A lot of water has passed over the pedalo since England last faced Test-class opposition. Twenty-six matches-worth in fact, in which time India and Pakistan have been bundled out of the World Cup, Australia have muscled their way to the top of the Super Eights table, Ireland and Bangladesh have struggled to live up to the euphoria of their qualification and West Indies have veered ever closer to an early exit.So, what have England had to show for their efforts in that time? Well, since losing to New Zealand in St Lucia on March 16, they’ve creaked to embarrassingly timid wins against Canada and Ireland, thumped Kenya in a must-win match, and spent the rest of their time denying they’ve got a drinking culture in spite of lurid tabloid headlines to the contrary. On Wednesday, they take on Sri Lanka – the neutrals’ favourites and arguably the most well-rounded team in the tournament – in a match that Michael Vaughan, England’s captain, has described as “the start of our World Cup”.”We know that tomorrow is a real big game in the context of where we go in this tournament,” said Vaughan. “We’ve proved over the months that if we do turn up and play, we can be a match for any side in the world, but we’re going to have to raise our performance compared to what we have had already in this tournament.””If we do turn up and play …” Vaughan’s choice of words seem faintly extraordinary – it’s as if they imply that England might actually size up the contest and decide: “thanks, but no thanks.” On Sunday, Duncan Fletcher spoke of the complacency that had seeped into his team’s early games. After coasting thus far in the competition, England are set for a rude awakening tomorrow if this really is as far as their planning can carry them.Sri Lanka are not merely a better drilled outfit than England; they are light years ahead in terms of preparation, personnel, form, flexibility and one-day know-how. They qualified from the toughest of the pools with three handsome wins out of three; on Sunday they slapped West Indies by 113 runs; and against South Africa last week they came within a stump’s splinter of defending an indefensible total. England have no choice but to turn up and play, because there’s no doubt that their opponents are ready and waiting.Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, is not generally a man renowned for psychological point-scoring, but having thrashed England 5-0 last summer in arguably the most pitifully one-sided one-day series of all time, it would have been rude not to reopen some old wounds. “Every game is a big game,” he said, “so if they’ve waited this long to see that this is the time to start their World Cup, I don’t know if that’s the right way to go about it.”We’ve been planning [this campaign] for about 12 months, and indirectly before then,” he continued. “We knew we had to get the combinations right, we knew we had to get the right people, we knew exactly what conditions to expect, and we had to make sure that the 15 that we bring here are going to contribute in our different combinations. For that we’ve been planning for quite some time.”England, by implication, have not been planning for quite some time. Their shock CB Series victory provided a sticking-plaster of respectability, but the chaos that has swept their ranks since last summer can no longer be disguised. Take that ludicrous defeat at Headingley for instance, when Sri Lanka chased down 322 with a whopping 12.3 overs to spare. Of the 11 who slunk from the field that afternoon, only Ian Bell seems guaranteed to slink back tomorrow. Andrew Strauss, captain for that series, has been dropped since Australia (though a comeback for this match would appear to be on the cards), while the likes of Tim Bresnan, Kabir Ali and Geraint Jones have sunk without trace.

