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ScorecardNed Eckersley made his first Championship century of the season•Getty Images

Ned Eckersley again made New Road a stage for his batting talent as Leicestershire blunted Worcestershire’s hopes of pressing for a win with their spinners in their rain-hit clash.The home side set out their stall by declaring at 320 for 7 after a maiden Championship century for Thilan Samaraweera, but Eckersley’s undefeated 108 took Leicestershire to 229 for 2. They were still 91 behind when the third day closed because of bad light.The 23-year-old’s third first-class century, a well crafted innings with 14 fours from 186 balls balls, was completely different from an explosive performance when he last appeared on this ground in August last year. Hitting seven sixes in an unbeaten 72 from 44 balls he turned impending defeat into a memorable 40-over victory.A return visit offered a new challenge in facing Shaaiq Choudhry and Moeen Ali in helpful conditions for the spin pair. Slow left-armer Choudhry, appearing in a home Championship match for the first time, made a breakthrough by bowling Michael Thornely after an opening partnership of 51 with Niall O’Brien.In general, however, Leicestershire played the slow bowlers well and O’Brien, although restricted to a couple of fours, featured in a stand of 55 with Eckersley before he was bowled for 46. That was Moeen’s 100th first-class wicket and soon afterwards he might have had another when Ramnaresh Sarwan was dropped at short midwicket.That proved to be costly for Worcestershire as the West Indies batsman – he will be playing in the Champions Trophy next month – reached 46 not out and helped Eckersley through to his hundred. Their stand was worth 123 at the close but the overall tempo for the match has been stuck at a fraction under three runs an over.Samaraweera’s first innings for Worcestershire at New Road was technically proficient but rarely eye-catching. After passing 50 he went through more than 30 overs without scoring a boundary and the clip off his legs that brought up the hundred was only his ninth four in over five hours.Worcestershire resumed on 294 for 7 and claimed a third batting bonus point with Choudhry making 32 not out in an unbroken stand of 63 with Samaraweera.

The plan Sunrisers Hyderabad team-mates Hanuma Vihari and Ashish Reddy discussed before Vinay Kumar started the final over of their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore was to play every ball and not panic. Sunrisers needed seven to register their second win in as many matches. “If we did not waste a single ball then seven runs were possible in the final over. But Ashish got out on the first ball,” Vihari said a day after Sunrisers won a thriller in the Super Over.When Dale Steyn walked in, the message was clear. “We discussed hitting bat on ball and running hard between the wickets and looking to take the match to the last ball,” Vihari said. He watched Steyn take two runs from the second delivery of the over and then play and miss the third. “I decided I’d finish the match if and when I get the strike,” Vihari said. He finally took strike with the Sunrisers needing four runs off the final two balls, which was reduced to two off the final delivery after he dug out a “good yorker” to get a double.For the final ball, Vihari stood deep in the crease. As soon as Vinay delivered the ball, Steyn charged blindly forward. But Vinay second-guessed his opponent with a smart slower delivery. “I expected a yorker, but he bowled a slower ball. I tried to hit it hard for two runs but could not connect.” Vihari ran a bye and could not believe it was a tie.It was a bittersweet moment for Vihari and Sunrisers. Having restricted Royal Challengers to a modest 130, the hosts faltered frequently in the chase. And when the Lankan pair of Kumar Sangakkara and Thisara Perera departed in quick succession, the onus was on Vihari. Despite his age – 19 – Vihari decided to play the guiding hand to his partner Reddy, an aggressive player. Their 23-run partnership for the seventh wicket snatched the momentum in Sunrisers’ favour. “A player like Ashish can strike at any given point. So I was telling him to pick the right ball and if it was not in his range to focus on taking singles and keep the dot balls count low,” Vihari says.It’s this sensible streak that prompted the team management to promote Vihari to No. 3. Sangakkara, Sunrisers’ captain, had decided to drop himself to No. 5 to counter the middle overs from the Muralis – Muttiah Muralitharan and Murali Kartik. “When early wickets fell, Tom [Moody] told me I would bat at No. 4. My plan was to take it as close as possible to the target,” Vihari said.Despite his batting prowess, Vihari’s most telling impact had come with the ball – in fact his very first ball of the match. Sangakkara had already told him that he would be bowling with the new ball against Chris Gayle since the Jamaican had got out a few times in the past to off spinners. Being the only off-break bowler in the team on Sunday, Vihari executed the plan nicely: pitching on the off he got a little bounce that surprised Gayle, who went for the cut and was caught behind.  “I have kept the picture of the Gayle wicket,” Vihari says of his best souvenir.A wristy player, Vihari is a good striker of the ball and plays shots on both sides of the wicket. His best innings to date has been against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy this season when he scored a career-best 191 runs in a drawn match.John Manoj, Vihari’s coach at St. John’s Cricket Academy in Hyderabad, noticed that the youngster could hit the ball “very hard” when he picked him as a nine-year-old. Manoj’s best student has been VVS Laxman, who is the mentor at Sunrisers now. Manoj had helped Vihari join the St. Andrew School in Bowenpally in Secunderabad and observed a keen student in Vihari. “I observed him playing confidently against the ball on the rise against fast bowlers from a tender age,” Manoj said. Last year Laxman was impressed by Vihari’s strokeplay on wet practice pitches and enquired more about the youngster.At the beginning of the IPL, Laxman told Vihari to “express himself and play his natural game” without getting distracted at all about playing such a big tournament. The significance of those words has not been lost on Vihari.Vihari dedicated his Man-of-the-Match award to his mother, who was at the ground with his sister, and his late father, who’d died in 2005. At the time, the 11-year-old Vihari was playing in a school tournament. His mother asked him to play cricket since his father always wanted him to play cricket. “It was two days after his death but my mother asked me to go ahead and I decided to respect her word,” Vihari says.

