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

A superb unbeaten 31 from Dinesh Karthik led India to a thrillingpenultimate-ball victory in their first-ever Pro20 outing at theWanderers. Chasing South Africa’s 126 for 9, they were also indebted to aquickfire 34 from Virender Sehwag and a steady 38 from Dinesh Mongia. Thebowlers had done a sterling job earlier in the evening, with Zaheer Khanand Ajit Agarkar especially impressive in restricting a powerful battingline-up.With nine needed from the final over, Karthik eased Indian nerves byclouting Robin Peterson for a big six over midwicket. Four balls later, hecut one through point to round off a memorable evening, with India sealingtheir first win of the tour nearly three weeks after they arrived in theSouthern Cape.The Indian innings had started eventfully. After Sehwag had driven Van derWath through the covers for four, Charl Langeveldt had Sachin Tendulkaredging behind off a free hit. In his next over, Tendulkar creamed onethrough the covers before lofting another over point for four more. Butjust as the Indian flags began waving ever more animatedly, Langeveldt hadhis say, with Tendulkar dragging a full delivery back on to the stumps.Sehwag and Mongia then consolidated matters, and when Graeme Smith calledon Tyron Henderson, Sehwag weighed in immediately, slashing a six over therope at third man before deflecting wide of the keeper for four more.Another clever deflection to third man followed off Roger Telemachus, andwhen a short-pitched delivery flew off his helmet for four leg byes, Indianudged ahead of the asking rate.Henderson’s medium-pace offerings were to Sehwag’s liking, and a widedelivery outside off stump was sent soaring over point, but thecombination of Ashwell Prince, the substitute fielder, and Langeveldt witha full-length Jonty Rhodes-style dive cut short his scintillating 29-ballinnings.Mahendra Singh Dhoni lasted just two balls before being cleaned up by theimpressive Langeveldt, but Mongia, who returns home after the one-dayseries, kept up the momentum with some sweetly-timed strokes throughmidwicket. When Albie Morkel came on, he struck one beautifully over coverfor six, and with Karthik playing a gorgeous straight drive offTelemachus, John Denver’s Country Roads provided apt background music asIndia eased towards victory. Mongia fell to a slog to provide one finalhiccup, but Karthik and Suresh Raina saw that there would be no costlystutter at the finish.It was no less than India deserved after a disciplined bowling displaythat saw South Africa slump to 41 for 4, before Justin Kemp and thesix-hitting Morkel led something of a recovery. Morkel smashed 27 from 18balls, including one massive six off Harbhajan Singh that cleared thestands over midwicket. Having taken sixes off Sreesanth and Irfan Pathanearlier, he fell trying for another, caught at long-off off Sreesanth.Tendulkar had accounted for Kemp earlier, trapping him in front, even as asteady drizzle started to fall.Van der Wath’s 21 held the lower order together, but there weren’t thewickets in hand to launch any sort of onslaught. Robin Peterson wasrun-out off a free hit, after Harbhajan bowled a no-ball, and when Van derWath slogged the next ball into Raina’s hands at long on, India hadreestablished their stranglehold on proceedings.After quasi-Bollywood-style entertainment had set the stage, there weremassive cheers when Smith, with one run in the one-day series, got theinnings off the mark with a single to fine leg off Zaheer, and they becameeven more raucous when Sreesanth was cut for four and then drivenbeautifully down the ground. But it was too good to last, and in Zaheer’snext over, Loots Bosman edged one to Tendulkar at first slip.

Smith tried to up the ante by charging Sreesanth and lofting one down tothe long-off fence, and Herschelle Gibbs followed suit with a punishingpull for four off Zaheer. But when Agarkar replaced Sreesanth, India got areward right away, with Gibbs thumping one straight to short cover. Thatturned out to be a maiden over, and South Africa’s plight worsened whenZaheer crowned a quite magnificent spell with the wicket of his bunny,Smith once again trapped in front.AB de Villiers came in and slashed a six over point, but Agarkar exactedinstant retribution, inducing an edge behind. With the Indians buzzing, itwas left to Kemp to right the balance a little by smashing Pathan’s firstball to the cover fence, following it up with a top edge to fine leg forfour more.India were dealt a blow when Agarkar left the field midway through histhird over with a torn groin muscle. Tendulkar came on to replace him, andKemp latched on straight away, tucking one behind square for four. Butdespite his and Morkel’s efforts, there was no denying an Indian sidepiloted home by one of its future stars.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Match package
Bulletin – South Africa complete whitewash
Verdict – Pollock defies the critics
Quotes – ‘We haven’t come to grips with the conditions’ – Chappell
Quotes – ‘Our bowlers were fantastic’ – Smith
Short cuts – AB’s blast and a good-luck message
Stats – Smith gets out of a rut
News – Indian fan taken into custody
Audio – Ravi Shastri – There was just one team on the park
GalleryPreview package
Preview – India face a test of character
News – Slings, arrows and the short stuff

