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MS Dhoni has said that losing wickets “at the wrong time” prevented India from successfully chasing down 243 in Mumbai.India had bowled West Indies out for 134 in a dramatic first session, in which eight wickets fell for 43 runs. That left them 243 to get in 64 overs, but playing shots on the fifth-day wicket was difficult, according to Dhoni. “Most of our dismissals were at the wrong time,” he said. “Some kind of partnerships were going on [and] we lost a wicket. That put pressure back on us.”Most of the batsmen who got out were the ones who were playing shots. I won’t say it was very easy. It was quite easy to stay at the wicket, but difficult to score runs. A few of us thought that if we can rotate strike and look for those singles, it will become a bit easy as the game progresses. But that [attempted singles] really went to the fielders and added more pressure.”The track offered assistance for both spinners and fast bowlers, Dhoni said. “I think there was bit of bounce for the bowlers, particularly the spinners. For the fast bowlers, the ball stopped. Once you looked to play a shot you had to be really careful, as you had to be to the pitch of the ball. If not, then you got out [caught] in the covers or midwicket.”With West Indies 81 for 2 overnight, the possibility of a win had seemed remote at the start of the day but R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha ran through the West Indies line-up in under two hours. Dhoni said his team had kept in mind the importance of picking up wickets in the first hour. “If you don’t get wickets in the first hour, the more runs they add means we will get less time to chase. But the bowlers bowled really well. We were able to get a good number of wickets and got them all out before lunch. That gave us the opportunity to chase down the target.MS Dhoni on R Ashwin: “If he scores runs that is a bonus for our side. Don’t put pressure on him.”•AFP

“We never started thinking [of] it as a draw. We tried to create a bit of panic [while bowling] and I think most of the time we were able to put pressure on them. That was one of the main reasons we were successful in the first session.”Dhoni was satisfied with the performance of his bowling attack in the series. Though the spinners picked up the bulk of the wickets, Dhoni also praised Ishant Sharma, who he felt created consistent pressure that was not reflected in his series’ return of five wickets at 67.40. “You have seen plenty of times that when bowlers [are] bowling well, the batsman doesn’t edge to the slips and when edges come there is no slip fielder or [it falls] short of the fielder. He [Ishant] was consistently bowling well and he was coming up, with regards to the pace, and he was bowling in the right areas. I was happy overall [with] the way he bowled.”Apart from Ishant and Ojha, India’s bowlers – Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav and Ashwin – were in their debut series. Despite their inexperience, they managed to do what was needed, Dhoni said. “There will come a time when senior players will retire and [there is] no point putting pressure on youngsters [saying] ‘will they able to get as many as wickets as [Anil] Kumble or Harbhajan [Singh] did?’ They bowled well. There was nothing for them [in the pitches] but they did not let the opposition [get away] freely. There was not much turn for them. They had to keep it tight at the same time. Overall, very happy [with the way] they bowled throughout the series.”Ashwin took 22 wickets in the series to finish the top wicket-taker, and also performed with the bat, scoring his maiden Test century in Mumbai. Dhoni said Ashwin’s primary responsibility in the side, though, was as a bowler. “Let him take wickets. That is the main priority. If he scores runs that is a bonus for our side. Don’t put [extra] pressure on him.”With two half-centuries in the match, Virat Kohli displayed his potential, but could not push on to get a hundred. Despite being well-set on 63, he cut a short and wide delivery to gully with India only 19 runs away from victory. Dhoni said that this was a learning phase in Kohli’s career and something that would help his game in the future. “You learn a lot from these games, so the next time he is in the same situation he may bat in a different way.”Even the most experienced players tend to make these types of mistakes. There is nothing to worry about; if you learn from each and every game, that really improves you as a cricketer. I am hoping he [Kohli] learns a lot [from this match].”

