near future, we hope to interview Andy and get him to share the secrets of his mental strength. He has spent endless hours perfecting his batting technique, with far more dedication than certain other players that could be named. He has also spent his life developing his mental strength. We need more players prepared to do this.THE NEXT ANDY FLOWER?
Perhaps Hamilton Masakadza will be our next Andy Flower. Hamilton again frustrated the opposition in his second and third Test matches, scoring 85 in Harare and a vital 42 not out to help save the match in Bulawayo.The Bulawayo match was a particular test of his temperament, as Claude Henderson was bowling dangerously well on a crumbling pitch and Zimbabwe were suddenly facing the possibility of defeat without being mentally prepared for it. Hamilton was visibly edgy at first, but he toughed it out. When he hit Henderson for a six and a four in an over, taking Zimbabwe to four runs of parity with South Africa with 20 minutes left for play, the tourists knew they could not win and called the match off.Hamilton has played very significantly in each of his three Tests to date, although only in the second innings so far. He is a more accomplished player at 18 than Andy Flower was; Andy did not even make the full Zimbabwean side until he was 20, when he was still very limited in attack but with a strong defence.Next year, though, Hamilton plans to go to university, and is hoping for Cape Town. He believes he can handle both a full university course and his cricket career for Zimbabwe, but he will certainly be tested. So far he has shown great mental strength, and it is to be hoped he will manage to combine his two `careers’ for as long as is necessary and become our next world-class batsman.ZIMBABWE BOWLING
I have never seen our bowling, which hardly constituted an `attack’, look more helpless than on the first day of the series in Harare. Openers Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten were away at a rate of knots, scoring at a run a ball and taking only 50 and 53 balls respectively to reach their fifties. South Africa looked in midafternoon as if they were going to score 500 runs in the day, but with one-speed Kallis batting at only four an over they slowed down in the final session, being content with `only’ 414 for one.It should have been two, as Kallis snicked a catch to the keeper when on 22, but it went undetected by the umpire. But a slaughter was always likely for Zimbabwe’s feeble bowling. True, the bowling was seriously weakened by injuries, with Andy Blignaut, Bryan Strang and Brighton Watambwa all missing the series. But we should have adequate reserves, certainly bowlers who can at least bowl accurately.The accuracy of Bryan Strang was sorely missed. The selectors did not look around for another bowler who could be relied on to keep a brake on the scoring, and so there was nobody able to put the slightest pressure on the batsmen, who had to do nothing more than wait for the loose balls, delivered regularly, and climb in. They need have looked no further than the commentary box. Pommie Mbangwa, a forgotten man these days it seems, had to sit upstairs and comment on the play when he could have done the job far better. Gary Brent is another of lesser pace but greater accuracy than those on display.Sadly, it must be admitted that Heath Streak on current form is no longer a great bowler, although still the best paceman we have. He took no wickets in the series, but hopefully this will bring home to him the need to pay extra attention to that side of his game. He has rarely bowled his best since taking over the captaincy. His batting has flourished with the responsibility, although not in this series, but his bowling has declined.He is not hitting the gloves as hard, his line strays too often and he is not moving the ball as dangerously as he used to. At 27 and fast-medium rather than genuinely fast, he should be in his prime. Whatever the problem is, Zimbabwe needs him to sort it out, even if it means resigning the captaincy.His captaincy too appeared limited, as he showed few ideas of how to winkle out the South African batsmen. On a turning pitch in Bulawayo, with Paul Strang injured, he might for example have tried leg-spinner Masakadza, or even Alistair Campbell. Anything for a change, as the established bowlers were getting nowhere. It was disappointing, and it hurts to say so of one of Zimbabwe’s greatest players, but we know he can do far better.Finally, a word of praise for the new Harare Sports Club ground curator, Dirk Moore-Gordon, who has come over to headquarters from the Academy ground at Country Club. During the past two seasons the Harare Sports Club pitch earned a notorious reputation for surfaces over-friendly to pace bowlers, which so often played into the hands of Zimbabwe’s opponents – especially when they won the toss and put us in, as invariably happened. It was a very good pitch for the South African Test, and hopefully it will force our bowlers to improve their game if they want to take wickets on it.WHY AUSTRALIA ARE BETTER THAN SOUTH AFRICA
Australia and South Africa are the two strongest teams in world cricket at the moment, with Australia slightly ahead. The Bulawayo Test, I believe, shows why South Africa are still a little behind their great rivals.After the loss of the second day’s play, South Africa seemed to be satisfied with the prospect of a draw. Although it was never easy to score runs on a pitch that was benign, but a little too slow and dry, they made no real effort to chase the Zimbabwe total of 419 in quick time. They batted on until tea on the final day, when they declared with a lead of exactly 100.One session was hardly enough to bowl Zimbabwe out a second time – although with some of our batting collapses nothing was impossible. But, with the ball turning sharply, South Africa suddenly scented possible victory. They crowded the batsmen, applied the pressure and the game came alive again. In the end the determination of Andy Flower and Hamilton Masakadza saw Zimbabwe through.Australia would have played it differently. After the close of the Zimbabwean innings, they would have been hell-bent on victory. They would not have pottered around as Kallis and his companions did at less than three runs an over. They would have gone for the runs, possibly even declared behind, and got Zimbabwe in to bat again certainly before lunch on the final day – even if they did not have Shane Warne in their team.South Africa do not have that same intense hunger for and determination to win that Australia have, and that is why Australia remain the top team. South Africa are extremely good, there is no doubt of that, but the Australians have that extra commitment to victory that has made them top and will probably keep them there for some time to come.

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.

Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza has said that his bowlers needed a cushion of around 180 runs, instead of the 163 for 7 they ended up getting after batting first.The combined efforts of an inexperienced bowling attack, led by the legspinner Graeme Cremer, almost snuck one past Bangladesh, who needed cameos from Shakib Al Hasan and Nurul Hasan to get over the line. Zimbabwe got Bangladesh down to six wickets, with 27 runs still left in the chase. However, two gigantic wides down the leg-side, bowled by Brian Vitori and Luke Jongwe, went for fours, tilting the game heavily in the hosts’ favour.Masakadza felt that the batsmen could have scored a few more runs to make it easier for the bowlers. He said that the injured Tinashe Panyangara was missed, but that Zimbabwe wanted to move on with the young attack for the next three games.”I think in the end you can look at little things like [the wides],” Masakadza said. “But I thought if we were defending 180 it would have made a big difference. So I thought it was more of the batting side than the bowling side.”Obviously he [Tinashe Panyangara] is a big loss to us. He is one of the more experienced seamers that we have. There is a bit more responsibility on Graeme’s shoulders but we have to move on with what we have and look at the younger guys to come through for us.”Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda added 101 runs, only Zimbabwe’s second century opening stand in T20s, and their highest so far. It was still going well till the end of the 16th over before the visitors imploded to give away five wickets for just 21 runs. While the lower order failed to fire, Masakadza, on his part, read the wicket early, going for his shots, encouraging Sibanda to do the same.”I thought we missed out on 15-20 runs in the end. From the position we were looking at, at least 180. I thought it was quite a good wicket, the bounce was true and the ball was coming on nicely.”I think the main thing is to keep making sure that I will do my part and whenever you get someone supporting we will get over the line. As long as we keep sticking together I am sure the result will come.”