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The ECB has threatened to take legal action against Pakistan board chairman, Ijaz Butt, unless he makes a public apology for alleging that England’s players accepted a bribe to lose the third ODI at The Oval.”We are looking for an apology. If it does not come we’ll look at other options,” ECB chief executive David Collier told the . “You can’t impugn someone’s integrity without having proper evidence.”To date I can say that we have received zero evidence of anything having influenced any England player. Clearly we will seek advice but there are quite strong laws of defamation.”In an extraordinary statement, which he read out to ESPNcricinfo, Butt had said, “There is loud and clear talk in bookie circles that some English players have taken enormous amounts of money to lose the match [the third ODI]. No wonder there was such a collapse.” He had also accused certain “august cricket bodies” of conspiring to defraud Pakistan and Pakistan cricket.Butt’s allegations were of such gravity that the ECB waited almost 24 hours before formulating an official response, and their statement was issued after a meeting between the board and the team. Present at the discussions were Collier, ECB chairman Giles Clarke, the managing director of England Cricket, Hugh Morris, and the England captain and coach, Andrew Strauss and Andrew Flower, who went on to have a subsequent meeting with all of the England team.The ECB and the team issued a strong statement rejecting Butt’s allegations and Collier said that they had decided to proceed playing the final two ODIs “in the best interests of world cricket, England cricket, the ICC and the world game.”Pakistan went on to win the fourth ODI at Lord’s and level the series 2-2 ahead of Wednesday’s decider at the Rose Bowl.

ScorecardThe decisive moment: Shivnarine Chanderpaul falls to spark wild celebrations from Nottinghamshire•Getty Images

For three soggy days at Old Trafford, Nottinghamshire’s quest for the County Championship – the blue riband event of the English season – looked like ending in the most miserable of anticlimaxes, as they were limited to 28 overs by a combination of rain and, perversely, dazzlingly bright sunshine. But then, on an epic fourth and final day, with their target being six bonus points and some good fortune up north at Chester-le-Street where Somerset were themselves scenting victory, the team seized upon its final chance for glory, and surged to the title in a magnificent allround display of attacking and determined cricket.”We sort of knew what we had to do this morning,” said Nottinghamshire’s Man of the Match, Adam Voges, who anchored Nottinghamshire’s bid for maximum batting points with a gutsy 126, and shared in a momentum-seizing fifth-wicket stand of 153 with Samit Patel, who made 96. “We thought that bonus points was probably our best chance of winning the Championship, so it was just a case of getting a good start. Samit played beautifully through the middle, and I’m delighted to have made a contribution in such a big game.”The drama of Nottinghamshire’s points-hunt was two-fold. Firstly, they suffered a late collapse with the all-important total of 400 in sight, as four wickets fell for 37 to leave them teetering on 390 for 9 with only the Nos. 10 and 11, Ryan Sidebottom and Darren Pattinson, at the crease. Had either man been dismissed short of the mark, Nottingham would have had to pursue an improbable six wickets in the final hour of the game, but such was their collective determination, even that scenario could not have been entirely ruled out.”We had to have some positive thoughts,” said Nottinghamshire’s captain, Chris Read. “We knew we had to go one way or another to get the requisite points. Last night a lot of senior players had a meal and discussed what to do and some of the guys said ‘let’s go out, bash 400 and take three wickets’, but I don’t think any of us thought it would be the easiest day’s play. What an incredible day it turned to be.”Read admitted that his team’s last-ditch plans had seemed doomed at the start of the day, as a wet outfield caused yet another delay to the match, with play finally getting underway at 11.35am. “This morning we were devastated because we’d decided to go for 400, but then we couldn’t start on time so we thought that would scupper our plans, and we’d have to use the other route [of a deal with Lancashire]. But on balance we thought this was our best route.”As things turned out, the title was sealed with some panache, as Andre Adams and Sidebottom bagged the three vital wickets in just 4.4 overs of Lancashire’s innings. For Adams, the decisive dismissal of Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the 68th wicket of his Championship season, and Read was understandably effusive afterwards.”Andre Adams, I couldn’t heap enough praise on him,” he said, “and whenever Ryan Sidebottom has been with us, he has been a fantastic asset. That was the part I was most confident about, that if we got 16-18 overs at them we’d get three wickets. But the 400 side, having not set foot on the park for three days, I had no idea what the pitch would play like. The