Michael Hussey is uncomfortable with the possibility of batsmen being rotated out of the Australian Test team, though this is the scenario that may be about to play out as the selectors ponder whether to press allrounder Daniel Christian into the XI in Hobart.The opener Phillip Hughes, presently wrestling with his technique and the bowling of Chris Martin, is the obvious player to leave out of the second Test against New Zealand, should John Inverarity and his panel choose to augment Australia’s attack with Christian.While rotation has been acknowledged as a likely strategy to manage Australia’s bowling stocks this summer under the new regime headed by the team performance manager Pat Howard, Hussey said he had not considered that batsmen might be shuffled for reasons of team balance.”It hasn’t really been communicated to us yet in that sort of way,” Hussey said. “I think from a batting point of view, if you’re playing well you want to keep batting, and if things aren’t quite going right, you want to keep playing so you can get that big score.”So I think it’d be more so with the bowling stocks, because there’s so much cricket and back-to-back games, it is tough to keep backing up. Maybe more [rotation] with the bowlers, but I think from a batting point of view, once you get in there you want to keep the roll going.”It is a good thing there are going to be so many quality players who are going to be coming back from injury and putting pressure on everyone in the order. As a batsman you need to be scoring runs, and doing it consistently to keep your place in the team.”Watching Hughes’ performances, Hussey counselled the 23-year-old to keep playing his way, and not to shelve the cut stroke that had him pouched in the gully. Hughes was caught Guptill, bowled Martin in each innings, prompting New Zealand’s captain Ross Taylor to foreshadow a similar fate in Hobart should Hughes be retained.”I thought the first one that he got dropped was a pretty good ball, it left him a fair bit,” Hussey said. “The second one, it is his signature shot really, the cut shot, and many times you’ve seen it whistle to the fence for four. So I certainly wouldn’t be saying to him to stop playing the cut shot, because he’s got so many runs from it and will continue to.”He works extremely hard and he knows the areas he’s got to work on, and I just think it is really important for him to keep a clear mind and keep playing his way. There’s always things you want to get better at, but he’s still put together some real good scores for us in difficult conditions in South Africa and also in Sri Lanka.”Hussey is no stranger to technical foibles, having re-invented his own game numerous times over a long career. He said in his case, the solution to an early problem of head position had been basic.”Early in my career, my head used to fall over quite a lot, so I was definitely vulnerable more to lbws and missed out on a lot of runs off my pads,” Hussey said. “So that’s something I had to nut out over quite a period of time. That’s the one that sticks in my mind.”I used to stand with my bat on the ground, so my head was always over my stance, that’s when I started standing up so I could then take my head towards the bowler rather than falling over. That’s a pretty basic sort of change, but it’s definitely effective.”Australia’s dressing room was a vibrant place after the first Test victory, as team-mates young and old enjoyed a comprehensive victory. Hussey reserved particular praise for fast bowler James Pattinson, who he felt delivered the kind of second innings spell that would have done for batsmen of any nation.”I just remember back to my first Test [against West Indies at the Gabba in 2005] it is pretty much a write-off emotionally, because its such a big event and a big sort of five days,” Hussey said. “But I was really happy with the way all the guys were able to get over that first spell, get over those first nerves, and get in and concentrate on what they had to do. James Pattinson in particular, that spell was unbelievable really, and just ripped the heart out of the New Zealand batting order. That was awesome to watch and be a part of it out there.”Ahead of the squad’s journey to Hobart, Hussey said it was fitting that Ricky Ponting had put together a pair of promising scores, suggesting he would be ready to occupy the crease for a long time on his home ground – coincidentally the place of his last Test century, 209 against Pakistan, 29 innings ago.”I reckon his last two innings have been really good and he’s still building,” Hussey said. “He’s batting well, he’s got good scores, but in his mind he’ll be seeing them as good starts, and he’ll want to double and triple that sort of start. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets in in Tassie he’ll be a very, very difficult man to dismiss.”