Ricky Ponting likes the tough school. Whether it be his Mowbray upbringing, his teenaged elevation to the cricket academy and then first-class ranks, a Test debut at 20 or his return this season to a Sheffield Shield competition now dominated by pace bowlers, Ponting’s appetite for challenges is undimmed.Though he admits the circumstances of his increased availability were less than ideal – a retirement from internationals pressed by a poor series against South Africa – Ponting has delighted in playing near enough to a full season for Tasmania. It has resulted in his most prolific at Shield level in 20 years, the competition’s player of the year award, and the Australian Cricketers Association garland as player of the month for February.The last summer in which Ponting did not have his state appearances curtailed by the national selectors was 1993-94. Back then, Australian batting was blooming into the sort of period oft-described as a “golden age”. No fewer than six players – Michael Bevan, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Darren Lehmann, Dene Hills and Greg Blewett – topped 1000 first-class runs for the summer. Another five, Ponting included, reached 900.Hayden’s effort was most astounding, tallying 1136 runs in six matches for Queensland, and coshing seven hundreds. All this by a batsman still seven years away from becoming a regular at Test level. Ponting’s 896 Shield runs that summer helped his state into their first final, and impressed all observers with their poise and power. Two decades on, and Ponting may yet surpass that tally in this year’s decider, but in a competition now far more difficult for batting.There has been debate over the past several years about whether or not surfaces more conducive to seam and swing have detracted from the development of Australian batting. Arguments have been raised about how representative such pitches are when mos Test strips are considerably flatter and drier – none more so than those currently undoing Michael Clarke’s team in India. However Ponting is adamant that the redressed balance between bat and ball will be beneficial.”There’s no doubt that pitches these days are more bowler friendly and that trend has been building over the last four or five seasons,” Ponting told ESPNcricnfo. “I think the overall standard is still particularly strong and as you can see from this year, the competition is very competitive.”I don’t think it’s hindering development at all. In fact, it’s a positive thing for batters who have to work harder in tougher conditions to consistently score runs. The only thing is that the selectors have to appreciate that there is a trend for lower scores because of these conditions.”These lower scores are reflected in the recent records of younger batsmen coming through in each state. Where once an average of at least 50 was required to push a case, now 40 seems closer to the norm. Ponting, though, has shown that it is possible to score heavily in this climate. For that he offered generous praise to the coaching and culture of the Tigers.”There’s such a great culture here and so much of the credit for that has to go to Tim Coyle and his staff,” Ponting said. “They have always been able to blend experience with talented younger players coming through the ranks. If you look at this season, that’s exactly what we have.”Senior players like George Bailey, Ben Hilfenhaus, Tim Paine, Xavier Doherty, Alex Doolan and Luke Butterworth have been working so well with the next generation of young players like James Faulkner, Jonathan Wells and Jordan Silk.”Doing the whole pre-season with the boys was just fantastic and so was playing the games at the start of the season. But then to come back at the pointy end of the season and make the Shield final like we did has just about capped off a wonderful year for Tasmanian cricket. Hopefully we can finish it off with a trophy next week.”Personal possession of the Shield trophy is the one thing that has eluded Ponting over his career. Tasmania’s two wins took place in his absence, and last year’s final was narrowly lost. Given how strongly he has performed this summer, it would be bold to doubt that the time has come.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKumar Sangakkara showed no signs of discomfort after returning from injury•AFP

