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ScorecardS Badrinath and Tanmay Agarwal frustred Mumbai in the middle session•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Tanmay Agarwal and S Badrinath, the captain, struck half-centuries as Hyderabad were 128 adrift of Mumbai’s 290 with seven wickets in hand at stumps on day two in Raipur. Agarwal and Badrinath added 105 for the third wicket to steady the innings after Mumbai, who lost five wickets for 40 this morning, reduced Hyderabad to 30 for 2 courtesy Abhishek Nayar’s twin strikes.B Sandeep then blunted the bowling for 64 deliveries to remain unbeaten on 10, along with Agarwal, as Hyderabad ended an attritional day on 166 for 3. Mumbai’s Siddesh Lad, unbeaten on 101 overnight, added nine, while Nayar added 13 before being dismissed for 59. CV Milind, the left-arm pacer, finished with 5 for 80, his second successive five-wicket haul, while Mohammad Siraj took four wickets.
ScorecardIshank Jaggi’s rich vein of form continued•K Sivaraman

Jharkhand were in sight of the first-innings lead against Haryana courtesy half-centuries from Virat Singh and Ishank Jaggi at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. Haryana, resuming on 251 for 7, lasted just 33 deliveries in which they added seven runs. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem added two wickets to his overnight tally to finish with 7 for 79. Jharkhand responded with 228 for 3 in 82 overs, with Virat and Jaggi having added 146 for the fourth wicket.
ScorecardBumrah’s four-wickets came as Odisha lost six batsmen in the space of 16 overs•Getty Images

Odisha went from 83 for 1 to 101 for 7, courtesy Jasprit Bumrah’s four wickets for Gujarat, before Deepak Behera and Suryakant Pradhan added 72 runs for the eighth wicket to finish the day on 184 for 8 at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Stadium.Basant Mohanty started the day off by completing his 16th five-wicket haul in first-class matches as Gujarat were all out before lunch. Rush Kalaria fell for 73, thereby bringing an end to his 154-run partnership with Chirag Gandhi, who fell soon after with the team’s score at 238 for 8 before a late knock of 28 by Mehul Patel ensured Gujarat’s 263.After opener Ranjit Singh’s early exit, his partner Sandeep Pattnaik scored 43 runs in an 82-run partnership for the second wicket with Subhranshu Senapati, who scored 30. After Pattnaik fell with the score at 83 for 2, Odisha languished their advantage as they lost another five wickets for only 18 runs, with Bumrah triggering a slide. His scalps included those of captain Govinda Poddar and Odisha’s top-performer Biplab Samantray, whom he removed for ducks. Behera and Pradhan then hit 72 runs before the latter’s 27-ball knock ended. Mohanty (4) joined Behera (30) to see off play till stumps, trailing by 79 with two wickets in hand.

Joe Root, who was incorrectly adjudged lbw in the last over of a nerve-wracking chase in Nagpur, has said that the introduction of DRS in Twenty20 cricket could help prevent such umpiring errors. Root echoed his captain Eoin Morgan’s frustration with the umpiring decisions that went against England in their five-run loss, which left the scoreline at 1-1.England needed eight runs off six balls when Root inside-edged an attempted pull onto his back thigh. Umpire C Shamshuddin did not spot the nick and ruled him out. Root walked off fuming and after his dismissal England managed only one run and a bye and also lost Jos Buttler off the last over, bowled by Jasprit Bumrah.Shamshuddin’s other error of the day – he handed India’s captain Virat Kohli a reprieve on 7 when he was pinned in front by Chris Jordan in the third over of the match – cost England 14 runs.”It was frustrating and there were obviously decisions throughout the game that went against us, which could be crucial,” Root said on the eve of the series-deciding T20I in Bangalore. “It’s time now for some sort of DRS in Twenty20 cricket.”The flip-side is that DRS would slow down the tempo of T20 cricket, but Root proposed a review for each team, in line with the regulations for one-day internationals.”I know you want to keep the speed of the game, but with such small margins it is important to get things right with bat and ball,” Root said. “If you miss a yorker, you disappear out of the park and that can change a game because of how quick and short the format is. It is just as important to get the right decisions from the umpires as well. It will be quite nice to see maybe just one review for each side in my opinion but we are where we are at the moment.”Root hopes the suggestion will be considered at the ICC’s four-day quarterly meeting in Dubai, which begins this Thursday.”I’d like to think it will be raised by a few different members at the ICC meeting. If it isn’t, then I am not an official of the game. I don’t know what is best for the sport. I am only offering my opinion. I can’t speak on the behalf of rest of world cricket and even for the rest of my team, but you know that’s something I believe in. I am sure there are others who can agree with me.”Umpire Shamshuddin, seen here during the Women’s World Cup, is now sheltering from criticism, not rain•ICC