“That was a funny series with a lot of players missing,” said Vaughan, although few people could recall much English laughter at the time. “I believe these are better bowlers, better players and stronger mentally than they were in that series. I believe we can raise our performance and the lads are focused to know that and I believe we can do it.”Unfortunately for Vaughan and for England, the bar has already been raised by the Sri Lankans themselves. “That tour kicked us off, but it was just a start,” said Jayawardene. “Our youngsters learnt a lot, especially Lasith [Malinga] and Upul [Tharanga], but a lot of the guys have improved since England. We’re now used to playing in different situations and different tournaments, and with different personnel. It was a brilliant tour for us, but we’ve come a long way from that.”Without putting too fine a point on it, all the signs point to the sort of drubbing that the previous worst-prepared England World Cup team, Mike Atherton’s 1996 rabble, were subjected to by none other than the Sri Lankans at Faisalabad – when a certain Sanath Jayasuriya redefined the role of pinch-hitting with his 82 from 44 balls.With two centuries in the tournament already and six in the last 12 months, Jayasuriya is currently enjoying the most prolific run of form of his career – and all this after reversing his decision to retire from Test cricket last summer. ” He’s been amazing,” said Jayawardene. “We felt that when you come into a World Cup year, it’s important to play all cricket. Test cricket might not directly contribute to one-day cricket, but when you’re playing all the time it keeps you going.”England, who in effect gave up one-day cricket en masse to concentrate on the Ashes, might have found themselves nodding sagely at this assessment. But Sri Lanka’s threat doesn’t just come from their in-form batsmen. In Lasith Malinga, they possess the single most extraordinary and explosive weapon in the whole competition, the perfect counterpart to the enduring genius of Muttiah Muralitharan and the probing certainties of Chaminda Vaas.”This is the best bowling attack that I’ve ever played with,” said Jayawardene, “We have so many attacking options.” England, meanwhile, are so ill-prepared that partnerships and percentage-play represent the limits of their strategic vision. Forget Ireland and Bangladesh. If they manage to get it together tomorrow, it really will be the shock of the tournament.England (probable) 1 Michael Vaughan (capt), 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Paul Nixon (wk), 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Jimmy Anderson, 11 Monty Panesar.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Chamara Silva, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Russel Arnold, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Dilhara Fernando, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Peter Moores, the new England coach, plans to hold talks with Andrew Flintoff in a bid to rekindle his passion for the game following a tortuous winter in Australia and the Caribbean.Flintoff’s immense workload over the past six months has clearly left him exhausted, prompting some to suggest he is a spent force. Incidences off the field involving alcohol haven’t helped his cause either but Moores is determined to nurture him back into the force he once was.”I will be speaking to Andrew in the next week to find out where he is coming from and what helps him play the way he likes,” Moores told the BBC. “You try to get the individual comfortable playing for their country where they can produce their best.”Every time I have met Andrew, he is a positive man and he loves the game. He loves playing for his country. We have seen him play some unbelievable innings and bowl some unbelievable spells for England. We have a player who has played some fantastic aggressive vibrant cricket.”The key is to get that out of him again and get him enjoying the game again.”Moores’ comments follow those of David Lloyd, Flintoff’s old friend, former coach and mentor who is convinced that his problems – on and off the pitch – stem from the sheer quantity of cricket. Lloyd, speaking to yesterday’s is further concerned of the workload facing Flintoff over the next 12 months.”If he carries on as he is, something has to give and his career will be cut short,” Lloyd said. “I saw Ian Botham burn out and I don’t want to see the same happen to Fred. Looking at the year ahead, England have a full summer of one-dayers and Tests against West Indies and India, followed by the Twenty20 World Cup, then one-dayers and a three-Test series against Sri Lanka in December. As far as I’m concerned he cannot do all that.”

Lloyd suggested that resting Flintoff might be the only way to prolong his career, in what is a packed international schedule – especially if England want him fit for the next Ashes series in 2009.”Sure, the public want to see the best side out on the park all the time,” he said. “But it’s about the best players playing at their best. He should miss the Twenty20 World Cup and the one-dayers in Sri Lanka and have a proper long break from playing cricket when he should rest, work and train to gear himself up for the next four-year cycle.”Another of England’s charges to have suffered in the past year is Marcus Trescothick and, like Flintoff, Moores is keen to get him back in the squad. “The fact he is playing again for Somerset is a massive positive,” he said. “He is another one I need to talk to. The key for Marcus is that he is really comfortable and performing at the right level to get back into the England team.”We all know the player he can be, both in one-day and Test match cricket.”Moores takes up his post, replacing Duncan Fletcher, on May 1. England’s first Test of the summer, against the West Indies at Lord’s, begins on May 17.