It was all one-way traffic on the opening day in Galle as Sri Lanka’s batsmen, with varying levels of experience, set the platform for a massive score and never allowed the initiative to slip. Kumar Sangakkara had been out of action since injuring his finger in the Melbourne Test in December. The lack of match practice over the last three months – he was forced to pull out of the tour game in Matara due to the contracts crisis – didn’t matter as he eased back into Test match action with a positive century, getting to the landmark inside two sessions.Tillakaratne Dilshan’s attacking fifty had eased the pressure not just on Sangakkara but also the inexperienced middle order, which was missing two stalwarts ahead of this series. One of the newer players to benefit from the pressure-free scenario was Lahiru Thirimanne, who remained unbeaten on a steady 74.It was a deflating day for the Bangladesh bowlers, with the exception of the offspinner Sohag Gazi, who took all three wickets. He didn’t have adequate support from the other end and from day one, Bangladesh were left to regret the absence of Shakib Al Hasan, missing the series due to injury. Aside from the lack of wickets, what hurt the visitors more was the inability to check the scoring. An innings run-rate of close to four and a half after two sessions was intimidating enough for the bowlers.At the toss, neither captain fancied bowling first. Mathews wanted his new-look batting order to make first use of the pitch before it started to get slower and lower. Dilshan maintained a healthy strike-rate of close to run-a-ball, scoring 36 runs off boundaries alone, but not all came off the middle of the bat. In between a few edgy boundaries were crisply driven fours through cover, a sweep and an effortless drive past mid-on that brought up his fifty.

Smart stats

• Kumar Sangakkara’s century is his 31st in Tests taking him level with Mahela Jayawardene among Sri Lankan batsmen with the most centuries. Sangakkara is joint-eighth on the list of batsmen with the most centuries.

• Sangakkara also became the first batsman to pass the 1000-run mark in Tests against Bangladesh. He has now scored 1018 runs at an average of 78.30 with three centuries and five fifties.

• For only the second time, Sri Lanka had four fifty-plus stands for the first four wickets in an innings against Bangladesh. The previous such occasion was at the SSC in 2001. Overall, they have done so nine times.

• Sri Lanka’s run-rate (4.22) is the second-highest in the first innings of a match in Sri Lanka since 2000 (min 80 overs bowled). The highest is 4.94 for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh at the P Sara Oval in 2005.

• This is the 11th time (since 2005) that three or more of the top four Sri Lankan batsmen have passed fifty in an innings. Overall, it is the second such occurrence for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh since the SSC Test in 2001.

• The 124-run stand between Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne is the fifth-highest third-wicket stand for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh and their fourth-highest third-wicket stand in Galle.

Bangladesh turned to spin from both ends from the 13th over, but there wasn’t much purchase for them straightaway. Dilshan was intent on using his feet to disturb their rhythm and Bangladesh to their credit took the first real opportunity that came their way. Gazi tossed it up wider, Dilshan came down the pitch and spooned it to mid-off off the toe of the bat.Sangakkara walked in when Karunaratne was forced to retire after hurting his arm when trying to pull a short ball. It took Sangakkara just one ball to find his rhythm as he slashed a wide delivery past point for four. He was strong against the spinners, rocking back and cutting when they dropped it short and wide, and it was a pattern through his innings. He survived a stumping chance when he was beaten in flight and bounce off Gazi, managing to drag his back foot back just in time. He was luckier to survive a close shout for lbw off Gazi on 38 and replays showed the ball striking him in front of middle stump. In the absence of DRS, Bangladesh had to accept the umpire’s call and move on.Shahadat Hossain attempted the bouncer, but the lack of pace on the pitch enabled Sangakkara and the returning Karunaratne to stay back and pull. Gazi’s drift into the left-handers from round the wicket kept the batsmen in check, but when he dropped short or too wide, he was punished through the off side. Two such cuts past point brought up two milestones for Sangakkara – his fifty and took him past Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of 10,122 runs.There was temporary relief for Bangladesh when Karunaratne was trapped lbw on the back foot to Gazi, who was rewarded for his drift. Sangakkara’s was the wicket they needed, though. Thirimanne had the benefit of a set batsman at the other end, and after a watchful start – he scored only 4 from his first 25 balls – took on the spinners. Sangakkara smacked a six and a four off the part-timer Mohammad Ashraful, and then reached his 31st Test century with a clip wide of midwicket.There was no letting up after tea. If it was tossed up, Sangakkara was down the pitch to loft; if it was banged in short – not recommended on this surface – it was clubbed over midwicket. A sloppy effort by Ashraful at mid-on – he mistimed his jump – gave Sangakkara another life, on 111. Ironically, it was a sound reflex catch at cover that ended his innings. Gazi bowled it wide and Sangakkara tried clearing the off side but Jahurul Islam jumped, fumbled and managed to turn around and take it on the second attempt. The drop cost Bangladesh 31 runs, but the damage had already been done.Thirimanne matched Sangakkara shot for shot particularly through the off side against the spinners. The cover drive in particular stood out for its poise and follow-through. Mathews found his timing against the seamers when the second new ball was taken. None of the seamers managed any movement, despite the persistent cloud cover. The heavens opened with less than five overs left, but Bangladesh, after a draining day in the field, would have been relieved to pack it in early.