Much like Morgan, Root did not have sympathy for the home umpires who were officiating in front of a packed crowd in Nagpur, but said he would have no protests if Shamshuddin officiates in future games involving England. Shamshuddin, in fact, will be the on-field umpire for the Bangalore T20 international along with Anil Chaudhary.”I have no problem with him umpiring in any of our future games,” Root said. “As a player obviously you are going to make mistakes, you are going to get things wrong. As an umpire you are going to do exactly the same thing… If that [umpiring error] was at a major tournament and we get knocked out of the semi-final or lose a final from a decision that does go against us we feel bitterly disappointed and I don’t think it would fair on him as an umpire standing in that game to have to deal with the aftermath as well. I am just trying to think of the best solution for everyone, every party involved.”Root stressed that he had no wish to make Shamshuddin feel slighted or criticised for his errors.”Umpires are as much under scrutiny as we are. If you make consistent errors, you get found out and you might lose your international status. I don’t think that’s for us to worry about as players and we know that the best umpires available are going to stand in games for us.”So, it would be wrong to make him feel uncomfortable – or unfair. He should be allowed to do his job as we are ours. I think he will be under enough pressure – external pressures from what happened the other night – anyway.”Root, though, chose not to take the gloss off India’s death bowling and was especially warm in his praise for Bumrah, who closed out the game for India with pinpoint yorkers and well-disguised cutters.”I don’t want it to overshadow the way the Indian bowlers bowled at the back end there,” Root said. “I thought they played exceptionally well and Bumrah deserves a lot of credit for the way he held his nerve; he defended seven in the last over.”England have a chance to secure their first limited-overs series win in India since 1984 on Wednesday, and Root said the decider in Bangalore would tune up the side for the Champions Trophy, which is five months away.”It was probably frustrating and disappointing to finish the way it did,” he said. “But we have an opportunity to put that right now in the final game of the series. It will be good pressure for what will be an excitable and entertaining crowd. It will be a great preparation for major tournaments.”

Rohit Sharma, who was out of action since November 2016 after suffering a thigh injury, is set to make a return to cricket. The 29-year old opener tweeted that he was available for Mumbai’s 50-over matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on March 4 and 6.Rohit, who last played for India in October 2016, missed the Test and ODI series against England, the one-off Test against Bangladesh and was unavailable for the first two Tests against Australia due to the injury that forced him to travel to London for his treatment.Rohit hurt himself while batting against New Zealand in Visakhapatnam, where he injured his quadriceps while diving into the crease. Battling a poor run of form, he struck 70 off 65 deliveries which proved a match-winning performance.Mumbai, who are currently second in Group C of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, play Bengal (March 3), Andhra (March 4) and Goa (March 6) in Chennai for the last of their group fixtures.

