New Zealand may be no nearer to configuring their frontline attack for the Test series against South Africa after the three-day game against Boland ended in a draw on Thursday, but, as coach David Trist acknowledged, at least two of the backup bowlers did their causes no harm in Paarl.The match wandered along to its inevitable conclusion in the early evening as Boland, set to make 357 in the last session, pottered to 53 for two before the game was called off 30 minutes early.Summing up, though, Trist said: “There were encouraging signs from one or two of the bowlers. That’s something we can take out of this game.”In particular, all-rounder Scott Styris and legspinner Brooke Walker, who might not have been in the frame a few weeks ago, have both wandered into it.Styris scored an unbeaten 73 in the New Zealand first innings and backed it up with three wickets as Boland replied while Walker bowled tidily in the Boland first innings for two for 38 and took the last wicket of the game on Thursday evening.”Nobody’s a certainty,” said Trist, “but certainly he (Styris) advanced his claims. He offers a batting/bowling option that’s worth looking at. I don’t think he’s there yet as a batter or a bowler at Test level, but it’s demanding times. He had a very good game and threw down the gauntlet and the challenge and may well sneak in. But he would have to back up the performances here to show that he really is deserving of a place.”Trist allowed that strengthening the New Zealand batting down the order “is a key to our success or survival” in the Test series.The coach had encouraging words, too, for Walker, who now seems to be New Zealand’s only spin option with Paul Wiseman’s sprained ankle likely to keep him out of the first Test.””I thought Walker had a good game,” said Trist. “He bowled well, got nice drift and basically used conditions that did not suit him quite well. But this was a warmup game. It’s not South Africa.”Of the three seamers given a run in Paarl, Chris Martin emerged as the man most likely to share the Test new ball with Shayne O’Connor, with three wickets in the Boland first innings and another on Thursday evening. But New Zealand will look again at their pace options in the three-day game against North West in Potchefstroom that starts on Saturday.As an exercise, Trist seemed happy with the Boland game, despite the tedium of the final day, played out in sweltering heat. He feels that Potchefstroom will provide conditions similar to Bloemfontein, where the first Test starts on November 17, and says the last warmup match will be “critical” to New Zealand’s preparations.And even though in one sense New Zealand’s cruel run of injuries may have made selection for the Test match more straightforward, Trist said that the business of choosing the side would still be “harrowing”.”It may be a bit simpler,” he said. “But it doesn’t take the stress out of the whole thing, does it?”

From the very last scheduled ball of the very last Championship match at The County Ground, Yorkshire retained their 115-year record of never having lost at the ground.Alex Morris a former Yorkshire player edged Ian Fisher to Gavin Hamilton at slip to give the visitors an exiting victory.After play had started 45 minutes late due to the heavy overnight rain, Yorkshire advanced their lead to 257, thanks in the main to Aussie Darren Lehman’s 92, and a less swashbuckling innings of 61, by Hamilton. Shane Warne was particularly expensive as the Yorkshiremen chanced their arms on a turning wicket.Set 258 to win in a minimum of 54 overs, Hampshire got off to a good start, and by tea had reached 109 for 1, the only batsman dismissed, White for 37, as he pulled Middlebrook to be caught at point.What Yorkshire had for their tea, must have contributed to the changing face of the game. As first Kendall was caught at short leg, then Kenway attempting a second was run out directly by Matthew Hoggard. This started the slide, as Smith pulled the ball straight to Lehmann at leg-slip, then Shane Warne dragged his back foot out of his crease and was well stumped. Wicket-keeper Aymes fell lbw.With overs and time running out, Dimitri Mascarenhas joined Lawrence Prittipaul, and for 12 overs they held up Yorkshire’s progress, the following the youngsters departure, the more experience Shaun Udal came in.With the statutory 16 overs complete and 35 minutes still to play, Mascarenhas finally fell to a slip catch that rebounded from the wicket keeper. With just five minutes remaining Udal could not avoid the turning ball. Peter Hartley came in to a standing ovation and a guard of honour from the Yorkshire team, but he watched as the last over bowled by Ian Fisher was played by another former Yorkshire player Alex Morris. Two loud shouts for LBW were turned down, but with the very last ball, Morris edged the ball to first-slip, where Hamilton gleefully took the catch.Hampshire learnt later that they had been docked 8 points, after the County Ground pitch was rated as “poor” by the ECB Pitch Panel. The points penalty was largely academic as Hampshire were already relegated. Sixteen wickets fell on the first day, which forced umpires John Holder and Trevor Jesty to report the surface, a statutory requirement.