Virat Kohli has replaced Daniel Vettori as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for this year’s IPL. Vettori was the captain of the team in 2011 and 2012.Kohli has previously led the side on a number of occasions on an ad hoc basis, specially in 2012, in matches where Vettori was replaced by Muttiah Muralitharan as the overseas spinner. He has led the RCB on ten occasions so far, during which the team won six games and lost three.Kohli has scored 1,639 runs in 77 matches for RCB in the IPL at an average of 28.25. He was pleased at being handed the captaincy. “Being drafted as an under-19 in 2008 and now to be considered to lead the side of great Players, is a big honour,” he said.Vettori had a good season at the helm in 2011, after RCB finished second, losing to Chennai Super Kings in the final. In 2012, however, RCB finished fifth, winning eight of their 16 games.

Kings XI sign Aniket Choudhary

Kings XI Punjab have signed on Rajasthan’s left-arm medium pacer Aniket Choudhary. Choudhary, who made his first-class debut in 2011, has played 12 first-class matches and taken 30 wickets. Choudhary was Rajasthan’s third most successful bowler, picking up 24 wickets in eight matches. This will be his first IPL season.

By no means have Mumbai had a smooth Ranji campaign. Qualification was a struggle, and even in the weather-disrupted semi-final against Services the lower order needed to score plenty to make Mumbai feel safe.Still, they have shown flashes of what makes them such a dangerous opposition. Against Punjab, what seemed a pointless final day after the first-innings lead had been conceded, suddenly turned into a nail-biter after a tumultuous session with left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan routing one of the strongest batting line-ups in the country. Against Bengal, Abhishek Nayar produced a magic spell that almost conjured a victory when Bengal’s openers seemed to have done enough to secure a draw. And they were at their dangerous best against Madhya Pradesh, when Zaheer Khan and Nayar pulled off a tense seven-run win.That combination of a never-say-die spirit and a big-game temperament make Mumbai favourites for another Ranji title, but their captain Ajit Agarkar remained cautious. “Any opposition in the final is dangerous because it is a one-off thing,” Agarkar said. “It is not like the league where there is a chance to come back, that’s why you have to be at your best on all five days.”And he said there was plenty of room for improvement. “We’ve still not had a perfect game [this season], hopefully we can. Baroda was the closest that we got to having an easy game really after scoring 600, apart from that we’ve had to scrap a little bit in most games, we hope we don’t have to do too much of that.”Agarkar underlined the familiarity with crunch situations as one of the reasons his team was confident. “You learn from experience, we have a few guys who have been in more than one final, that generally helps going into big games, plus we have the great man.”While Agarkar talked about not underestimating the opposition, Saurashtra captain Jaydev Shah repeatedly talked about the need to not get carried away by the pressure of a title clash. “Play the normal cricket that you have been playing all season,” he said, when asked what he had told the side ahead of the game. “I look at it as a very big opportunity for us, it is a big game for us, Mumbai is a very experienced side.”He spoke about what his team needed to do to compete against Mumbai. “Against Bombay you always need to score big runs,” he said. “When you make the big runs and then you put them in to bat … you put a little pressure at the start, if they don’t get a good start sometimes they collapse.”He also took heart from Saurashtra’s performance against Mumbai the last time the sides met at the Wankhede Stadium, when Shitanshu Kotak batted more than 13 hours to set up a first-innings lead. “If we would have got a home match … you always want a home advantage a little bit, but it is fine. You have to take the challenge up. Last time we played here we beat them on first-innings lead, let’s hope we take that thing with us.”The biggest drawback for Saurashtra is the absence of their two star players, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja. “Today is Pujara’s birthday, he gave us his best wishes for the game, wish he’d have been here, would have been much better for the whole team [to] fight against a good side. [But it is] good, youngsters are coming up and they will understand the pressure of a final.”