On an eventful first day of the Multan–Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) at the Multan Cricket Stadium, the visitors recovered from 9 for 5 to 304. Multan chose to bowl and were rewarded straightaway, as their new-ball pair, Tahir Maqsood and Shahbaz Hussain – ripped apart KRL’s top order. KRL lost four of their top six for ducks, but stiff resistance from Mohammad Idrees and Yasir Arafat rescued them. The pair put on 192 for the sixth wicket, before Idrees was caught on 86. Arafat, though, held firm and went on to score his first-class best: 170. Shahbaz came back to complete his five-for, as KRL were bowled out at the stroke of stumps.A 150-run stand for the eighth wicket between Faraz Ahmed and Mansoor Ahmed took Karachi Whites to a commendable 371 against Hyderabad on day two at the Niaz Stadium in Sind. The pair had put on 82 together on the first day, and went on to make their best first-class scores after resuming on 292 for 7. Faraz hit his maiden first-class century, his 124 studded with 18 fours and a six, while Mansoor scored a patient 70. Legspinner Zahid Mahmood finally claimed the pair, to finish with 4 for 95. Tabish Khan then continued his top form in the tournament, claiming three top-order Hyderabad wickets, to leave them wobbling at 43 for 3. A steadying century partnership between Taj Wasan and Ghulam Yasin followed, but two quick wickets prior to stumps handed Karachi Whites control.Lahore Ravi took control of their match against Quetta at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, courtesy a solid batting performance from their middle order. Lahore Ravi went from 39 for 1 to 277 for 5 on the second day, in reply to Quetta’s 172. Quetta struck two blows early in the morning session, but a 111-run stand between captain Usman Salahuddin and Mohammad Saad made sure they would not take the first-innings’ lead. After Salahuddin fell for 82, Muzaffar Mahboob put on 84 for the fifth wicket with Saad. Saad went to stumps unbeaten on 84, and will hope to kick on and lock Quetta out of the game tomorrow.A half-century partnership from United Bank Limited (UBL)‘s last-wicket pair took them past 300 at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground, following which their bowlers knocked over Lahore Shalimar for 196. Lahore Shalimar’s openers looked settled, before offspinner Misbah Khan came on and made inroads. He claimed four wickets in a miserly 24-over spell, while fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed picked up three to keep the hosts below 200. Only opener Irfan Haider managed to go past 50 for Lahore Shalimar, but he was run out soon after by Mohammad Irshad. UBL’s openers then batted out till stumps, stroking 38 in what could have been a testing six-over period, to give their side a 150-run lead going into day three.Although Naeemuddin hit his sixth first-class hundred, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) could manage only 200 against Peshawar at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar. Apart from Naeemuddin, the only resistance came from Usman Arshad, who made 54. The Peshawar bowlers shared the wickets around, but left-arm fast bowler Waqar Ahmed was the pick with four middle order scalps. Peshawar began their second innings with a 104-run lead cushion and looked for quick runs, but SNGPL fought back with four cheap wickets that left the hosts 67 for 4 at stumps.

Mtutuzeli Nyoka has been voted out as president of Cricket South Africa (CSA) for the second time this year at a special board general board meeting in Johannesburg. Nyoka was removed by an “overwhelming majority” after being accused of various misdemeanours, the most serious of which was bringing the organisation into disrepute. Vice-president AK Khan will serve as acting president until August 2012, when the next elections are scheduled.

Gerald Majola v Mtutuzeli Nyoka

July 2010 – President Mtutuzeli Nyoka wants an external investigation into the payment of R4.7 million (US$671,428) in bonuses to 40 CSA staff, including chief executive Gerald Majola, after the hosting of the IPL and Champions Trophy in 2009, as they were not passed through the board’s remunerations committee.
August 2010 – CSA sets up an independent review committee to investigate the bonus payments despite Nyoka’s calls for an external inquiry.
November 2010 – The independent committee clears Majola of any wrongdoing but finds that CSA’s corporate governance procedures were to blame and in need of a revamp.
Jan 2011 – Nyoka is asked to resign by CSA for continuing to push for an external investigation and South Africa’s sports minister steps in to try and resolve the conflict.
Feb 2011 – Nyoka is voted out of office for continuing to argue for the possibility of wrongdoing within the organisation.
April 2011 – Nyoka is reinstated as president after the court finds his removal was improper. The court also criticises the reasons for Nyoka’s removal and grants him the right to subject CSA to full financial scrutiny.
May 2011 – Accounting and consultancy firm KPMG is appointed to conduct an external audit in the bonus payments.
July 2011 – The audit report, which has not been released to the public, finds that Majola may have breached the Companies’ Act on four occasions and advises CSA to seek legal advice on how to proceed.
August 2011 – CSA appoint advocate Azhar Bham to provide opinion, which is delivered to the board orally at their AGM and results in a severe reprimand for Majola. CSA also resolves to improve its corporate governance.
September 2011 – Nyoka and his lawyer are informed of the proposal to remove him on September 8, when CSA’s board met at the conclusion of their annual conference.
October 2011 – CSA votes to remove Nyoka again.