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Rohit Sharma scored 79 to help Mumbai put up a strong reply to Rajasthan’s 478 in Jaipur•Rajasthan Cricket Association

Madhya Pradesh’s veteran captain Devendra Bundela scored a fighting hundred, and the young offspinner Jalaj Saxena chipped in with a breezy 61 to take MP to within 77 runs of three points in Hyderabad. Saxena had helped them salvage a point in the previous game too, by batting out more than two hours with the tail.MP were struggling on 44 for 3 when the day began, but Bundela found an able ally in Udit Birla, with whom he added 108 for the fourth wicket. Birla’s wicket, though, brought another, and at 159 for 5 MP were still struggling. However, Hyderabad found no success in the 36.5 overs that followed. The two have added 106 and have set up an exciting first session or so for the final day.
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Building on their openers’ centuries, Punjab batted Bengal out of the game, and declared with enough time to take one wicket before stumps. That left Bengal needing 228 runs to avoid an innings defeat on the final day.Most of Punjab’s scoring was done by wicketkeeper Uday Kaul who was unbeaten on a career-best 165 when the declaration was made. Jiwanjot Singh, who began the day on 102, added 56 more before he finally fell to the part-time leg-spin of Manoj Tiwary. Jiwanjot’s average now is 185.5, albeit slightly less impressive than it was at the end of the second day.As Uday went solidly, the others provided quick runs in the declaration push, most notably Manpreet Gony’s 25 off eight balls. Siddarth Kaul then got rid of Subhomoy Das before stumps.
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Each of the four Mumbai specialist batsmen who batted in Jaipur reached half-centuries, with Hiken Shah turning it into an unbeaten hundred. Consequently Mumbai had reached within 119 runs of claiming three points against defending champions Rajasthan.Rajasthan’s bowlers, especially Pankaj Singh, had been impressive in seaming conditions in Kolkata a week earlier, but they have gone 118 overs now for just the three wickets. Kaustubh Pawar was the first success of the day for them, and when they denied Aditya Tare a century, they had a little bit of momentum with them, which Hiken and Rohit Sharma duly thwarted.The duo added 175 for the third wicket, and batted together for 51.3 overs. Rohit missed out on a century when he fell just before stumps, but Hiken and nightwatchman Kshemal Waingankar saw through the day without further incident.
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Sagar Jogiyani and Ravindra Jadeja scored unbeaten centuries and added an unbeaten 203 for the third wicket to set up an interesting fight for three points on the final day. Jadeja began the last season too with a century, only going on to make it a triple. Responding to Gujarat’s 600 for 9 declared, Saurashtra were 323 for 2 at the end of the third day.Gujarat must have for hoped for much better after removing Chirag Pathak in the second over of the day. The second success of the day, Bhushan Chauhan, came early enough, and reduced Saurashtra to 120 for 2. For the rest of the day, they didn’t taste any success. This was Jadeja’s sixth first-class hundred, and Jogiyani’s fourth. While Jogiyani was cautious, Jadeja went at a strike-rate of 65.