way Adam Voges and Samit Patel put together that middle partnership was unbelievable.”Nevertheless, the most crucial partnership of the day was arguably that between Sidebottom and Pattinson at the end of Nottinghamshire’s innings. The tenth-wicket pair held firm for 5.1 overs as Lancashire’s bowlers, led by Simon Kerrigan, attempted to wreck their season. “It was more nerve-wracking getting those 10 runs,” admitted Pattinson afterwards. “Me and [Ryan] thought we can’t get out slogging here.””It was a good effort,” added Sidebottom. “We talked between every ball and said keep going and stay out as long as possible for those 10 runs, even if it left us with only 12-14 overs [to bowl], because that would give us the best chance to take three wickets.”Sidebottom is expected to find a new county for the 2011 season, having come to the end of his Nottinghamshire deal, and while he wouldn’t be drawn on his next move, he was grateful for the opportunities he had enjoyed since moving from Yorkshire in 2003. “If it is [my last game], I’ve gone out in style,” he said. “The club’s been amazing, and without them I wouldn’t have played many more games for England, so I owe them a big thank you, whether it’s my last game or not.”Meanwhile, up at Chester-le-Street, there was no consolation for the runners-up, Somerset, who had been in pole position throughout the final round, but whose quest for a maiden Championship title will now be extended into yet another season.”It’s gutting, with it being our first we realise how special it will be when we finally get there,” said Somerset’s captain, Marcus Trescothick. “To get so close – level on points – is so tough but we’ll just have to wait another year now. It’s terrible. It’s something that will live with us for a long, long time. To know we were so close, touching distance to the trophy, but so far away when Nottinghamshire got that third wicket.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Jacques Kallis grabbed three wickets, including that of Jonathan Foo•Associated Press

Royal Challengers Bangalore sauntered to victory against Guyana in the most one-sided game of the tournament so far. It was Guyana’s first game on the big stage, and they looked way out of their depth, as the highly rated Bangalore sounded an early warning to the rest of the field.On a track where 345 runs had been scored in the evening’s earlier game, Guyana poked and prodded their way to 103, a total Bangalore overhauled with the small matter of 46 deliveries remaining, giving the net run-rate an early boost. No statistic highlighted Guyana’s ineffectual batting as much as the solitary boundary in a ten-over spell after the Powerplays.None of their batsman, barring Christopher Barnwell to an extent, seemed at ease on a pitch which had some extra bounce to interest the South Africans in Bangalore’s attack, and some early movement for Praveen Kumar. Opener Travis Dowlin was perhaps the most unsettled: in a 17-ball stay he was beaten, struck on the pads, squared up while defending, got inside edges, and mishit a pull towards the bowler before finally gloving a short ball to short fine leg.That brought in Guyana’s captain and most experienced batsman, Ramnaresh Sarwan. He struck an imperious six off the back foot over long-off but Kallis knocked back his off stump the following ball.One of the concerns for Bangalore coming into the match was Rahul Dravid’s fitness, barely recovering from a stomach bug. He dropped Sewnarine Chattergoon in the fourth over, a simple skier at square leg, in what was perhaps the only blemish in Bangalore’s spotless performance. Chattergoon didn’t make use of that opportunity though, run-out two overs later after being called for a non-existent single, caught well short by a Cameron White direct-hit from cover.It was all too easy for Bangalore from then on. Even left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi and medium-pacer B Akhil, who together sent down the fifth bowler’s quota, weren’t attacked. At the end of the 12th over, with Guyana gasping at 60 for 4, the normally grim-faced Anil Kumble was relaxed enough to laugh and exchange a joke with the umpire.Even the much-awaited entrance of Jonathan Foo didn’t change Guyana’s fortunes. He could only take a single off five balls before edging a rising delivery from Kallis, who removed Derwin Christian two balls later to finish with career-best figures. Towards the end of the innings, the only interest was in whether Guyana could reach triple digits, which they did thanks to a Barnwell swipe in the final over.Guyana’s bowlers had little chance of reining in the heavy-hitters of Bangalore, their only sliver of hope of pulling off an upset lay in getting early breakthroughs. Kallis and Dravid made sure there were no nasty surprises for the Bangalore fans in Centurion, who sang local chants though the game. Kallis put away two short and wide gifts in the first over for fours and followed it up with a sweetly-timed flick for six in the second. When Dravid helped himself to a couple of eye-catching fours in the fourth over, Bangalore had galloped to 31 for 0 and Guyana’s day was turning into a total embarrassment.