Cricket South Africa has placed two 19-year-old bowlers – Prenelan Subrayen and Solo Nqweni – under rehabilitation after independent tests carried out by the Australian Institute of Sport and the Sports Science Institute of South Africa deemed their actions illegal. The two bowlers will not be permitted to take part in first-class cricket till the rehabilitation is complete.”There is a standard protocol we have for dealing with matters of this nature,” Corrie van Zyl, CSA general manager cricket, said. “In the case of Prenelan the situation has been complicated by the fact that he suffered a bad dislocation of his bowling shoulder several years ago and this has contributed to the current problem. He thus needs to undergo both shoulder rehabilitation as well as rehabilitation of his bowling action.Van Zyl said the two players will be under the charge of their respective provincial teams – KwaZulu-Natal for Subrayen and Eastern Province for Nqweni – with assistance from the CSA who will make the facilties and the personnel at the High Performance centre available.”We have every confidence that the rehab process will be successful and that these two talented young cricketers will be able to continue their promising careers in the near future,” he said.Subrayen, a right-arm offspinner, has taken six wickets in three first-class matches this season while right-arm seamer Nqweni has 33 wickets from eight matches.

India seamer L Balaji has been ruled out of the Twenty20 squad against England due to a stress injury to his right big toe, the BCCI has said. Vinay Kumar, the Karnataka seamer, will replace him.Vinay has played eight Twenty20s internationals, and made his last international appearance against South Africa in Johannesburg in March this year. In the ongoing Ranji Trophy, he has taken 17 wickets in four matches at an average of 20.58.India play England in two Twenty20s later this month before a five-match ODI series.

England’s Holly Colvin has said that women’s cricket in Kenya will only improve if their cricketers are allowed to play alongside men in club cricket.Speaking on a visit to Kenya with the Cricket Without Boundaries (CWB) charity, Colvin told the Nairobi-based Star there were not enough female cricketers in the country to enable them to play enough and at a sufficient standard to build their game.”It’s very difficult to improve if you not playing someone stronger than you,” she said. “The players will have to play alongside men either in the same team or against them. If this happens, then Kenya should expect to do well in their matches.”Colvin helped hone her game by playing alongside men in Sussex. “The boys don’t treat me any different,” she said. “I know how it feels to play against men but when you work hard and take it as a challenge, then things become easier for you and improvement is almost automatic.”Kenya’s women have struggled on the international stage and they face another tough challenge in December when they take part in the 2014 T20 World Cup Qualifiers. “It’s always a dream of any cricketer to play at a World Cup and I am sure this is what every member of the Kenyan team is looking forward to,” Colvin said. “But they will have to realise that this can only come through hard work.”

The PCB has decided to not send its senior board officials to the ICC awards ceremony in Colombo on Saturday, as a protest over the exclusion of offspinner Saeed Ajmal from shortlists for two of the top awards. The Pakistan board, though, said it has, “decided not to [fully] boycott the awards ceremony and as a token send some squad members to the event”.Ajmal is the No. 1 ranked bowler in both one-dayers and T20Is, and the top-ranked spinner in Tests, but has been overlooked for the Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year nominations.A meeting of senior officials was held at the PCB headquarters, headed by PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, to decide whether to go for further ‘robust protest’. The board said it will take up the issue at the upcoming ICC chief executives committee meeting. “The ICC’s process of the short-listing needs to be reviewed and there should be a mechanism to correct errors,” the PCB said in a press release.The PCB earlier had lodged a written protest with the ICC after Ajmal was left off the awards shortlist last week and ICC refused to reconsider Ajmal’s case, saying that the voting results are final and binding on everyone.Ajmal was in the longlist this year but missed out when an independent 32-member jury that included former Pakistan captain Aamer Sohail and Pakistan journalist Majid Bhatti nominated Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara, South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander, Australia captain Michael Clarke and South Africa opener Hashim Amla for Test Cricketer of the Year.The 34-year-old Ajmal, took 72 Test wickets between August 4, 2011 and August 6, 2012 – the qualifying period for the award. That haul included 24 at 14.70 against England, the then No. 1 side in the world, helping Pakistan sweep them 3-0 in January.The omission, according to the PCB “is an injustice to the talent and achievements” of Ajmal. “The PCB has strongly registered its protest with the ICC already and has conveyed them the sentiments of the people of Pakistan and fans and legends of cricket on this issue,” the release said.The Pakistan board also said it wanted changes to the process. “The matter will be raised in the upcoming CEC meeting of the ICC and a review of the process would be sought to avoid any such incidents in future. Corrective measures would be suggested.”The PCB will impress upon this issue at other forums of cricketing community and all necessary input will be sought to devise a mechanism which is performance based and is acceptable to a wider segment of cricket fans.”