ScorecardDawid Malan held the Middlesex innings together•Getty Images

Is there such a thing as a limited-overs hangover? To browse some of the scorecards in this round of Championship fixtures, which seem to have crept up on everyone in this Royal London Cup-riddled part of the schedule like that early-morning business meeting you thought you had rearranged, it seems so.At Lord’s, 11 wickets fell in the day, as a sizeable crowd showed up to witness the first Championship match here since Hampshire arrived at the end of June, before a wait till the second week of September for the arrival of Yorkshire. The turnout was so surprising that, soon after tea, the Pavilion had run out of food.Middlesex won the toss and were bowled out for just 234. That demise included a stumble worthy of any late-night reveller: four wickets falling for just nine runs in the space of 55 balls. The signs were there this morning that, after three weeks of riding the white-ball horse, something did not feel right.The boundary away to the Mound Stand was short, while the pitch had already had 100 overs put into it from the humbling at the hands of Nottinghamshire. In fact, it was only yesterday that Middlesex realised they would be playing on the same wicket and, after seeing the success that the spin of Imran Tahir and Samit Patel had enjoyed, decided to recall Ravi Patel from a loan-spell at Essex. Patel himself had already been named in Essex’s squad for their four-day match against Surrey at Colchester, the knock-on effect being a rare recall for Monty Panesar.Armed with two spinners and faced with a track already a day old, the decision to bat first, regardless of the outcome, was correct. But truth be told, there was little in the play of these two teams to suggest that their long-form skill has been compromised. The short-boundary could probably be credited with two of the dismissals, as Nick Gubbins and James Franklin went in search for an easy four, both through dabs rather than insolence across the line.But credit should go to a Sussex attack brought together by injuries rather than design. In an alternate universe where the county are able to select from their full complement of pace – Jimmy Anyon, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Ajmal Shahzad and Lewis Hatchett are all currently out injured – you could pick four out of a hat and end up with something Division One-worthy. Instead, Chris Liddle was drafted into the XI to play his first Championship match of the season. In return, the left-arm seamer, who has primarily been operating as a white-ball bowler since moving from Leicestershire to Sussex back in 2006, took 3 for 42. To put that in perspective, the last time he took wickets in a Championship match was back here in 2013, where he finished with match figures of 3 for 98.While Steve Magoffin did what he does – bash out a length, persist on a line and find every drop of movement out of the surface – to take 4 for 48, it was Liddle’s set of 16 that was perhaps the most impressive. Unperturbed by the short boundary, he bowled with good pace from the Pavilion End and, whether over the wicket to the left-hander or around it to the right, offered little width that could be worked to the short-side or slashed to the longer, Grandstand boundary.It was down to Ollie Robinson to do the most end-hopping yet he still managed to maintain his control to take three wickets of his own.Even after their good work, it may still turn out that Middlesex’s first go is about par given how much this pitch could deteriorate over the next few days. A solid 90-run partnership for the third wicket between Nick Compton and Dawid Malan took the hosts out of a sticky situation, at 24 for 2, before Malan survived the cascade of wickets to register another fifty partnership with Ollie Rayner.Malan’s composure was pleasing to watch, as he took the mature decision to focus solely on timing rather than force for his 93 runs: an array of back-cuts and well-placed drives bringing him 12 fours before he was strangled down the leg-side.Sussex could do with taking pages out of his book but, as Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones showed at the end of the day, this pitch still has plenty to say. That a man of Ed Joyce’s skill basically walked went he was struck in front by a Roland-Jones delivery that he could not lay a bat on, gives an indication of just how tricky batting will get.

ScorecardChesney Hughes’ century set up a potential Derbyshire victory that went begging•Getty Images

Derbyshire fell just short of what would have been a famous victory in a thrilling end to the Division Two county championship match against Leicestershire at Derby.Set 341 in 81 overs, 101 from Chesney Hughes plus half centuries from Billy Godleman, Ben Slater and skipper Wayne Madsen looked to have secured Derbyshire’s first home championship win of the season.But Wes Durston’s dismissal with 14 needed sparked a collapse that saw four wickets fall for two runs and with 10 needed off the last five balls, Derbyshire settled for a draw at 331 for 8.Durston had looked set for a memorable end of the season after he took a career-best 6 for 109, including the wicket of Mark Cosgrove for 156, to bowl Leicestershire out for 363.Leicestershire needed to set a challenging target with key bowlers missing and Cosgrove added another 30 runs to his overnight score before he was last out.He drove Durston for two sixes, the second taking him past 150, but when he went for a third, he was stumped to give Durston his second six wicket haul in a month.Derbyshire began their chase knowing the pitch was still a good one to bat on but they needed a solid start and Godleman and Slater provided it with an opening stand of 103 in 27 overs.Ben Raine was hit for six fours in 14 balls but he made the first breakthrough when Godleman misread the length and was lbw and Slater followed before tea, leg before trying to work Zak Chappell through mid-wicket.At the interval, Derbyshire needed to accelerate with another 186 required from 34 overs and Hughes opened up by pulling Rob Taylor for six and driving the next ball for four.Madsen swept Dan Redfern for four to pass 1,000 first-class runs for the season and Derbyshire went into the last hour needing 94 from 16 overs with Leicestershire increasingly desperate for a wicket.Cosgrove turned to the off-spin of Aadil Ali but Madsen reverse swept him for three to reach 50 and complete 1,000 championship runs before he drove Redfern for another boundary.Derbyshire went into the last 10 overs needing 64 and Hughes reduced that by two to reach his second hundred of the season from 152 balls but was then yorked by Taylor who had Madsen caught behind in his next over.Durston responded by driving Raine for a much needed boundary to bring the target down to 35 from 30 balls and 16 came from Taylor’s next over as Durston pulled him for four and six off consecutive balls.That looked to have settled it but Durston drove to long on, Tom Poynton was bowled by Raine and Tom Millns was run out going for a second off an overthrow to leave 11 off the last over.When Tom Taylor was run out going for a second off the first ball, Tom Knight blocked the next five balls from Ollie Freckingham to leave Madsen to reflect on what might have been.”We are disappointed not to get the win but there are lots of positives to take because I thought we played brilliantly to get ourselves into that position. To chase down that sort of a score on the last day is no mean feat and we were in the position we wanted to be but unfortunately we threw it away at the end.”We were under a run a ball so we should have got across the line but then at the end we felt it was too much a task in the last over so we had to close up shop.”Leicestershire head coach Andrew McDonald said: “It was a classic four day game, there was no winner but it went down to the wire and I’m really impressed with the way the boys fought . We stuck at it and to have an opportunity to almost win it at the end I think speaks volumes for where this group of players is at.”I don’t want to get too carried away with a draw but if people were here to see that they would understand why it was a significant effort and a significant step forward.”