Australian allrounder Shane Watson has been named interim captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore.The franchise has had to dig deep into its contingency plans over the past week. When it was learnt that the shoulder injury that Virat Kohli sustained would rule him out of the initial stages of the tournament, coach Daniel Vettori had said AB de Villiers would captain the team.But de Villiers was ruled out of the opening game of the season, against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 5. He had missed playing the final of the Momentum Cup, South Africa’s premier one-day tournament, on Friday with a back injury, according to a tweet from CSA. And though he has joined the franchise in Bengaluru and was among the players who trained at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday, Vettori thought it was best to give de Villiers more time to recuperate.”He still has some minor discomfort and we felt that couple of days off would be best before we have him back in action,” Vettori said. “We hope to see him on the field in good form by 8th April match against Delhi Daredevils.”Meanwhile, 19-year old batsman Sarfaraz Khan sustained an injury to his leg at practice on Monday and had to be stretchered off the field. He is likely to miss IPL 2017.Royal Challengers face defending champions Sunrisers in a rematch of last season’s final on Wednesday. The team’s chairman Amrit Thomas has said Kohli will be travelling with the team as a mentor.

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, has jumped on Virat Kohli’s allegations of Australia’s captain Steven Smith “crossing the line” by seeking off-field advice for DRS referrals, calling them “outrageous”.Currently in India, Sutherland spoke strongly in defence of Smith and the team after the coach Darren Lehmann had also categorically denied any orchestrated use of the team viewing area to deliberate on decisions.”I find the allegations questioning the integrity of Steve Smith, the Australian team and the dressing room, outrageous,” Sutherland said. “Steve is an outstanding cricketer and person, and role model to many aspiring cricketers and we have every faith that there was no ill-intent in his actions.”We reject any commentary that suggests our integrity was brought into disrepute or that systemic unfair tactics are used, and stand by Steve and the Australian cricketers who are proudly representing our country.”Sutherland’s comments came after Lehmann insisted that Australia “play the game the right way” in the wake of serious allegations by Kohli.The adjudicating match referee Chris Broad has reportedly stated that Smith would not face sanction over his attempt to check with support staff off-field whether to review his lbw on the final day of the Bengaluru Test match. However others, including the former captain Michael Clarke, have expressed concern about the young batsman Peter Handscomb’s role in the exchange and other possible instances of the practice.Broad is scheduled to be replaced by Richie Richardson for the final two matches of the series, and ICC management based in Dubai are yet to comment on the episode. Lehmann delivered a staunch denial when asked whether there had ever been communication between the team on the field and the dressing room about referring a decision: “Never ever. No. Never.”He [Kohli] has his opinion and we have ours. At the end of the day we play the game the right way. I’m very proud of the way the lads actually played. Disappointed we didn’t get across the line today. We changed the way we wanted to play with a change of side, a younger side. I’m really pleased with the way we do things now, we’ve never done any of that, and we’ll just get on with the next game. Disappointing today but you move on.”Very surprised to hear it [the allegation] but again, that’s their opinion.”Clarke, who worked alongside Lehmann as captain and coach for more than two years, said Handscomb’s involvement to prompt Smith to look towards the team viewing area worried him. Handscomb has tweeted that he had only done so because he was “unaware of the rule” forbidding players from seeking off-field guidance.”If you look at the footage, Peter Handscomb actually suggested Smith to turn around and look to the support staff. If this was a one-off, I don’t think that would have happened,” Clarke told India Today. “The fact that Handscomb has even thought of asking the Australian skipper to turn around and look to the support staff, I’ve got my concerns.”I think Steve Smith respects the game and if it’s a one-off, then it’s a brain fade. I want to find out more about it. But if Virat is correct and if Australia are using DRS that way, then it is completely unacceptable and it is not a brain fade.”Kohli stated after the Test’s conclusion that he had seen the Australians look towards their viewing area twice earlier in the match when he was batting, and had advised both on-field umpires to watch out for it. When Handscomb and Smith conferred, the umpire Nigel Llong stepped in quickly to stop any communication from taking place.ESPNcricinfo understands that members of the Australian team had discussed seeking advice on referrals in the past, but ruled it out on the basis that it was both against the rules and also impractical on the basis that it would take too long. The ICC had also clarified the illegality of the practice to international teams in briefings several years ago.Lehmann insisted that there had been no orchestration whatsoever, and went on to say that the Australian team had changed much in terms of attitude and on-field demeanour under Smith’s captaincy and the selection of a younger touring team to venture to India.”Probably on their side it might but our side again I’ll say we were very good the way we went about it and trying to play the game the way we want to play it moving forward,” he said when asked if the series would remain tense. “Gone were the days where we used to be the other way, and I was part of that as an Australian side.”So the young guys the way they want to portray themselves and get others to play the game and enjoy the game has been exceptional. I’m very proud of the way they went about it this game, even though we lost. [We want to] be remembered as a side that grows as a group together, doesn’t bite on confrontation and just plays the game.”We want to be remembered as a side that learned and grew together as a group. So for us that’s a challenge. There’s tough times in India no doubt, but how we want to play is a lot like everyone else around the world wants to play, and that’s the brand of cricket people come to watch. It was a great Test match … disappointed but proud of them.”The ugly scenes on the field during the Bengaluru Test marked a major downturn in relations between the two sides, but Lehmann said he had not sought out his opposite number Anil Kumble or Kohli to seek to smooth the waters.”No, we leave that with ICC and that’s the way it goes,” he said. “We’re here to play cricket, we didn’t play it well enough, they outplayed us, the partnership between Pujara and Rahane was fantastic the way they played. We could have bowled better a bit yesterday and batted better today, but they outplayed us so we need to be better.”It’s heated, it’s always heated in India that’s the way it is. So we didn’t cope well enough as a group in the last four or five sessions, pleased the way we bowled to get us back in the game, and we had our chances with the bat and didn’t get across the line.”