Ron Archer, the allrounder who played 19 Tests for Australia during the 1950s, has died of lung cancer at the age of 73. Archer’s death on Sunday came just two days after the passing of his Australia team-mate and fast-bowling colleague Bill Johnston.Archer was a talented all-round sportsman when he was plucked from the Queensland side to make his Test debut at just 19, against South Africa in 1952-53. However, a knee injury ended his international career when he was only 22, leaving him with 713 runs at 24.58 and 48 wickets at 27.45.He was one of Australia’s record five centurions in the first innings against West Indies at Kingston in 1954-55. Archer made 128 – his only Test hundred – at No. 6 and joined Colin McDonald, Neil Harvey, Keith Miller and Richie Benaud in reaching triple-figures.Archer had already made 84 and 98 on the tour, which undoubtedly marked his high-point as a Test batsman. However, he cemented his place in the side largely as a new-ball or first-change fast bowler.Like his older team-mate Johnston, Archer held his own in a quality attack that often featured Miller, Ray Lindwall and Alan Davidson. His best bowling in an innings was the 5 for 53 he claimed at The Oval in 1956, in what would be his second last Test.On the way home, Australia played a one-off Test match against Pakistan at Karachi and it was there that Archer sustained the knee injury that ended his career. He returned as a specialist batsman for Queensland in 1958-59 and averaged over 40, but his body would no longer stand up to the rigours of first-class cricket.He had made his debut for Queensland in 1951-52, at the age of 18, having played first-grade cricket in Brisbane since he was 15. Joining his brother Ken in the state side, Archer made an immediate impact, taking eight wickets on debut against South Australia. He was also a highly-skilled rugby union player, Australian Rules footballer and baseballer, but he focused on cricket after he was chosen in the Test team barely a year after joining the Queensland side.Archer finished with 255 wickets at 23.36 from his 98 first-class matches and also scored 3768 runs at 31.93. Like Ken, who also played for Australia, he became a TV executive, rising through the ranks to become general manager of Channel 0. He also retained his links with cricket as Cricket Australia’s Code of Behaviour Commissioner and once acted as an ICC match referee.Creagh O’Connor, Cricket Australia’s chairman, said Archer gave tirelessly to the game after his playing days prematurely ended. “Ron Archer had a brief and very successful Test career which was tragically cut short by an injury of the type that modern sports medicine would today probably have overcome,” O’Connor said.”But while his international playing career was too short, he still devoted an energetic and cheerful lifetime of support to the game that he loved, contributing right up until his final summer”.Damien Mullins, the chairman of Queensland Cricket, said Archer would be remembered as one of the state’s greats. “Ron was not only an outstanding cricketer, he was a wonderful cricket person and everyone who knew him will miss him enormously,” Mullins said.

The Jamaica Gleaner has claimed that Ryan Hinds has joined the growing list of players who have refused to tour Zimbabwe with West Indies A.Hinds joins two players offered the captaincy – Sylvester Joseph and Daren Ganga – who have declined to join the tour. WIPA, the players’ association, and the West Indies board remain in dispute over whether the tour should proceed. The newspaper added that Hinds has been replaced by Dale Richards, a Barbados batsman who is currently playing in England.However, despite constant assurances for much of last week that the team was about to be named, no announcement has come from the WICB even though the squad is due to leave in five days’ time.

Division One

Events at The Oval continued to move along rapidly as 17 wickets fell on the second day to follow 16 on the first. However, a result is still too close to call as Durham began defending 152 with three early Surrey wickets. Steve Harmison ripped into the top order and removed Jon Batty, Mark Ramprakash – victims of sharp lifters – and Scott Newman before bad light ended play. The vital factor could yet be the 52-run lead Surrey managed during the morning session before reducing Durham to 132 for 7 second time around. Four middle order wickets went for six runs against Chris Schofield and Neil Saker before stubborn efforts from Will Smith (41) and Liam Plunkett (33) gave Durham’s attack something to bowl at.Thunder showers and hailstorms restricted play at The Rose Bowl to 28.4 overs as Warwickshire built a strong total against Hampshire. Darren Maddy could only add two to his overnight score before being caught off Chris Tremlett, but Alex Loudon and Tim Ambrose put on 60 for the fifth-wicket. Dimitri Mascarenhas removed Ambrose 20 minutes before the rain arrived. Hampshire wicketkeeper Nic Pothas has been ruled out of action for up to three weeks after being hit in the eye when a delivery from Michael Carberry bounced off Jonathan Trott’s pad on the first day. His deputy, Tom Burrows, took the catch to remove Maddy.Two heavy showers put paid to any chance of Lancashire and Yorkshire getting their Roses clash started at Old Trafford. Puddles formed on the outfield and the umpires called play off in early afternoon. The lack of cricket makes Darren Gough, Yorkshire’s captain, feel he will have Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard available for next week’s game against Warwickshire as they search match practice ahead of the first Test against India. “The decision was always dependent on how much part they could play in the game here – so both of them will probably be available next week, as far as I’m concerned,” said Gough.It didn’t take long for the inevitable abandonment at New Road as Kent continued to be frustrated by Worcestershire’s decision to play at their headquarters. Any hopes of a start vanished when a heavy shower made the outfield like a mud bath. Kent have lodged an official complaint with the ECB who have said they will look into it urgently.