Nyoka was not present at the meeting on the grounds of poor health but sent a deposition to be read out in his absence. The CSA board decided that he “was not in a position to offer leadership,” and ousted him with immediate effect. Although they did not disclose the actual count, six of the eleven provinces had, in the past two weeks, made public their decision to support the motion. Gauteng, Free State, Easterns, Eastern Province, Boland and Western Province all issued press releases stating that would vote in favour of the motion. ESPNcricinfo learned that at least one other union would do the same. Only Northerns Cricket Union stated their objection to the motion and indicated that they would vote against it.The decision brings to an end a 16-month saga which has essentially revolved around a battle between CSA chief executive Gerald Majola, and Nyoka. Majola and 39 other staff members received a collective R4.7 million (US$ 671.428) in bonuses after the hosting of the 2009 IPL and Champions Trophy but those payments were not authorised through CSA’s remunerations committee (REMCO) and were picked up as irregularities. Nyoka had repeatedly pushed for an external audit and had already lost one vote of no-confidence and had to win a court battle to be reinstated.KPMG were eventually tasked with looking into CSA’s financial affairs and found that Majola may have breached the Companies’ Act on four counts. They recommended legal advice which resulted in a severe reprimand for Majola. However, the spat between Majola and Nyoka had not cooled, as Nyoka struggled to gain access to various documents.At the conclusion of their annual conference in September, CSA tabled a second motion of no-confidence in Nyoka. They claimed he had breached media protocol, and the Companies’ Act by taking his honorarium in advance, and that they were unhappy with the way he handled press releases. National team manager Mohammad Moosajee also penned a letter saying Nyoka’s conduct would make it difficult for Moosajee to maintain discipline in the team.Nyoka’s tenure has ended 10 months prematurely, and this time there is indication that he will not fight further. Although his lawyer, Bernard Matheson, believes his client will have reason to take CSA back to the courts if he is removed because Matheson has said the grounds are improper, Nyoka appears to have accepted his fate. CSA also do not anticipate another court battle, although Khan said the possibility of it recurring can only be confirmed by Nyoka himself.”You should direct that to Dr Nyoka,” he said at the conclusion of the special general meeting. “All I can say is that I am deeply saddened by all of this. I have never seen anyone take an organisation that they serve voluntarily to court.”CSA have also had to deal with the departure of the REMCO chief, Thandeka Mgodosu, who tended her letter of resignation on Friday. She said she could no longer work with the current board because she believes there is a lack of transparency. Khan said most of the board came to know of her resignation on Saturday morning but are confident they can move on without her.”We have very highly qualified people in positions on REMCO and nothing prevents us from acquiring expertise from outside,” Khan said. With corporate governance and the paying of external and internal bonuses through REMCO a central issue of the ongoing saga, CSA are in the process of appointing a Legal and Compliance Manager and said they are close to announcing who will occupy that post.Also imminent is the announcement of sponsors, who have been reluctant to deal with CSA until the board’s issues have been resolved. Majola confirmed that two deals have been done and will be made public this week. The ongoing T20 series against Australia was forced to be played without a sponsor and CSA gave the naming rights to a charity at no cost. It was seen as a major failing but Khan said the organisation weathered the storm well. “CSA was in a superb financial position to deal with these difficult issues. We also signed a R1.5 billion deal with broadcasters.” Khan said that CSA are willing to “go to every business partner and answer any questions they have in mind.”Transparency is the new buzz-word around CSA, but it will take some time before the public will be convinced that the organisation, and Majola, are free from blame. They hinted at releasing the finalised KPMG report after consulting as a board and obtaining permission from KMPG. Should that happen, it will go some way towards easing concerns. For now, the board has simply acknowledged that they have erred. “We have made mistakes but we love the game and we want to serve the game,” Khan said.

There will be no DRS for Pakistan’s Test series against Sri Lanka and England in the UAE, though the system will be in place for the one-day matches. The PCB has not been able to reach an agreement with its broadcaster, Ten Sports, to fund the technology required for the DRS for the Test matches, its chief operating officer Subhan Ahmad said.”We in principle support the use of the DRS and want it for both Tests and ODIs but unfortunately we couldn’t reach an understanding with our broadcasters for the Tests,” Ahmad told . “We have however reached an understanding with a company to bear the costs for the use of the DRS technology in the one-day matches in both series.”In its annual conference in June, the ICC had agreed to make the DRS mandatory for all Tests and ODIs, subject to commercial considerations. The DRS it mandated included Hot Spot but not necessarily ball-tracking technology.Since the PCB had contracted its broadcaster before the DRS had been approved, it did not have any agreement on who would fund the required technology. “But when we sign our next contract for broadcasting rights we will try to ensure the broadcaster is willing to bear the costs of using the DRS system in our series including Tests and ODIs,” Ahmad said. There was no announcement about whether the DRS for the series would employ the Hot Spot, ball tracking or both.Since the ICC’s decision at their conference, countries have used the DRS in different forms. For the ongoing England-India Test and one-day series, Hot Spot is being used but reviews for lbw decisions have been disallowed. Contrastingly, Sri Lanka have decided to use ball-tracking technology for their home series against Australia but have not been able to afford Hot Spot. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe have not used the DRS for either of their home series against Bangladesh and now Pakistan. The last time Pakistan used the review system was during the World Cup.Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka in the UAE in October-November, and then three Tests, four ODIs and three T20s against England in January-February next year.