On Friday in Bristol, Mark Wood did what fast bowlers like to do: zipped one through a batsman at close to 90mph, shattering the stumps. But there was added significance for Wood when he removed Paul Stirling because he feared he may never get the chance to do it again.A third ankle operation within a year followed by a rehabilitation that was slow and, at times, lonely allowed his mind to wander. “I thought the dream was gone at times,” he said after a successful comeback outing against Ireland.It was a million miles away from the joy of claiming the Ashes-clinching wicket at Trent Bridge in 2015. That was, of course, “Stuart Broad’s Test” but Wood will always be the man who claimed the final scalp of Nathan Lyon to spark celebrations. Since then, though, joy at international level has been fleeting for him: three more Tests – the same number as surgeries he has had – and a handful of one-day internationals spread over two English seasons.The first of his operations came at the end of 2015 when he left the Test series against Pakistan in the UAE, the second early in the 2016 season and the third at the end of the summer after, gallingly, putting his body on the line to earn Durham a Championship victory that appeared to secure their Division One status only for ECB sanctions to mean otherwise.Three operations on the same part of the body, especially one so crucial to a fast bowler who relies on an explosive delivery stride at the crease, led to a player outwardly so cheerful and upbeat as Wood to have doubts. It was not helped when two possible comeback dates – the one-day series in the West Indies and a Lions tour of Sri Lanka – came and went.”I had questioned at times whether I would actually ever play for England again,” he said. “After the first two operations, I always believed I would get back but then this one, because it [the recovery] didn’t happen at the same rate as it did previously, I was a little bit unsure if I would ever get back to the standard I wanted to set and the pace I wanted to bowl at. It just took a little bit longer than I expected, but it’s good to finally get there.”Wood said he did not feel any pain in Bristol because the adrenalin was surging through his body, but the concerns over his ankle had remained as recently as last month when finishing pre-season with Durham. They manifested themselves more so when he was bowling on his own at a set of stumps and he spent time with the England psychologist, although it wasn’t until he had got through a few spells at the start of the Championship season that his worries were eased.In the most recent of those four-day matches, against Gloucestershire, he tweaked his groin, but he called that “a blessing” because it stopped him thinking about the ankle.”The physios were telling us ‘it’s normal to feel pain, you’re sensitive in that area’. When I am going to nets by myself and having to bowl at cones and stuff, you’re not in the game scenario, the adrenaline’s not pumping. I’m looking for my ankle, ‘is that niggling, is that hurting?’ If I feel anything I could bowl five overs but if I felt one ball, I’d be thinking ‘why is this still hurting?'”Now it’s sort of changed. I spoke with the England psychologist and it was to change my mindset. Rather than looking for pain, [it is] can I still perform with a small amount of pain there? So now, if it doesn’t affect my performance then I am happy. If it was ever to affect my front leg position, if it’s not braced, then I’d be a little bit unhappy but now I deal with it a lot better.”Wood accepts he will probably never be pain free and the ankle will trouble him from time to time. He has had special bowling boots designed to try to stop his front ankle rolling when it slams down in the delivery stride and has also worked with Kevin Shine, the ECB’s lead fast bowling coach, to try and to ensure the leg and foot come through straight rather that splaying to the left and putting pressure on the ankle.He also acknowledges that he probably can’t play every game, but just a short time on from wondering if he would bowl for England again now believes he can withstand the demanding schedule ahead to play a part in Test cricket – including the Ashes – once more.”If you ask me now, I am confident. If you’d asked me before the Durham Championship games, I might have been not sure about how it was going to go. I’m pretty confident now I could get through any sort of international cricket be it Test, one-day or Twenty20.”I wouldn’t say it’s honestly ever going to be totally pain free, I think that’s just the trouble I’ve had – three operations and the way that I bowl, it’s just going to flare up from time to time. Hopefully, that’s the end of the major pain. I haven’t got any bones left in there that are sticking out or anything like that. I’m held together with a bit of tape pretty well.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:41