Division Two

Essex went on a run rampage against Nottinghamshire at Chelmsford as James Foster’s double century and a breathtaking 78-ball hundred from Graham Napier launched them to 700. It was unrelenting aggression from Essex as Foster and Andy Bichel (148) extended their seventh-wicket stand to 254 with Bichel registering a career-best score – his second ton in two Championship matches since joining Essex this season. Napier was then the dominate partner as he and Foster added 195 for the eighth wicket in 26 overs and Essex scored at more than six-an-over during the day. Nottinghamshire responded positively to the onslaught as Mark Wagh and Samit Patel added an unbroken 121 for the third wicket.Paul Nixon marked his first game as Leicestershire’s Championship captain with a vital century as he and HD Ackerman led an impressive fightback against Glamorgan at Grace Road. The pair added 213 for the sixth wicket after three early wickets for James Harris put Leicestershire on the back foot at 88 for 5. Ackerman’s second hundred of the summer took 166 balls while Nixon’s first came off 128. Mansoor Amjad continued to extend the advantage and by the close it was 111. Harris was the pick of the attack with four wickets, leading the way ahead of his more experienced colleagues.The Twenty20 fortnight has done nothing to slow Tom Lungley’s Championship form as his fine season continued with 5 for 33 for put Derbyshire on top against Middlesex at Southgate. Lungley broke the opening stand by trapping Billy Godleman lbw then wrapped up the innings with four quick wickets as Derbyshire gained a valuable lead of 82. Ed Joyce offered the main resistance with 81, but he was seventh out as Middlesex slipped from 166 for 3. Andrew Strauss, in need of some runs ahead of the Test series against India, reached 38 with some fluent shots before being caught at midwicket off a mistimed pull. An early finish prevented Derbyshire building on their advantage.Chris Taylor hit an unbeaten 112 to keep Gloucestershire afloat against Northamptonshire at Northampton. The visitors fell to 52 for 5 against the new ball with Johan van der Wath doing the damage before the recovery began. Steve Kirby batted three hours as nightwatchman, but it was a seventh-wicket stand of 102 between Taylor and Steven Adshead which brightened Gloucestershire’s day. Taylor took 148 balls over his hundred, but despite his efforts they still conceded a lead of 60 while Monty Panesar wrapped up the innings with three wickets. Northamptonshire steadily extended their lead to 152 during the final session.

The Pakistan board has decided to carry out dope tests on the 30 players in the provisional Twenty20 World Championship squad before the final 15-man side is announced next month.Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, has instructed the board officials to get the tests carried out as soon as possible so that the results are received from a laboratory in Malaysia before the final squad is picked on August 10. The tournament takes place in September.”We will begin dope testing on the players as soon as possible,” said Ahsan Malik, PCB’s Communications Director. “It will take up to ten days to get the results of the tests, which is why the players’ urine samples will be obtained over the next few days.”Malik said that the board may take samples from some players in Lahore and the others in Karachi. Most of the players on Pakistan’s provisional squad are currently in Lahore but will move to Karachi later this week for the final phase of training before leaving for South Africa.Malik said he was confident all players would pass the tests but the board wants to be certain before announcing the final squad. He said it was the board’s policy to carry out internal dope tests ahead of major ICC events, a practice that would be continued.

David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, believes Andrew Flintoff will be fit to play in the one-day series against India later this month.Flintoff stepped up his return from ankle surgery by playing in Lancashire’s Championship match against Sussex this week and Graveney expected to see him in action against India. Flintoff’s contributions against Sussex so far have included a 34 off 36 balls in Lancashire’s first innings and bowling four overs – off which he conceded just one run.”It’s great that he’s back playing,” Graveney told BBC Radio Four on Wednesday. “He’s started to bowl in [the] nets and there’s nothing that I’ve heard to the contrary that would prevent him from playing in the one-dayers towards the back end of the month. Hopefully he will available for that, and he has certainly indicated that will be the case.”Mike Watkinson, the Lancashire manager, also confirmed that Flintoff was progressing as per physiotherapist Dave Roberts’ programme. He told Sportinglife.com, a British sports website, “He has done a little bit of bowling in the nets, and four overs is not a heavy workload. He just looked in good rhythm, he wasn’t pinning his ears back and giving it the full whack, but he looked very smooth.”Flintoff missed the entire Test and one-day series against West Indies after he underwent a third operation to rectify his recurring ankle problem. He was also ruled out of the ongoing Test series against India but is on course to play the first ODI at the Rose Bowl on August 21.