As was England’s mantra against New Zealand earlier this summer, when they responded to back-to-back defeats to take the five-match ODI series, there will be no backing away from an aggressive mindset after the loss to Australia at the Ageas Bowl regardless of the ramifications.That much was clear when James Taylor, who made 49 on his return to the side at No. 3, said he was willing to take the chance that he could “look silly” when it goes wrong rather than change the outlook which has been at the core of reshaping England’s one-day side since the World Cup.Taylor was almost hyperactive on Thursday, skipping around his crease, coming down the pitch at the bowlers and generally trying to put the opposition off. Early on, he launched Mitchell Marsh for a straight six and he had helped give England the platform to chase down a target of 306 whey were 152 for 2 in the 27th over.However, one shuffle and swipe too many ended with him missing a straight delivery from Shane Watson – for which he was given a forceful stare by the bowler, who had been one of Taylor’s main targets – and from that moment England lost their way to be bowled out for 246.”When I bat, and especially against a specific bowler who is bowling into my strengths, I go for it. It was in my arc, but it was just the execution,” Taylor said of his downfall.”It is a shot I have played for a number of years now – and people watching international cricket will have seen that when I go big, that’s a shot I have played. It brings me runs.””When you miss you look silly. But that is the way it is,” he added. “When I bat I try and take hindsight out of the equation. If I want to take a bowler down, I will go into it wholeheartedly rather than pussy-foot around.”You saw that when I hit Mitch Marsh over his head on 2. I’m confident with the shot, and I don’t do it half-heartedly.”Marsh, for his part in the contest, not just with Taylor but with the whole of the England batting, sees plenty of gain for Australia from England’s method with the bat. Marsh conceded more than eight-an-over, and was only used for four overs, but removed Alex Hales when the opener pulled a long hop to midwicket.”We know they’re going to come hard at me, Watto and Maxi. We said in our team meeting that it gives us an opportunity to take wickets. If they’re going to come hard at us then so be it … the only way to stop their team scoring runs is by taking wickets. Our attack allows us to do that.”It would be easy to forget that England’s first ODI after the World Cup debacle was captained by Taylor, when they faced Ireland in Dublin, although the match was abandoned after 18 overs. The day was quickly overtaken by the news emerging of Peter Moores’ sacking as coach, and when England next took the field for an ODI, against New Zealand at Edgbaston when they crossed 400 for the first time, Taylor was carrying drinks.That followed a period around the World Cup where he was shuffled up and down the order. In the triangular series which preceded the tournament he batted at No. 3 and made two half-centuries against India but failed against Australia. That prompted a seemingly panicked 11th-hour change from the selectors as Gary Ballance was recalled at No. 3 and Taylor moved to six.To his credit, Taylor was one of the few players to emerge from the opening-game mauling by Australia at the MCG with any credit as he made an unbeaten 98 – only denied a maiden hundred when James Anderson was controversially run out when the ball should have been dead. Although Taylor did not pass fifty again in the tournament, he conceded that getting the axe just one game after being captain had tested his resolve.”When I got whispers of the team, I was bitterly disappointed,” he said. “But you cannot dwell on that. I got over it quickly. I have been knocked down before and got up stronger, and that’s the way I try and look at it.”I try to look at the positives – if I take one step back by not getting selected, I will take a few forward in the future. It makes you tougher as a player.”And now he wants to keep taking it to the Australians.

Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors Kapila Wijegunawardene is confident that offspinner Tharindu Kaushal can work on his action for the doorsa and bring it inside the ICC’s 15-degree limit. After being reported for a suspect action during the home series against India and tested in Chennai, Kaushal was cleared to bowl the offbreak but his doosra was banned from international cricket.”Where Kaushal is concerned, we had a very close scrutiny of him and it was only after we were convinced that he was within the rules that we picked him to play in the side,” Wijegunawardene said. “However this citation came and he was tested, after which we were notified that his doosra was exceeding the stipulated parameter of 15 degrees marginally, but his offspin was cleared with flying colours with his extension being only five degrees.”On the doosra, 50% of the deliveries in which he was tested was within the stipulated parameter and only the balance marginally exceeded 15 degrees,” Wijegunawardene said. “What we now need to understand is at which point he is able to bowl this particular delivery and support him towards staying within the rules. Not being able to bowl the doosra does impact his armoury of deliveries. However, if you closely analyse the wickets that he has taken during his short career, he has no more than three-four wickets with the doosra with a large majority of the wickets being with offspin.”From the side of Sri Lanka Cricket, everybody is very eager and committed to support him towards getting this delivery cleared. Going forward we hope to work proactively with the ICC and it is not the first time we are facing a situation like this. I am confident that he will overcome this slight impediment.””This boy’s got a special talent where he has ultra supple wrist similar to Muralitharan. If he succeeds in bowling this delivery within the stipulated regulations it will be a huge plus factor and also good for the game.”Kaushal, 22, had been randomly tested in Canberra by the ICC at the conclusion of the 2012 Under-19 World Cup and there had been nothing amiss with his action, including the doosra. He made his debut in December 2014 and has played six Tests – taking 24 wickets at an average of 42.

Kevin Pietersen has branded the decision to omit Ian Bell from England’s touring squad to South Africa as “pathetic,” “insane” and “ridiculous.”In a series of furious interviews, most notably on talkSPORT, BreatheSport and ESPNcricinfo, Pietersen also labelled former England coach Andy Flower “a clown” for dropping Nick Compton ahead of the 2013 Ashes and suggested that the decision to disregard Bell’s experience for a tour of South Africa was “a disgrace.””England are playing the best team in the world with one of the best fast bowling attacks the game has seen for years,” Pietersen told ESPNcricinfo. “So not to take one of your most experienced players with a great record against that team is absolutely ridiculous. You have to take him for his experience.”He’s played 118 Tests and you need that experience on tour. He’s probably got another five, six, seven or eight Test hundreds in him. It is an insane decision to leave him out.”Yes, Belly hasn’t scored the runs he would have liked of late. But that happens to all players and it’s at those times that the management need to stick by him. It’s a disgrace they way they’ve dropped him now.”Pietersen also questioned what he saw as the inequitable treatment of Bell compared to the patience shown to the team’s captain, Alastair Cook, and questioned what he sees as an ageist attitude prevalent within English cricket.”Captain Cook himself can go two years without a Test hundred but he can play every single game,” Pietersen said on BreatheSport. “As for Belly, he struggles a bit – he got a hundred, what nine or 10 Test matches ago? – but he’s not good enough to get to the South Africa tour? I think it’s pathetic and I think he’s been hard done by here. People need to start having a hard look at themselves.”He’s 33, not 53,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Why is that, in England, that 33 is considered too old? In other countries we have seen the likes of Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting play on far longer than that. Belly isn’t over the hill. Of course he can fight his way back from this. I believe he will. He is a class player. You don’t score 22 Test centuries without being a top class player. I’m very angry about this.”While Pietersen might be expected to be outspoken on this issue – as has been well documented, his relationship with the England management is not cosy and he is a director of the management company that looks after Bell’s interests – he has not been alone in his criticism of the squad.Mark Boucher, the former South Africa wicketkeeper, tweeted that South Africa would experience “a boost in confidence” by seeing a squad without either Pietersen or Bell, while Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain, tweeted that he was “very surprised” Gary Ballance had been recalled and that bowlers would be “licking their lips” in anticipation of bowling to him.”I know the South Africa players, and they will be licking their lips bowling to a bloke like Gary Ballance,” Pietersen told talkSPORT.”You just have to see what the likes of Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith have said on social media today, England are just being laughed at. It’s horrendous. Goodness, my mind just boggles when I see what happens there. It’s frustrating.”He did, though, see merit in one of the decisions. “It’s good to see Compton back. He was dealt an horrendous blow by that clown who coached England a couple of years ago.”