Cricket Australia’s chief executive, James Sutherland, believes cricket will hold itself up to ridicule unless technology used in the decision review system is consistent across all series. However, Sutherland said he still supported the inclusion of Hawk-Eye in the DRS, despite an error with the ball-tracking during the first Test in Galle, when Phil Hughes was judged lbw in the first innings.Replays indicated the ball that Hughes tried to sweep had turned before striking his leg, but Hawk-Eye instead showed the ball going straight on with the arm and hitting the stumps. Part of the problem was that the ball had travelled less than 40 centimetres between pitching and striking Hughes, which meant Hawk-Eye’s prediction was not at its most accurate.But there was no graphic that alerted TV viewers to that fact, whereas such a graphic had been used in previous cases, including at the World Cup. While the technology was not responsible for Hughes’ dismissal – he was given out by the on-field umpire, Richard Kettleborough, and the third official, Tony Hill, did not find enough evidence to overturn the call – Sutherland said consistency was still required.”We continue to see little quirks in the system,” Sutherland said in Melbourne on Wednesday. “Part of that is that there isn’t a consistency of application across all international cricket matches. That’s something that I would like to see, consistency in the type of applications that are used, as in the breadth, but also in the specific types of technology.”All those things are important. Until we actually get that consistency, I think we’re going to find ourselves open to ridicule for not quite getting it right. It is partly a financial issue. There are other issues about access to equipment at the moment and some other concerns that member countries have.”Sutherland is preparing to head to London next week for ICC meetings, where he said the DRS was likely to be on the agenda. He said that despite the Hughes incident, ball-tracking was helping to improve the accuracy of umpiring decisions, and the most important thing was to ensure the batsman retained the benefit of the doubt.”I’m very comfortable with the tracking,” he said. “I think that we need to continue to have mechanisms by which umpires can make judgments about where the technology is not working, or falling down. One of my concerns is that under the laws of the game the batsman should always have the benefit of the doubt and he should never lose that benefit of the doubt. Sometimes perhaps, it would appear to me at least, that technology is confusing that.”

ScorecardTom Smith was one of six wickets that fell to Andre Adams as Lancashire were dismissed for 233•PA Photos