With a couple of opinionated and charismatic cricketers on the commentary panel, and the biggest name in Bollywood as its brand ambassador, the Champions League Twenty20 is set for an aggressive campaign before and during next month’s tournament in South Africa to best showcase its breadth of global cricketing talent.The induction of Sourav Ganguly, Andrew Symonds and Amitabh Bachchan was based on the realisation that public perception of the tournament needed to change. Last year, the television ratings for the league suffered in comparison to that of the IPL, especially once the teams from India were eliminated.While Manu Sawhney, managing director of ESPN Star Sports (ESS), believed such a comparison is unfair – as the IPL is an “aberration” and most leagues take time to find their footing – he conceded changes needed to be made this time.”We went through a whole brand positioning research,” Sawhney said in Mumbai, following an ESS presentation of its newest stars. “We have an integrated campaign – across print, radio, TV, as well as the internet, to communicate the values and the essence of the tournament. The thinking is very focused and driven on the feedback.”The addition of Ganguly and Symonds is meant to add energy and freshness to the commentary team. “They add the dimension of great quality and incisiveness, and bring a current flavour to the tournament,” Sawhney, said.Bachchan is on board because he represents excellence and “is a source of inspiration.” He has already shot a number of promotional videos alongside Ganguly, Symonds and Herschelle Gibbs. The main thrust of the campaign is to get across the message that “this is something. This is the true competition. You just cannot afford to miss it.”Sawhney disagreed with the common perception that the Indian cricket fan only wanted to watch Indian cricket. According to him, the Indian fan is a “discerning” one who is prepared to watch a quality tournament. “It [the Champions League] doesn’t have all the Indian teams in it but they [the fans] do recognise there are many more talented teams here and the competition is the next level.”As a result of this focused marketing effort, Sawhney expected ratings to be significantly better than last year. The long term goal is for the the tournament to resemble the UEFA Champions League, which the best football clubs in Europe aspire to win.Ganguly said playing the tournament in South Africa would give some of the younger players in the teams from India an opportunity to to test themselves under difficult conditions against the best Twenty20 teams in the world.”Facing Shaun Tait would be a good experience,’ Ganguly said. “If someone like Shikhar Dhawan could get 50 or 60 against that sort of pace, it will make him a better player when he comes back.”Ganguly reckoned the bouncy pitches in South Africa will eliminate the 200-plus scores teams routinely put up in the IPL. “130 or 140 could be winning totals,” he said. He named Victoria and Royal Challengers Bangalore, with its coterie of South Africa players, as two of the stronger sides in the competition. He also thought Guyana could spring a surprise or two.”Guyana has nothing to prove and should go some distance in the tournament,” he said. “Teams won’t run through them.”