Agarkar: Sri Lanka’s inexperience showed

Sri Lanka had lost five ODIs to South Africa already this year, but had hoped that months later, playing for a different trophy, they could apply the lessons learned during that walloping. It wasn’t to be. The gulf in quality between these teams was borne out by the margin of South Africa’s victory: 96 runs.In fact, South Africa may reflect that despite Hashim Amla’s velvet 103 from 115 balls, and Faf du Plessis’ efficient 75, they were not quite explosive enough during the death.They had begun indifferently with the ball too, allowing a pugnacious Niroshan Dickwella to unsettle them in the Powerplay, but soon, the middle-overs mastery of Imran Tahir took grip, and Sri Lanka’s chase of 300 lay all but scuttled, as they slumped to 155 for 6 in the 30th over. In wiping the remainder of Sri Lanka’s innings out in clinical fashion, South Africa have confirmed, if there was any doubt, that they are serious contenders for the trophy. Tahir’s final figures were 4 for 27, but his effect on the match was even more substantial than those numbers lay out.Meanwhile Sri Lanka, for whom it is now a compliment that only one important catch was dropped, gleaned only minor personal positives from the match. Dickwella set the chase off to a roaring start, Upul Tharanga contributed a half-decent fifty, Kusal Perera stood firm at one end while the lower order crashed around him, and Nuwan Pradeep showcased a slowly burgeoning range of skills with the ball. But these are not the kinds of performances that win matches.The defining periods of play were the middle overs in each innings: having picked the less-aggressive spin option in Seekkuge Prasanna, Sri Lanka allowed Amla and du Plessis to prosper too easily during those overs, and with the bat, lost five wickets for 66 runs from overs 11 to 30.For Amla, who had set South Africa on course for 299 – an imposing score, given the slightly slow nature of the surface – this innings may not rank as one of his best, but it did get him to the milestone of 25 ODI hundreds in 11 fewer innings than any previous batsman had managed it. He now also sits alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting to have 25 hundreds in both Tests and ODIs.He was cautious to begin with, as Sri Lanka delivered some exceptionally tight overs. Initially, he hovered in the crease, dabbing and squeezing his way into the innings. Not until the penultimate ball of the first Powerplay did he venture a boundary: a flick off Pradeep over the leg side. He made only 26 off the first 40 balls he faced.But following the departure of Quinton de Kock, whe nicked off to Pradeep, Amla playd with more ambition. There was a six over long-off, off Asela Gunaratne, in the 19th over, and in the 24th he slunk down the pitch to send Seekkuge Prasanna sailing over the deep midwicket fence. In between those two shots he had reached fifty, and suddenly, was scoring at close to a run a ball.His partnership with du Plessis was the most fruitful of the innings, and the pair hauled South Africa to a position of strength with their quickening 145-run stand. Amla, having provided the innings its thrust during the overs when du Plessis was feeling his way into the game, allowed his partner to make the riskier plays during the middle overs, saving for himself the role of turning the strike over. In fact, between the 24th and 43rd over – when he got out – he hit only one boundary. South Africa scored only 78 runs in the last 10 overs, thanks again to some tight bowling by Pradeep, with support from Lasith Malinga and Suranga Lakmal. Of those runs, JP Duminy contributed 38 in the space of 20 deliveries.Sri Lanka will particularly rule the rate at which their innings crashed and burned, because by the end of the first Powerplay, they had scored 55 more runs than South Africa had managed at that stage of the innings. Dickwella led this charge, flitting about the crease to carve the quicks over the offside, then jumping across to leg to whip them over leg, during his 33-ball 41. With Tharanga also batting confidently through those overs, it seemed inconceivable that Sri Lanka would not at least mount a muscular challenge to South Africa’s total.In the end, Tahir became their downfall, just as he had been during that bilateral series earlier in the year. Dinesh Chandimal got himself run-out trying to get off strike in Tahir’s first over, before Chamara Kapugedara was trapped in front by a googly three balls later. Tharanga then launched a ball into the hands of deep cover, and Asela Gunaratne squirted a catch to square leg, and pretty soon, a rapid start had turned into a procession of wickets. Perera stuck around for 66 balls and hit 44 unbeaten runs, but Sri Lanka were already out of contention for most of his stay. Tahir came back to take the final wicket, and Sri Lanka were all out in the 42nd over.