David Byas has left his post as Yorkshire’s director of cricket by mutual consent after weeks of discussions with the board, ending a 20-year association with the club.It is the second administrative hiccup for Yorkshire this winter following the muddle with Chris Adams. The Sussex captain, who this year led his side to the Championship and the C&G Trophy, agreed to move north to skipper Yorkshire and become their director of Pro-cricket. It pushed Byas out of a job but, when Adams performed a rapid u-turn two weeks later and announced he was staying with Sussex, Byas was left pondering his options.”The club would like to thank David for his service to Yorkshire,” Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive said in a statement. “Under his leadership the club were promoted to the first division of the County Championship in 2005. He has also overseen the development of a number of the county’s emerging prospects.”Yorkshire have no one in line to replace Byas, with the current coaching staff covering until a replacement is found.”The club is going through a major change process both on and off the field,” the statement continued, “and both David and the club agree that it is time for a new structure.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

England have spluttered to so many deflating losses on this tour that even rabid and patriotic Australian supporters have started pleading for them to lift off the bottom. After today’s nine-wicket caning in a match lasting only 59 overs the same thought stands. Please can this be the turning point?There is still time for England repairs – the CB Series has just passed the halfway point and, amazingly, they could reach the finals easily – but on this performance they would have been lucky to have achieved anything positive in the World Cup warm-up for the minnows in Kenya. Throughout the tour Andrew Flintoff has spoken proudly about the strong spirit in the dressing room, but his men have been unable to transform the talk and have slumped horribly since a brief change of direction against New Zealand in Hobart.For some reason Adelaide, the most beautiful of grounds, turns England into their ugliest. They were badly pockmarked during the final day of the second Test, when they effectively handed over the Ashes, and the scars remained during their dismantling for 120 in a hefty defeat to New Zealand on Tuesday. Somehow they managed to be even worse today and lost a day-night game well before the sun set.England failed to bat through their 50 overs for the third match in a row and were dismissed for an embarrassing 110. Australia’s bowling attack, which was led by Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee, performed superbly but the standard of the opposition had a huge say in the 34.3-over demolition. The batsmen were as lost as stray cattle and nobody showed the symptoms like Paul Collingwood.In the middle of the Test series he was England’s hardest batsman to dismiss, but he has become so torn he can’t trust himself to follow through. The overall feelings of confusion and lack of patience were on display as he stepped down to Andrew Symonds and chipped him limply to mid-off. He was the fifth victim in only the 21st over and a recovery was impossible, especially when the final five wickets went for seven runs.

The conditions were sunny and the pitch held as many demons as St Peter’s Cathedral at the northern end of the ground. Adam Gilchrist waited for Liam Plunkett’s third over to flex four boundaries, but he was run-out when sent back by Matthew Hayden for a brisk 23. Hayden ground out 30 and Ricky Ponting, who swept to 51 from 61 balls, raised Australia’s ninth win of the season over England. There were a massive 25.3 overs to spare and they picked up another bonus point.The result was almost guaranteed when Andrew Flintoff, the captain and the last of the recognised batsmen, departed for 16, leaving England at 103. Johnson opened the bowling as Australia rested Nathan Bracken and Glenn McGrath and he settled down after being belted on to the roof of a Chappell stand by a Mal Loye slog-sweep. His second spell was impressive and he finished with 4 for 45 after gaining edges from a lead-footed Flintoff, Jamie Dalrymple and Liam Plunkett.Lee started the procession with Loye’s wild nick and the England players were unable to get him away as he gave up eight runs in eight overs. Ed Joyce was Lee’s second victim when he failed to muscle him over mid-on and a lack of discretion was one of the key reasons why the tourists faltered. They quickly took on more water as the tail followed as meekly as the specialists and Brad Hogg, who was playing his first game of the series, cleaned up with two wickets.England lost both their openers within the first 12 overs and the severe problems in the rest of the order showed no signs of disappearing. Loye was out for the third time in three games edging outside offstump when he swung at Lee on 9 and Strauss (17) followed when attempting a glide from Johnson.The nick gave Gilchrist a second catch and maintained the pressure on England’s middle order, which could not cope. It seemed like Bell would guide England’s target setting when he started with a string of strong boundaries, but he had moved smoothly to 35 when he cut hard at a Stuart Clark short ball, finding Michael Clarke at point and leaving England at 3 for 72. From there things got much worse and as the home supporters enjoyed the national holiday it was definitely Australia’s Day.