Changes to next summer’s Friends Provident Trophy and the Twenty20 Cup have been announced by the ECB.In the Friends Provident Trophy the initial stage will be contain four groups of five teams comprising the 18 first-class counties as well as Ireland and Scotland. Each team will play the other four teams in the group twice throughout the competition – home and away. The top two teams from each group will then qualify for the quarter-finals, with the winners of each group earning a home draw.In terms of the Twenty20 Cup, the group stages will change to a symmetrical format of five home and five away games. This means each county will now play ten, rather than eight, group matches. The groups will remain regional-based with three groups of six first-class counties.”The changes to the format of these two competitions will be implemented for a number of reasons,” explained David Collier, the ECB’s chief executive. “We were keen to reduce the number of so-called “dead games” in the Friends Provident Trophy and add a competitive edge to all of the games in the competition without increasing the volume of cricket.”The Twenty20 Cup continues to attract new spectators to the sport and the introduction of extra fixtures will give even more people a chance to sample the Twenty20 experience at their local county ground. And the prospect of more local derbies will add further spice to the competition at the group stages.”Counties may play fewer teams under the new structure but there will be more local derbies thus reducing travel and making the logistics of the programme more acceptable. There will also be more opportunities for the supporters of each county to see an increased number of home matches.”An ECB spokesperson also told Cricinfo: “The fact that there is a small reduction in the Friends Provident Trophy is a balance meaning that counties play one less match in the FPT zonal rounds (100 overs) versus two additional Twenty20 matches (80 overs).”In addition the fact that the FPT has been zonalised provides more local derbies and less travel for players which is a benefit to both spectators and players. There is an additional cricketing benefit in that for the Twenty20 the counties now play all the opposition in their group at home and away and in the FPT there is the same number of home andaway matches in the zonal stage.”Both 50-over and Twenty20 cricket are formats of the game played in ICC global events and the balancing of the reduction in FPT cricket and the rounding of the group in the Twenty20 zonal rounds is consistent with the England Report [Schofield Report] and further enhances the opportunity to identify England players in these formats of the game.”

Ottis Gibson, the former West Indies bowler who has enjoyed such a prolific season for Durham, has won the Professional Cricketers’ Association inaugural Most Valuable Player award.Gibson picked up 80 Championship wickets and became only the 79th bowler in history to take 10 wickets in an innings when he grabbed 10 for 47 against Hampshire. He also won the Man-of-the-Match award for his 3 for 24 – also against Hampshire – in the Friends Provident Trophy final.”Certainly for me, the last couple of years spent coaching has made a difference to my approach to the way I play now,” Gibson told the BBC. “Sometimes you may search a lifetime for what you might consider is perfection. If I look back, this year has certainly been that way. It has probably been a perfect season for me.”I’ve bowled well without any pressure, and when I go on the field I always try to make a massive contribution to the team. It’s a team effort and I’ve led the bowling attack this year, which is what was required.”Gibson finished top of the PCA rankings on 735.97 points, comfortably ahead of second-placed Mushtaq Ahmed (600.18) and Danish Kaneria who was third on 557.48. Mark Ramprakash, the highest-scoring batsman on the list, was fourth with 525.04.The Most-Valuable-Player award was launched by the PCA this year to provide a more reliable and accurate means of assessing a player’s performance, rewarding each run, wicket and catch.Yorkshire legspinner Adil Rashid, 19, was named Young Player of the Year at the ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London. An ECB special award was given to Peter Baxter, who retired as producer of the BBC’s Test Match Special this summer.Player of the Year
Ottis Gibson (Durham)
Runners up
Mushtaq Ahmed (Sussex)
Andy Caddick (Somerset)
Mark Ramprakash (Surrey)Young Player of the Year
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Runners up
Ravi Bopara (Essex)
Stuart Broad (Leicestershire)
Luke Wright (Sussex)MCC Spirit of Cricket Award
YorkshireSpecial Merit Award
Sir Ian BothamUmpire of the Year
Ian Gould