ScorecardJacques Rudolph prolific top-order form continued but Yorkshire were unable to complete victory against Essex•Getty Images

Despite a superb 106 from Jacques Rudolph, leaders Yorkshire could only managea draw with Essex at Chelmsford after they had been set 369 runs to win in 83overs.Whilst the South African was at the crease, the visitors looked to have everychance of reaching their target as he played with supreme confidence, coaxingthe ball around the field with classic timing.Adam Lyth and Rudolph had launched the run-chase with a useful 79-runpartnership before Lyth was stumped for 42, leaving Rudolph to orchestratematters.He reached his well-composed century from 144 deliveries that included tenboundaries and his third-wicket partnership with Andrew Gale put on a serenelyeffective 93 in 31 overs for the third wicket that gave their side theinitiative, although the pair did spend 20 overs without hitting a boundary.Gale was eventually bowled by spinner Tom Westley for 41 and, when Rudolph wasbowled by slow left-armer Tim Phillips for 106, the visitors were 218 for fourneeding a further 151 in 23 overs.Jonathan Bairstow and Gerard Brophy picked up the mantle, posting 92 in 15overs, but then three wickets fell in 16 deliveries as Essex fought back. Brophy(28) was the victim of a superb two-handed diving catch by Matt Walker at coveroff the bowling of Chris Wright and two balls later, the same bowler hadBairstow caught at wide long-on for a 66-ball 62 to leave the visitors 315 for6.Needing another 54 from six overs, they opted for survival as Essex now sensedthe chance of victory and snared Tim Bresnan, stumped off Grant Flower, to raisetheir hopes.However, Adil Rashid and Steven Patterson held out for the final five oversagainst a field gathered round the bat as Yorkshire finished on 333 for 7,36 runs short of victory.The home side had earlier added another 64 runs in 12 overs before declaring on293 for 6 to set up the run-chase. During that period, Alastair Cook completedhis century when he needed 16 balls to add the 10 runs to his overnight scorethat brought him to three figures, having faced 188 deliveries in total andstruck 13 boundaries.But he was out immediately afterwards with his score on 102 when pulling adelivery from Bresnan into the hands of Bairstow at deep square leg.Although it was the England left-hander’s 25th first-class century of hiscareer, of which 10 have been made for Essex, it was the 25-year-old’s first forhis county since May 2007 and spanning 36 first-class innings for them in thattime.Essex take 10 points and Yorkshire eight to maintain their lead of DivisionOne.

Australia’s bowlers have been rusty at the start of their tour and Owais Shah, who scored 92 for Middlesex at Lord’s in the last warm-up match before the one-day series against England, believes they don’t hold the ‘X-factor’ of previous attacks.The tourists are without Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Brett Lee due to various injuries and the current line-up is led by Doug Bollinger who was the pick of the bowlers against Middlesex with 3 for 24 despite having little action of late after being left out of the World Twenty20 squad. He was followed by Ryan Harris and Clint McKay with support from Shane Watson, Nathan Hauritz and Steven Smith but Shah’s innings enabled the hosts to post a respectable 273 for 5.”One thing I would say is that there wasn’t the firepower around, like with Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee last summer when England lost 6-1 to Australia. That could have been the difference,” said Shah. “It will be a toughly fought contest against England but they definitely don’t have the ‘X-factor’ they did when Johnson and Lee were playing.”They’ve still got a good, well-balanced attack with a couple of spinners and guys who bowl good slower balls. What you get with an Australian attack, they do the basics well. They hit the line and lengths really well and they are always attacking the stumps, the basics of one-day cricket.”However, Shah added he didn’t think it would matter who England came up against at the moment with the confidence they have gained from winning the World Twenty20 and turning their one-day fortunes around since the 6-1 mauling by Australia after last year’s Ashes series.”I don’t think the England team will fear anyone, especially coming off the back of winning the Twenty20 World Cup,” he said. “I know it is a different form of the game but predominately the middle order and top order are more or less the same apart from Strauss coming in.”But you’ve got Kieswetter, Morgan, Collingwood and Pietersen who were all in the Caribbean. They are on a high. I don’t think they will fear the Australian attack, they will keep play the way they’ve been playing.”Shah, though, did acknowledge Bollinger has developed into a very dangerous bowler after failing to impress when he played for Worcestershire in 2008. “He’s a class act and that’s why he plays for Australia and has been playing for a while now,” he said. “He’s a very good bowler, very impressive.”Shah was dropped from the England one-day squad following the Champions Trophy last September despite a thrilling 98 in the victory against South Africa which helped the team to the semi-finals where they ultimately lost by nine wickets to Australia. He made a slow start to this season after returning from the IPL, but despite an improvement in his form, he doesn’t expect a call from the selectors anytime soon.”I haven’t heard from the England squad,” he said. “The reason I got left out was I wasn’t consistent enough so I will just try to be consistent I guess. I feel really good in my game, striking it reasonably well and this innings was a continuation of that. I’ve got some runs to show for it.”