Zimbabwe emphasised their fast-improving form on their tour of England by inflicting a record defeat on Gloucestershire in the Vodafone Challenge match at Gloucester.The home side, who resumed on 98-4, were restricted to 135-9 in their second innings, which was effectively all out in the absence of injured captain Tim Hancock.It meant a 524-run reverse for Gloucestershire, which was comfortably worse than their previous heaviest defeat of 470 runs by Sussex at Hove in 1913.Pace bowler Pommie Mbangwa ensured a quick finish on the final morning. He claimed four of the last five wickets to fall and ended with an outstanding return of 5-23 from 15.5 overs.He began by removing Michael Cawdron for 19, lbw as he failed to get sufficiently forward.Then he dismissed Jack Russell for 27, as the former England wickekeeper gloved a catch to Alistair Campbell, who had taken over behind the stumps from Andy Flower.The last three wickets added just seven runs as Mbangwa removed Jon Lewis and Tom Cotterell, both caught behind by Campbell, and Bryan Strang dismissed Martyn Ball, snapped up at fourth slip by Trevor Gripper.Zimbabwe batsman Murray Goodwin scopped the £500 man of the match award on offer from the sponsors for his career-best 194 in the first innings.The tourists now move on to play British Univeristies in a three-day match that starts at Cambridge on Wednesday.And captain Andy Flower was pleased with his side’s clinical hammering of a below-strength Gloucestershire side.He said: “It was important that our batsmen spent some time out in the middle, as was the case in this game.”And it was important that we carry on winning these games. We had a rough start to the tour, so it is good to get some solid wins under our belt.”Russell, who took over as Gloucestershire’s captain after Hancock fractured a knuckle on his left hand on Saturday, admitted it had been a tough lesson for the county’s youthful side.”It was a great opportunity for a lot of our guys to push for a first team place in the championship, but that has not happened,” he said.”But we need not feel too disappointed. The guys must learn from this and take note of how the opposition went about things. Zimbabwe are a disciplined side and their bowlers showed what could be achieved by getting the ball in the right areas.”Gloucestershire can now concentrate on Wednesday’s NatWest Trophy third round tie against Worcestershire at New Road, Worcester, where they will begin their defence of the title they won by beating Somerset at Lord’s last August.

Kuwait inningsThe match was played at National Stadium Karachi, one of the best cricket venues in the world. Kuwait won the toss and elected to bat. Apparently weighing too heavy against an in-experienced Bahrain, Kuwait played an innings in which every batsman contributed his share of runs.In 39 overs Kuwait had reached 236 for the loss of 5 wickets. The rate of scoring that they maintained indicated that they were really out for an adventure. Opener Zeeshan Sabri smashed 6 fours in his 36 runs scored in 43 balls. Similarly Ajesh Mathew had 5 fours in his score of 51. Hasan Arif’s 63 in 40 balls with 5 fours and a grand six was a classical exhibition of hurricane hitting.Except for Taimur Ashraf who remained not out with a marvelous innings of 66 in 45 balls with 4 fours and a six, the batsmen who followed were out cheaply. Kuwait ended its innings with a gigantic total of 294 for 8, the highest score of the tournament so far. The wickets having been evenly shared no bowler emerged with distinction.Bahrain inningsFacing a gigantic target of 295 Bahrain was all out for 140 runs in 27 overs. Opening with Haroon Naseer (35) and Rizwan Abdul Ghani (24) Bahrain took a reasonably good start losing the 1st wicket at 39 and the 2nd at 76. The subsequent wickets fell after short intervals. The 16 fours and a mighty six hit by the batsmen will indicate that they were pretty rash in their approach. The huge target in front of them prompted them to do so. They wanted to go down fighting.The other batsmen to reach double figures were Asif Siddiqui (15) Roshan Cherian (16) and Ali Iftikhar (19 not out). With a tremendous haul of 5 wickets for 45 runs in 8 overs, Dilesh Thurairatnam was responsible for making the short work of Bahrain, who lost by 154 runs.