ScorecardKent and Northamptonshire played out a dull, high-scoring draw at Beckenham after Josh Cobb and the Northants lower order comfortably made the 24 more runs they required to avoid the follow-on early on the final day.Northants, resuming on 528 for 7 in reply to Kent’s mammoth 701 for 7 declared, were eventually bowled out for 568. Kent then replied with 184 for 3 in sizzling temperatures, and in front of a sparse crowd, and they took 11 points from this Specsavers County Championship Division Two match and Northants 9.Daniel Bell-Drummond played on to Ben Sanderson on 5, but Sean Dickson made 60 in a second wicket stand of 101 with Joe Denly, who went on to 78 not out before hands were shaken at 4.50pm. Denly, who made 182 in Kent’s first innings, now has more than 900 championship runs this season, at an average above 60, with three hundreds and four more scores above fifty.Dickson, the first innings triple-centurion, skied Max Holden’s off spin to cover after totalling 378 runs in the match, while Denly took his match run aggregate to 260 as Kent captain Sam Northeast kept him leisurely company against an assortment of Northants’ slow bowling – which included the offerings of wicketkeeper Adam Rossington, with skipper Alex Wakely deputising behind the stumps.As the game meandered to its conclusion, indeed, it was a moot point as to whether what was on show could be deemed first-class cricket. Perhaps the championship regulations should allow the umpires to call matches off early, but to their credit Kent’s batsmen did not try to smash the gentle bowling to all parts – merely walking singles into the deep field amid the odd boundary.Northeast, in fact, gifted Ben Duckett his maiden first-class wicket when he skied an attempted big hit at a full toss to cover, on 27. Adam Rouse finished 8 not out.At the start of the day Northants did not lose another wicket until the follow on target of 552 had been passed, with Cobb off driving Pakistan leg spinner Yasir Shah for four to take his side beyond that score.Graeme White, on 11, then skied Shah to mid on before both Nathan Buck and No 11 Sanderson fell cheaply to leave Cobb 34 not out. Buck was leg-before to Shah, as he shaped to play to leg off the back foot, and Sanderson slogged James Tredwell’s off spin to mid on to go for a duck.Northants’ 568 was a record total in first-class cricket against Kent, beating the previous best of 561 for 8 declared at Canterbury in 1995.