Scorecard
Mark Ramprakash was the mainstay of Surrey’s first innings with a superb 223•Getty Images

Andrew Strauss used his return to the scene of his Ashes-winning triumph last summer to rediscover his batting form for Middlesex in their London derby against Surrey.Strauss finished the second day of the County Championship Division Twoclash on 54 not out after earlier watching former England batsman MarkRamprakash turn an overnight century into a superb 223 as Surrey totalled 490. With Scott Newman also hitting an unbeaten 79 in his first match against hisformer county, Middlesex reached 148 for 0 in reply by the close.England captain Strauss certainly needed some runs in his last countyappearance before the start next week of the two-Test series againstBangladesh.In 11 previous Championship innings for Middlesex this season, Strauss had madeonly 262 runs at an average of 23.81, with just one half-century. In threefurther Clydesdale Bank 40 one-day innings, he had managed only another 60 runswith a top score of 26.Strauss, who missed the short winter tour to Bangladesh in order to rest, alsohad to watch from afar as Paul Collingwood and the England Twenty20 team becameworld champions with their magnificent victory against Australia in theCaribbean on Sunday.He would not have wanted to link up again with England without some significantruns behind him and it was his good fortune to find himself batting on a trueOval surface.Ramprakash’s innings, too, showed Strauss just what was possible as the 40-yearold moved on majestically from his overnight 125. It was Ramprakash’s 11th double-ton for Surrey, putting him just one behind SirJack Hobbs’ county record of 12. Hobbs, though, made 144 centuries for Surrey;this was Ramprakash’s 57th three-figure score for the county.In addition, Ramprakash moved into joint fifth position in the all-time list offirst-class double-century makers when he thrashed a short ball from Dawid Malanthrough the covers for four. He now has sixteen in his career, putting him levelwith Hobbs, CB Fry and Graeme Hick.Gary Wilson hit 10 fours in an excellent 62, dominating the strike and thescoring in an 88-run stand with Ramprakash for Surrey’s seventh wicket, beforehe was stumped giving Malan the charge.Ramprakash was eventually ninth out, hitting high to long on, after facing 395balls and striking a six and 26 fours in a 564-minute stay at the crease.Surrey also announced during the day that Younis Khan, the former Pakistanbatsman, will be joining the club until mid-July and could be in the country intime to play in Friday’s Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture against Glamorgan inCardiff.Surrey professional cricket manager Chris Adams said: “I am confident thatbringing a world class player such as Younus Khan to Surrey will have a verypositive effect on the side.”As well as benefiting from the weight of runs we hope he will bring, we havea number of young batsman who will doubtless benefit greatly from being able totrain and play alongside him.”Brian Lara, however, will not be joining Surrey for the Friends Provident T20following talks between the club and the great West Indian, and Indianleg-spinner Piyush Chawla – Surrey’s original overseas signing for this season -has been refused permission to play county cricket by the BCCI.