Himachal Pradesh 477 and 58 for 1 beat Orissa 317 and 216 by 9 wickets
Scorecard
Himachal Pradesh cruised to the Plate Group title by trouncing Orissa by nine wickets at Cuttack. Set a miniscule 57 to win, HP rattled it off in 9.4 overs to romp home to a comprehensive win.Halhadar Das fell after reaching his fifty and Orissa were shot out after adding 14 runs to their overnight score. Vikramjeet Malik, who was promoted to open, hit a brisk 19-ball 30 with four fours and a six and hastened the inevitable.Sritam Das, Orissa’s coach, blamed the batting in the first innings and the fielding during HP’s massive reply. “It was the batting,” Das told Cricinfo. “We won the toss and it was atleast a 450 wicket. The batsmen threw the wickets away.”But Orissa still had HP reeling at 161 for 5 and then at 200 for 6 when Ajay Mannu and Mukesh Sharma stitched together 114 runs to lift them out of trouble. The tail too wagged valiantly with Sarandeep Singh and Ashok Thakur adding 114 runs as HP ran away with the game. Orissa dropped a few catches and that hurt them. “The bowlers bowled well but from 161 for 5 we allowed to them get away. We dropped some vital catches, it was our worst fielding display of the season and they capitalised.”In the second innings, we went for quick runs, but we ended up gifting the wickets away.We reserved the worst for the final.”

The injury-hit Australian squad received a boost after Adam Gilchrist made himself available for the entire World Cup following the birth of his third child. Gilchrist is expected to arrive in West Indies ahead of his team’s opening World Cup warm-up game against Zimbabwe on March 6.Gilchrist became a father for the third time following the birth of his son, Archie, in Perth on Saturday. Gilchrist missed the recent Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series in New Zealand, which Australia lost 3-0, to spend time with wife, Melinda, in the final few days of her pregnancy. He was earlier set to miss the first three weeks of the World Cup after getting compassionate leave from Cricket Australia.Gilchrist said: “We’re delighted that Archie has arrived safely as a brother for Harrison [aged 5] and Annie [aged 2]. Melinda and Archie are fit and well.” Gilchrist will spend the next few days with his family before leaving for the Caribbean.Australia’s first game of the World Cup is on March 14 against Scotland and the squad is also waiting on the fitness of Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden. Hayden is waiting for his fractured toe to heal while Symonds had surgery on his arm before the CB Series finals and hoped to make a mid-tournament entry. Brett Lee has already been ruled out of the tournament with ankle injury.

Australia’s inability to bowl Zimbabwe out within 50 overs in their opening World Cup warm-up was not a concern for Ricky Ponting. Zimbabwe worked their way to 184 for 7 – well short of Australia’s 290 – but Ponting said the practice held his team in good stead.Australia face England in a second warm-up match in St Vincent on Friday and England’s routing of Bermuda for 45 could work in Australia’s favour. “Ours was a better workout than they [England] got,” Ponting told . “At this stage of the tournament most teams are looking to get some quality time in the middle and we got through 100 overs today.”In one-day cricket on wickets like that, which are really slow and low, it can be quite difficult to bowl teams out. I wasn’t surprised today and it was probably more beneficial to us that we didn’t.”Shane Watson and Michael Clarke each posted 80s and Ponting was pleased with the run-scoring effort. “Our batting was good in pretty difficult conditions to bat in and I thought our bowling was pretty good as well,” Ponting told AAP.”We put a couple of catches down and missed a couple of run outs so we’ve obviously got some work to do there. From where we are in the tournament, that was a good hit-out for us.”Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe’s captain, was also disappointed with his side’s three dropped catches, which reprieved Australia’s three top-scorers. “We could have kept them to 240 if we had taken all our chances,” Utseya said. “We let them off the hook a little bit.”Ponting also felt that his unheralded collection of slow bowlers will seize their World Cup opportunity and make light of the absence of Shane Warne. “We’ve got to make him relax and get him to bowl the way he can bowl,” said Ponting of Brad Hogg, the chinaman bowler, who returned 0 for 36 in his 8 overs. “In the last three or four overs against Zimbabwe he did that. He’s Australia’s best one-day spin bowler. There’ll be a lot of opportunities for slow bowlers in this tournament.”I thought [Brad] Hodge (1-26 off 6 overs) did a good job for us,” added Ponting. “We’ve got Michael Clarke who will be able to do a job for us at some stage. If we get Andrew Symonds back I hope he’s going to be a big part of that slow-bowling brigade. We feel that we’ve got basically all the bases covered on what we need in a World Cup.”

John Davison, Canada’s captain, has called for higher standards in the country’s domestic game if the side are to be truly competitive.”Canada’s domestic league needs to be semi-professional at least, if not professional if you have to compete at this level,” Davison said in the aftermath of the country’s elimination from the World Cup. “We need the infrastructure in place as there are definitely talented players in the country.”There are a few talented youngsters around,” he continued. “But the most important thing is we get some sort of infrastructure in place. The Canadian Cricket Association doesn’t have anyone who is employed by the association. It’s basically on a voluntary basis and if we want to compete at this level we will have to be semi-professional at least, if not professional.”There are definitely talented players in the country and we need them to be brought through a system.”The call for increasing professionalism is likely to fall on deaf ears, however. Canada, like most of the Associates, relies heavy on the ICC for funding and there is not sufficient cash to enable anything more than a hand-to-mouth existence.