Such was the conviction of both teams that the pitch at the Trafalgar Road ground would be a spin-bowling paradise that Lancashire jettisoned Saj Mahmood and Nottinghamshire elbowed Charlie Shreck so that both could accommodate two twirlers. Yet by the end of day two, 30 wickets had fallen and only two to slow bowlers.Instead, Glen Chapple, the Lancashire captain whose form at 37 shows little sign of waning, became the second seamer in the match to end with six wickets, after Andre Adams for Nottinghamshire. Yet the visitors are favourites to take the points after leaving Lancashire to score 258 to win, which looks like a tall order as they seek to overtake Durham at the top of the First Division.Ironically, it is one of the players who would not have been picked had the appearance of the surface not proved so deceptive. Graeme White, in as the second spinner for Notts, finished unbeaten on 54, his highest first-class score since moving from Northamptonshire to Trent Bridge, albeit from limited opportunities.The slim right-hand batsman, who bowls slow left-arm, has an aggressive instinct, as he demonstrated with a couple of sixes in his first-innings 32 and again when he hoisted Tom Smith over midwicket to go from 44 to 50, but otherwise provided his side with an innings of necessary application after they had slipped to 139 for 7 on a pitch that has played pretty well, save for occasional uneven bounce.His partnership with Steven Mullaney, the former Lancashire all-rounder, may have been the key one in the context of the match. The pair added 71 in 16 overs for the eighth wicket and though Chapple, who bowled 25.3 overs compared with two each for the Lancashire spinners, Gary Keedy and Simon Kerrrigan, came back to remove 10 and Jack on the Notts card to finish with 6 for 70, you suspected that the game might have slipped away from the home side and that they may start the next round of matches still in second place, with their game in hand gone.White and Samit Patel, the two slow bowlers on the Notts side, were not required at all as Lancashire, who had had their opponents reeling at 27 for 5 on day one, somehow managed to finish the first innings in deficit.Jack Birkenshaw, the former purveyor of right-arm off breaks, left during the afternoon, having fulfilled his obligations as pitch liaison officer, pronouncing that the pitch was a “good cricket wicket”, offering good carry, and that essentially the bowlers had simply outperformed the batsmen.There was little argument on that score. Adams and Kyle Hogg, both medium pacers, have been the key performers. After Hogg’s 5 for 28 from 13 overs, Adams retorted with 6 for 71 from 24 as Lancashire were dismissed for 179.Adams, last season’s leading wicket-taker in the Championship lost his cutting edge for a while as he struggled with niggling injuries but is worrying opposition batsmen again now.Experience has made him a clever bowler, always with a ball up his sleeve to take a batsman by surprise, and he has quietly taken his score to 40 wickets for the season. He has the stamina and enthusiasm, moreover, to bowl long spells, as he did here, sending down 13 overs off the reel.Keedy, the nightwatchman, was undone by extra bounce as Darren Pattinson had him edging to third slip but Tom Smith was bowled off an inside edge as he prodded tentatively at a ball from Adams, who obtained a leg-before decision against Gareth Cross two balls later that was greeted with a meaningful examination of his bat by the Lancashire wicketkeeper, which seemed to indicate that he thought he had hit the ball, even if umpire Trevor Jesty disagreed.Adams struck for the sixth time when Alex Hales took a sharp catch at first slip to remove Steven Croft. Chapple, who hit Adams for an enormous six towards Grosvenor Road over long off, perished making room for himself as Luke Fletcher summoned up a leg-stump yorker. Simon Kerrigan gloved one from Pattinson as he tried to withdraw the bat, leaving Hogg unbeaten on 23. The last six Lancashire wickets had fallen for 67.Given that Warwickshire and Hampshire have both been docked eight points this season for failing to prepare adequate pitches, groundsmen tend to get twitchy when wickets fall too quickly but all too often bowlers get little credit for doing their job well and batsmen get off too lightly for playing loose shots.When Nottinghamshire began the task of adding to their 24 run lead, for instance, Neil Edwards was driving when he edged Hogg to point and Riki Wessels was perhaps a shade careless, too, with the ball from Chapple that gave Cross a catch behind the stumps.Even Hales, who looked in superlative touch as he reached 50 from 60 balls, gathering nine boundaries along the way, gave his wicket away by playing a long way from his body at a ball from Tom Smith, Croft taking a two-handed catch at backward point.Patel, having made a solid start, shouldered arms to Chapple, losing his off stump to a delivery that clearly swung back in appreciably, the Lancashire skipper picking up two more wickets as Adam Voges slashed and Chris Read drove loosely, Cross again completing the job behind the stumps, in the first instance taking the ball one-handed.At 138 for 6, Notts led by only 162 and the stage was set for Adams to put on his Mr Sensible hat again. Unfortunately, he lasted only one ball this time, heaving inelegantly across the line of a delivery from Hogg that sent his middle stump cart wheeling.The outcome looked in the balance at this point, with Lancashire probably favourites, but that changed as the bowlers began to toil with a ball that had lost its hardness and White and Mullaney put together the biggest partnership of the match.Mullaney went for 42, leg before trying to whip Smith through midwicket, after which Chapple had Pattinson caught behind from a ball he could only fend away and claimed his sixth wicket, following on from his five in the second innings as Lancashire beat Yorkshire at Headingley last week, when Luke Fletcher was caught at midwicket.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outKevin Pietersen ended his home century drought in style•Getty Images

They were calling for his head before the start of the season. Come big series, tough conditions, early wickets, and Kevin Pietersen scored his first home century in three years, going on to beat India to pulp, complete his third double, and set up a bold declaration about 40 minutes before stumps. It was his slowest century, but resuming on 22 overnight he imposed himself on the bowlers throughout the second day.They didn’t think he was Test material before the start of this season. With Zaheer Khan out with a hamstring injury, Praveen Kumar swung his way on to the Lord’s honours board through a maiden five-for, a thing of beauty in isolation. His strikes remained a footnote, though, as they couldn’t check Pietersen, who hit 42 off the last 17 balls he faced. Also, while Praveen was the only man other than MS Dhoni to look like taking a wicket today, Pietersen received ample support through stands worth 110, 120 and 61 with Ian Bell, Matt Prior and Graeme Swann. India’s openers survived the awkward six overs to stumps, but their over-rate could spell more bad news at the end of the match.The way Pietersen is seen at home and by outsiders is a bit like VVS Laxman in his earlier years. When Laxman struggled to make it to the Indian team, the Australians could never figure out why. While Pietersen might be a bit of an individualist with eccentricities that don’t always make him endearing, the rest of the world just can’t figure out the scrutiny the English public and media put him through.He dealt with the cricketing scrutiny in a fairly adept manner. While his early strike-rate in the 30s and the 40s might not suggest domination, it was vintage KP, moving about in the crease, dictating terms to the bowlers, and making them bowl where he wanted them to. Ishant Sharma, Man of the Series in the West Indies, suffered the most. Pietersen toyed around with his line and length by walking across and towards him, practically reducing India to a two-man attack. Ishant’s general line was so wide that not one of his deliveries to Pietersen was pitched within the stumps. Before tea, he had bowled only two full deliveries: both were edged, one wide of slips, one short of them. Ishant to Pietersen in 32 wicketless overs: 101 deliveries, 75 runs.Pietersen hardly stood still to a delivery bowled by the seamers. He had tried the same yesterday, but today he brought with him the middle of the bat. A defensive India didn’t have a short leg in place, and there was no checking Pietersen’s movements across the crease. In scoring the first 50, he hit only three scoring shots to the off side. He flicked through mid-on and midwicket at will throughout the innings.