Points Table
Scorecard
Baroda completed a stunning fightback and enhanced their prospects of reaching the semi-final stage after a four-wicket win against Tamil Nadu at Vadodara. Having completed all their league games, Tamil Nadu will now await the results of the last league round. Chasing 272 for victory, Baroda were in a deep hole at 113 for 5 but Kiran Powar and Yusuf Pathan added 159 in an unbeaten seventh-wicket stand and sealed the win. Powar stroked 11 fours in his steady 90 while Yusuf, Irfan’s brother, cracked 81 in 124 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. For the second successive game Baroda came back from a low first-innings score to triumph in a thrilling chase. They take on Uttar Pradesh in the final league game, beginning on December 31, and need to win with a bonus point to ensure a place in the last four.
Scorecard
Hyderabad’s 60-run win in a low-scoring scrap gave them a great chance of entering the semi-finals. Chasing 278 for victory, Punjab couldn’t manage sizeable partnerships as Gaurav Gupta, who made a solid 87, lost partners at regular intervals. Gupta was stranded on 87 when the last wicket fell. Narender Pal Singh, the medium pacer, snapped up four wickets while Inder Shekar Reddy, the left-arm spinner, picked up three. Earlier VRV Singh, Punjab’s 20-year-old fast bowler, completed a great match with six wickets in the second innings, and finished with 13 for 115 for the game. The Punjab batsmen, though, faltered in both innings and though they were still favourites to make it to the semi-finals, big wins for Baroda and Hyderabad in the final league game would snuff out their chances.
Scorecard
Uttar Pradesh began confidently in their pursuit of 232 at Karad in a contest that had no bearing on the semi-final slots. Maharashtra were shot out for 119 in their second innings with Rudra Pratap Singh, the left-arm medium pacer, claiming 5 for 33. Ashish Winston Zaidi contributed three victims as Maharashtra’s batting worries continued. Jyoti Prakash Yadav led the chase and was unbeaten on a composed 36.
Scorecard
Sairaj Bahutule’s eight first-class hundred helped Mumbai tighten their stranglehold and they led by 390 at the end of the third day at the Wankhede Stadium. Having gained a 126-run lead in their first innings, Mumbai were in a spot of bother at 67 for 6 when Bahutule and Ramesh Powar came together. Both added 117 for the seventh wicket with Powar contributing 65. Bahutule was unbeaten at the close as Karnataka’s semi-finals hopes had all but disappeared. Mumbai have already booked their spot in the semis.
Scorecard
Gujarat’s bowlers struck at regular intervals as Madhya Pradesh struggled in pursuit of 353 in the third day at Ahmedabad. All the MP batsmen reached double figures but none crossed 35 as Hitesh Majumdar and A Makda, the opening bowlers, grabbed seven wickets between them. At the end of the day, MP still trailed by 111 with only three wickets standing and may concede two points in a game that was bound for a tame draw.
Scorecard
Shib Shankar Paul and Ranadeb Bose helped Bengal claw their way back into the contest at Kolkata, a game that they had win to enhance their chances of staying in the Elite Group. Delhi collapsed from 193 for 4 to 251 all out as Paul and Bose ended the innings with five wickets apiece. Mithun Manhas and Vijay Dahiya made 70s but their dismissals early in the day triggered a collapse. Bengal’s reply was much more promising than their first-innings effort, where they managed 240, and ended the day on a comfortable 190 for 3, an overall lead of 179. Deep Dasgupta top scored with 56. Delhi will have to push for a win tomorrow to boost their chances of a last-four berth.
Scorecard
Amit Pagnis hammered 107 in just 136 balls as Railways took command in their crucial game against Andhra at Anantapur, a game that could decide if they remained in the Elite Group or not. After managing a 61-run lead, Railways didn’t lose any wicket till stumps with Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar adding 151 in 42 overs. Pagnis smashed 19 fours on the way to his eighth first-class hundred. Earlier, Andhra had wriggled out of a tight spot with their tailenders taking the score from 120 for 6 to 202.