England have admitted that they have a contingency plan in place should the forthcoming tour by West Indies not take place.Yesterday Cricinfo revealed that there is another serious dispute looming between the West Indies board (WICB) and the country’s players’ association (WIPA). The players want extra payments for what they argue is an additional tour outside the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, while the WICB maintains that the tour is part of the FTP and so covered by existing contracts. The two parties meet in Trinidad tomorrow but sources are not optimistic that a compromise will be found.”I’ll be having discussions with the West Indies board to see if there are any concerns,” David Collier, the ECB’s chief executive, told PA. “We’re not aware of any serious issues per se, but if there are discussions there must be something serious going on and we’ll follow that very closely. At the moment we don’t know if it’s a major issue or not a major issue.”I think that if there had been a major, major issue I’m sure we would have been alerted. At the moment we’re confident we’ll be able to stage the Test series and we hope that will be against a full strength West Indies side. I can’t say where it will end up in terms of their discussions but it would be almost unthinkable if their side wouldn’t play the series.”Collier went on to admit that the ECB had a contingency plan drawn up in case the tour was scrapped, but would not reveal any details. “This is the first time it’s come up, but we’ve got some pretty good contacts around the world if we needed them.”The relationship between the WICB and WIPA has been increasingly fractious, and almost all recent series, including the World Cup, have been preceded by contractual disputes.

Division One

Durham’s lower order denied Lancashire victory at Chester-le-Street with Ottis Gibson hitting 54 and Paul Wiseman making a 92-ball 7. Lancashire had chipped away at the top order, Dominic Cork taking the first two wickets, and Muttiah Muralitharan claimed the key scalp of Dale Benkenstein then Phil Mustard as the visitors appeared set for their second win of the season. But Gibson had other ideas and didn’t go about saving the match in traditional style, striking nine fours and a six in his 80-ball innings. He fell with the overs running out, lbw to Muralitharan, and James Anderson removed Mark Davies, but Graham Onions survived three balls. Wiseman was left to block out Muralitharan’s final over; with every man around the bat he was Durham’s hero.James Tredwell’s maiden first-class century in 44 games defied Yorkshire at Tunbridge Wells to make sure Kent saved the game after following on. Rob Key and Martin van Jaarsveld gave Kent a strong platform, with a second-wicket stand of 162, but then a cluster of wickets gave Yorkshire hope of finishing the job. Broken hand or not, Gough brought himself on as sixth-change trying to break the final few partnerships, but while he dismissed Geraint Jones for 15 that was to be the last victim for Kent. Tredwell, who reached 116 not out, then combined with Andrew Hall to take them way past parity. Hall struck 63 not out in an unbroken stand of 140 which earned Kent a share of the spoils.Worcestershire were left wondering how on earth Surrey managed to escape with the draw, after they were well on course for victory at New Road. At 126 for 5 in the middle of the afternoon, and with Mark Ramprakash in the hutch, Surrey were floundering. Still miles adrift of Worcestershire’s 701, they lost four more wickets throughout proceedings, but crucially not the fifth. Mark Butcher was their saviour, his painstaking 29 not out compiled during three hours and coming from 142 balls. Matt Nicholson helped to repel the attack with him, making 20 not out from 67 deliveries. It was some dogged resistance, but their bowling attack, smashed around by Worcestershire, continues to provide concern.Sussex’s season continued to take an upward curve with a convincing 166-run win against Hampshire at Arundel. Starting the day on 133 for 2, Hampshire faced a huge task and it became even tougher when Michael Lumb fell early to Naved-ul-Hasan. Michael Carberry (53) added 82 with John Crawley, who faced 174 balls for 44, until both fell in quick succession. Robin Martin-Jenkins ended stubborn resistance from the middle order and the final wicket fell to Mushtaq Ahmed, his ninth of the match.

Division Two

At one point today Northamptonshire looked in danger of making a habit of close run-chases from big targets. Earlier this week, they nearly defeated Gloucestershire, but lost their bottle towards the end. At Chelmsford, they briefly threatened to hunt down 408, but Danish Kaneria’s five wickets prised them out 41 runs short. The overnight pairing of Stephen Peters (93) and David Sales (67) put on 134 for the third wicket before Kaneria dismissed Sales, then Peters fell to James Middlebrook on the same score, 223. While Lance Klusener contributed a typically brisk 25, when he fell on 263 for 5, Essex had done most of the hard work.