Smart stats

• Kevin Pietersen’s century is his 18th in Tests, bringing him joint-fourth on the list of English batsmen with most Test centuries. Among contemporary English batsmen, Andrew Strauss has 19 centuries while Alastair Cook is level with Pietersen on 18 centuries.

• Pietersen’s century is his fifth at Lord’s. Only Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan have more centuries at Lord’s (6 each).

• Praveen Kumar’s five-wicket haul is the 12th by an Indian bowler at Lord’s. The last Indian bowler to achieve the feat was RP Singh in the 2007 series.

• Pietersen’s 202 is his third double-century in Tests and his seventh 150-plus score. This moves him joint-third on the list of English batsmen with the most 150-plus scores.

• Pietersen also became the 12th English batsman to reach the 6000-run mark in Tests. His average of 49.83 is fourth on the list of English batsmen with 6000-plus runs.

• This is the ninth occasion that Harbhajan Singh has gone on to concede over 150 runs in an innings. The highest is 189 against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad in 2009.

• The 120-run stand between Pietersen and Prior is the sixth-highest sixth-wicket partnership for England against India.

Praveen kept resisting, though. He did that first by removing the immovable object, Jonathan Trott, with a perfect inswinger at the start of his second spell today. Trott added only 12 to his overnight 58. While bowling to his former IPL captain, Praveen provided the contest of the day. Pietersen kept moving across, Praveen kept bowling the odd leg-side yorker, trying to get him behind his legs. He even called a leg slip in, and Pietersen flicked straight to that man, only for the ball to fall inches short. He was on 49 then. Praveen couldn’t go on forever, and after that testing spell of 6-2-7-1, Pietersen resumed his domination.Harbhajan Singh was good to begin with, getting some dip from round the stumps, but once Pietersen lofted a straighter one over mid-off, that bubble burst too. Two flat, short deliveries followed, and Bell cut them for fours. Almost unnoticed, Bell sped away to 45 off 76, cutting effectively and playing the cover-drive you might want to play on loop on your MP3 player.Pietersen did come close to getting out to Dhoni soon after lunch, but challenged the caught-behind decision successfully. He then bossed the second new ball, and curbed his own proclivity to play ill-advised shots in the 90s. With a picturesque on-drive off Ishant, he reached his century, leaping high after taking two steps down the pitch, and then pumping his fists.Praveen made sure Pietersen went back to more circumspection. After two overs of outswingers, he nearly got Bell with the perfect inswinger but for the height. Soon, though, the outswinger would take the edge. Two balls later, another outswinger would kiss Eoin Morgan’s inside edge: 270 for 5 looked much more respectable for India than 270 for 3.Praveen proceeded to bowl a few unplayable deliveries, but Prior counterattacked to good effect. Once Praveen was taken off, the partnership flourished; Prior smacked 71 of the 120. Praveen again threatened to bring India back with an outswinger that took the adventurous Prior’s edge. The next ball was another lovely outswinger, trapping Stuart Broad in front.Pietersen, 145 then, took his hitting – and his disregard for the bowlers – to another level. Ishant was a mere spinner now, without the turn; even Praveen took some clip. From 182 to 202 was but a matter of six deliveries, which included his first six. As the players walked off, Pietersen and Praveen acknowledged each other’s efforts, two men with different question marks against them.