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan captain, has asked for teams to be given equal opportunity in Test cricket, saying the dwindling number of five-day matches Sri Lanka were playing was limiting their ambitions. Sangakkara welcomed the idea of a world Test championship and said teams should be given the chance of playing a minimum number of Tests in a year.”It’s great to have a Test championship but I believe that all sides should have an equal opportunity to play Test matches,” Sangakkara told in Florida, where Sri Lanka are playing two Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand. “This year we are lucky that India wants to come and play Test matches but the opportunity for Sri Lankan players to fulfil their Test ambitions are getting more and more limited.”Since their tour of Australia in 2007, Sri Lanka have not played a Test series outside the subcontinent. They haven’t been to South Africa for a Test tour since 2002 and the Tests in 2011 will be their first in England in five years.”Sides must be given the opportunity to play a minimum number of Test matches and the Future Tours Programme must be reorganised so some of the best sides tour more than just once in five years,” Sangakkara said. “There was once talk of playing a Test championship without Sri Lanka in the first year at a time when we were number two in the Test rankings. These are the inconsistencies they must address.”Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka batsman, echoed his captain’s views. “I think we need to think a bit more about Test cricket, you need to make sure all the teams are going to play eight to ten matches a year minimum, and then you can strike that balance,” he said. “I have only played four Test matches in my entire career in Australia; that’s in 12 years of playing.”

Scorecard
Derbyshire’s return to Leek after a gap of 18 years ended in defeat when the fastest century of the season from Ryan ten Doeschate carried Essex to a five-wicket victory. Although the Falcons rattled up 299 for seven – their highest total in a 40 over match – ten Doeschate tore the game from their grasp after the Eagles had slipped to 64 for 4, chasing a revised target of 247 from 30 overs.The Netherlands allrounder blasted seven sixes and five fours in a 59-ballhundred as Essex swept home with 16 balls to spare. Chesney Hughes had scored his first half century for Derbyshire and Wayne Madsen top scored with 66 in the county’s best 40 overs score for 25 years, but ten Doeschate turned a daunting chase into a stroll. He shared stands of 97 in 11 overs with Jaik Mickleburgh and 87 in just six overs with James Foster to end with an unbeaten 109 from 62 balls.Derbyshire had won their last game at the Staffordshire Moorlands ground in1992 and they made an impressive start after the Eagles had put them in. Hughes launched the innings with some muscular blows, pulling Chris Martin for six on his way to a 34-ball fifty that also included eight fours.It took a direct hit from Tim Phillips at mid on to run out the 19 year old for 55 but Chris Rogers and Madsen maintained the momentum by adding 59 in eight overs. A diving catch by Mickleburgh at deep square leg removed Rogers for 41 but Madsen dominated the bowling as the Falcons passed 200 in the 28th over.Madsen struck two sixes and five fours in his 66 which came off 54 balls before he reverse swept Grant Flower and Graham Napier took a leaping catch at short third man. But the Falcons middle-order all made useful contributions led by 43 from Garry Park as 88 came from the last 10 overs.Robin Peterson and Lee Goddard added 37 in three overs to set the Eagles ademanding target which was revised after rain in the tea interval.Essex started badly, losing Alastair Cook in the second over when he edged a drive at Tim Groenewald and Billy Godleman also went for four in the fifth over when he miscued a drive to mid off.When Mark Pettini skied Tom Lungley to mid on four balls later, Essex were 27 for 3 but ten Doeschate turned the game on its head with a repeat of hishundred at Derby in the final County Championship game of last season when Essex clinched promotion.He peppered the small boundaries and the umpires had to call for a new ballafter one of his sixes sailed out of the ground. The only chance he gave was a fierce return catch to Steffan Jones on 87 and he reached his hundred by lifting the Welsh paceman onto the pavilion roof, his eighth six sealing an impressive win with 16 balls remaining.