Adam Hose struck 76 on his Bears debut•Getty Images

A sensational debut innings from Adam Hose lifted Birmingham Bears to a five-wicket NatWestT20Blast victory over Lancashire Lightning at Edgbaston.The Lightning amassed 174 for 8 thanks mainly to Jos Buttler whose unbeaten 80 (43 balls, six fours, two sixes) was the only contribution beyond 20. Measured at first, as wickets fell around him, Buttler paced his innings perfectly, climbing into the bowling late on.But then Hose, making his debut after moving from Somerset on a three-year deal last week, smashed a dazzling T20-best 76 from 43 balls with seven fours and five sixes to put his side on course for victory. And after he perished, Grant Elliott saw his side over the line with just two balls to spare with an shrewd unbeaten 45 from 33 balls.Put in, the Lightning soon lost Liam Livingstone whose middle-stump was knocked out by Keith Barker. Arron Lilley and Karl Brown each connected with a couple of big blows but reached only 18 and 16 respectively before falling to excellent outfield catches from Elliott and Aaron Thomason.Dane Vilas became the fourth batsman to be dismissed in the teens when he and Buttler disagreed over a single and Colin de Grandhomme exacted full punishment with a direct hit. Steven Croft became the fifth when he was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Mellor down the leg-side off de Grandhomme.When de Grandhomme bowled Ryan McLaren, it was 121 for 6 and the Lightning needed some late impetus. Buttler and Tom Bailey supplied it, both clearing the ropes off Barker in the 19th over before Buttler took 19 from the last over, from Rankin.In reply, Birmingham lost both openers in the first 14 balls as Ed Pollock skied Bailey to backward point and Ian Bell nicked McLaren behind.Hose and Sam Hain rallied with a stand of 51 in 34 balls before the latter fell lbw to Matt Parkinson’s sixth ball.Hose and Elliott had 50 on the board in the next 15 minutes though and the debutant celebrated with successive sixes off Steven Parry. The pair added 69 in 44 balls before Hose charged and missed at Parkinson and Buttler completed an easy stumping.Led by the skilful Parkinson, Lancashire fought hard to the end, but it came down to five from the last over and Elliott thumped McLaren over mid-off for four to seal the win to a huge roar from the big home crowd.

A section of Sri Lanka spectators held up the team bus and voiced raucous displeasure at the performance of players and administration following the nine-wicket loss against India in Dambulla.A group of about 50 fans had stood in the vicinity of Sri Lanka’s parked bus, hooting and shouting slogans such as “we want our cricket back” and “no politics in cricket”, until police stepped in and cleared the gathering. The incident had delayed Sri Lanka’s departure from the venue by close to half an hour.The fan demonstration follows months of increasing dissatisfaction with on-field results. Social media has been aflame with scathing satire, taking aim at selectors and administrators in addition to players, in a year in which Sri Lanka has slipped to several unprecedented losses.Aware of the rapidly declining popularity of the national team, present and past players have implored fans to support the side through the slump. Ahead of the series, ODI captain Upul Tharanga made an impassioned plea to fans in a board release, stating: “The support of our fans plays a big role in the morale of the team. We play for our country and our goal is to bring pride to our family of 20 million in this nation – so your support is something that matters greatly to us … trust in us, and stick with us, so that you can be our strength as we rise again like lions.”Though presently playing at the CPL, Kumar Sangakkara has also taken to social media to voice his own appeal to fans. “When we won, you celebrated with us, and when we lost, you grieved alongside us,” he said. “When the team was struggling – when we were most in need – your love and support was our strength. Now, what our cricketers need is that same, love, support, patience and effort. Let’s hope for the team’s victory, and support them as one.”