ScorecardWahab Riaz, debuting for Kent, and Sam Northeast shared an unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 66 in 26 balls to help Kent win their first Friends Life t20 victory with a six-wicket win over Glamorgan.After being put in to bat, Glamorgan appeared in control of the contest after posting a more than competitive 154 for five in their 20 overs on a slow Cardiff pitch. Kent looked in some difficulty at 59 for two at the halfway stage, which left them needing 96 off the final 10 overs. But Riaz (32), the Pakistan seamer, and Northeast (33) held their nerve to win the game with two balls to spare.Glamorgan had got off to a rattling start with skipper Alviro Petersen, who was awarded his Glamorgan cap in the interval, and Mark Cosgrove scoring 56 from the opening six overs. Cosgrove looked in prime form as he struck Azhar Mahmood for 15 off the third over of the innings including a six over long-off. Cosgrove followed that up by stroking a straight six off Charl Langeveldt before hitting Riaz for two boundaries in his first over.But Kent fought back well to slow Glamorgan’s run rate, which was helped when Cosgrove was dismissed for 47 from 31 balls after being caught by Robert Key at extra cover off Adam Ball.Glamorgan found themselves struggling for runs against the slower Kent bowlers on a tough pitch. It was left to Petersen, who scored 65 from 56 balls, to try to bat through the innings which he nearly did until he was bowled in the final over.At the start of their reply Kent’s openers Rob Key and Joe Denly found runs hard to come by, making just 37 runs in the opening six overs. And Glamorgan appeared to be heading for their second win when the spinners Robert Croft, who went for just 21 from his four overs, and Dean Cosker tried to strangle the Kent run rate.There were signs that Kent were not going to give up when Darren Stevens hit two sixes off Cosker. When Stevens was caught at long-on off Croft, Kent were reduced to 89 for four in the 15th over.But Riaz was sent up the order and immediately had an impact by taking sixes off Croft and Will Owen. Kent were left with 33 to get off the final three overs but kept their focus as Riaz struck the winning runs.

More than four months after completing England’s finest achievement in many years by retaining the Ashes 3-1 in Australia, the majority of Andrew Strauss’s Test squad will reconvene for the first match of summer which, if it goes well, will put England on course for the No. 1 ranking.Nine of the team that completed the innings-and-83-run victory in Sydney will line-up in Cardiff to face Sri Lanka. The two who won’t be there are the retired Paul Collingwood and the injured Tim Bresnan and their replacements have been the only real debates for the selectors ahead of naming a 12-man squad.There has been plenty of time to consider who will fill Collingwood’s shoes in the middle order and the signs point strongly to Ravi Bopara. He didn’t make the most of his first innings for the Lions in Derby when he fell for 17, but the feeling is that the decision had already been made. That also means that Eoin Morgan’s 193 came too late, although it was a commanding innings that showed his immense natural ability.Bopara, though, has gained credit for the decisions he has made in recent months, most notably declining two IPL offers to remain with Essex. After overcoming a tricky start to the season he has made two Championship hundreds and, importantly, bowled plenty of overs to develop his second-string.Meanwhile, Morgan played nine Twenty20 innings over six weeks but then waltzed into the Lions and looked as though he’d been playing first-class cricket for months. In many ways it would have made the selectors’ job easier had Morgan failed (or at least not scored a near double hundred). Morgan has now indicated he will return to the IPL if he isn’t selected in the Test squad, a move that could well raise a few eyebrows. He will look particularly bad if someone breaks a finger on Wednesday and he’s back in India.The choice of pace-bowling cover could be one of a few impressive performers from the early stages of the domestic season. Given that Bresnan’s Ashes role was to pitch the ball up and find swing, Ajmal Shahzad is the likeliest option and has impressed the selectors with his work ethic over the winter. It shows the depth currently available that Steven Finn, who played three Ashes Tests and all of last summer, has slipped down the pecking order.Below those two the return of Graham Onions is being very closely monitored although it would be dangerous to rush him back too soon from such a serious injury, while Jade Dernbach is making significant strides as he showed with 5 for 44 against the Sri Lankans.It all means that none of the pace bowlers who do play can afford to coast. The most under pressure could well be Stuart Broad, England’s new Twenty20 captain, as he returns to the Test side after injury. Firstly he has to show his body isn’t becoming brittle, but also that he can contribute significant hauls. Currently he has 99 Test wickets at 35, a number that has to start coming down.The other player with plenty of eyes on him will be Kevin Pietersen. After recovering from his double hernia he has played two matches for Surrey (one an innings defeat against Cambridge University) and it’s a crucial summer for him if he really wants to regain his standing as England’s premier batsman. The selectors showed they were willing to drop him from the one-day side last year and Andy Flower isn’t one to accept passengers.Possible squad Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Ajmal Shahzad