Shaun Tait had an utterly forgettable day•Kanishkaa Balachandran/ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Nervy start
Early signs were that Rajasthan Royals were on going to have their task cut out. Shane Warne again opted to start the innings with Yusuf Pathan’s offspin, and Virender Sehwag thumped a six and four to get the crowd going. In the second over, bowled by Sumit Narwal, the previous game’s centurion David Warner was dropped on 1 by Siddharth Trivedi at mid-on. Warne then gave the ball to Adam Voges for some left-arm spin and Sehwag smacked two boundaries.How quickly the tables turn
A high-octane fourth over snapped Delhi’s momentum. Narwal had his revenge first ball of the next over when beat Warner’s bat with a lovely yorker. Immediately, he set off in wild and understandably animated celebrations, sort of like what Monty Panesar used to do in his days playing for England, only minus the goofy leap and inability to connect palms with the nearest fielder. Two balls later the bowler was again buzzing all over the place after Sehwag top-edged a skier to deep square leg.Ojha to the rescue
During the aforementioned double-wicket over, the Rajasthan wicketkeeper Naman Ojha’s alertness saved his side five runs. Gautam Gambhir charged Narwal and got an inside edge. The ball beat Ojha and was headed at the helmet placed a few yards behind him, but he turned and sprinted after it, then dived forward to stop it hitting the helmet. Talk about a speedy recovery.Colly’s gotta go
Start as you mean to go on, goes the old adage. That’s just what Paul Collingwood tried to do after Delhi were jolted by the loss of their dynamic openers. He made excellent contact to the first ball faced, pulling Shaun Tait for six, and followed up with two boundaries. With a strike-rate of 200, Collingwood was run out by some excellent fielding. Gambhir struck the ball to Voges’ right at point, but Collingwood was hesitant initially and a late reaction sent him packing. After a blazing start, Collingwood had problems switching gears and was out for 16 from eight balls.A much-needed over
Delhi’s innings had been deprived of momentum from the start, and just when an excellent stand was shaping to explode, Gambhir was dismissed to leave the hosts at 148 for 6 after 17 overs. Enter Shaun Tait, who Warne said at the toss had been eager to really flatten Delhi with his pace. Who was left deflated was evident after the over, which cost 20. Tait began with a beamer that flew away for five runs, and a well-set Dinesh Karthik carted the last three deliveries for boundaries.All hot air
Tait’s evening finished with him becoming the proud owner of the most expensive spell in this IPL. Andrew McDonald hit the first ball for four, and Karthik dumped the fifth for six. But off the ball before, Karthik had refused a single to cover. It transpired that Tait had said something to Karthik, and clearly the batsman had something to respond with. Tait did pick up a wicket with the final ball of the innings, but with figures of 1 for 53, out of which Karthik scored 27, it was evident who had bragging rights.Good arm
Delhi’s assistant coach Eric Simons rates Sarabjit Ladda, the legspinner drafted into the squad this season, as a real talent. Ladda hasn’t returned that praise with a bag of wickets so far, but he used his right arm to good affect. Voges clipped a slower ball past midwicket but some hesitancy saw him shoo back Abhishek Jhunjhunwala after he was a ways down for the second. Ladda, having sprinted across in the deep, returned a sharp and flat throw to Karthik who broke the sticks with Jhunjhunwala well short of his crease.Time-out or time waste?
Just what was the point in taking the two-and-a-half-minute strategic break after 16 overs of Rajasthan’s woeful chase? At the juncture the game was done and dusted with the visitors on 111 for 8 and needing 78 runs from 24 balls. There was nothing strategic happening in the middle during the time-out, apart from a few swigs of coolant, a dab of the towel here and there, and a punch of the gloves.What possibly could Tait have been told – to try and make up some of the 53 runs he’d bled with the ball? Two balls after the interval and Ladda had Paras Dogra stumped. Chalk that down to a good ole’-fashioned swing-and-miss rather than the result of any strategy. The IPL needs to reconsider this policy in one-sided matches such as this.