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Irfan Pathan’s three-wicket burst set up West Zone‘s eight-wicket win over North Zone with 7.2 overs to spare.Needing only 108 for a win, captain Parthiv Patel, who scored a 35-ball 56, and Shreyas Iyer (30) blasted away with an eye on their net run-rate, which is no longer in the red. They added 80 for the first wicket in nine overs before Iyer charged out of the crease to offspinner Parvez Rasool and missed the ball to be trapped lbw. In the 12th over, Parthiv, attempting to back away and slog, was bowled by Mohit Sharma, but Aditya Tare sewed up the game in the next over with a flurry of boundaries.North Zone, in contrast, limped to 31 for 4 in the Powerplay after they were inserted in the morning. Irfan first dismissed Shikhar Dhawan, who had made a half-century on Sunday, in the third over. In his next over, he accounted for Rishabh Pant and Yuvraj Singh, who was out for a first-ball duck, off successive deliveries, with Deepak Hooda taking both the catches. He gave away only 10 runs in his four-over spell.That North Zone managed a three-digit total was entirely due to Gautam Gambhir (60 off 58 balls), who scored his second fifty in as many matches. With only two other batsmen scoring 10 or above, Gambhir waged a lone battle till the final over. His pull shot against Shardul Thakur off the penultimate delivery didn’t clear Pravin Tambe at square leg. Seamers Thakur (1 for 29) and Ishwar Chaudhary (1 for 23) complemented Irfan with tidy spells.File photo – Ishan Kishan struck his maiden T20 half-century•Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan’s 36-ball 67 ensured East Zone began their campaign with a seven-wicket win over Central Zone at the Wankhede Stadium. After the bowlers restricted Central Zone to 151, Kishan hit seven sixes during his maiden T20 half-century, helping East Zone chase down the target with seven wickets and 17 balls to spare.Ishank Jaggi provided the other major contribution in East Zone’s pursuit with an unbeaten 51 off 37 balls. He and Kishan added 71 runs off 41 balls for the second wicket after Shrivats Goswami was run-out backing up too far at the non-striker’s end when Kishan’s drive deflected off bowler Karn Sharma’s hands on to the stumps.Eighteen-year-old Kishan made Central Zone pay dearly after he was dropped on 10 off Aniket Choudhary’s bowling in the fourth over. He was severe on the spinners, particularly legspinner Karn and left-armer Mahipal Lomror, and carted them repeatedly in the arc between long-on and deep midwicket. In the 13th over, Ishan smashed Lomror for two sixes off successive deliveries and attempted a third. Lomror saw the batsman jump out of the crease and fired it wide, and Kishan could only manage a top-edged a slash to backward point. Jaggi, though, stayed till the end and saw the team home.Earlier in the afternoon, East Zone captain Manoj Tiwary won the toss and did what other teams have been doing in the tournament – bowl first and restrict the batting side to a moderate total. Central Zone slumped to 2 for 2 in the first over – first Lomror was run out following a collision with captain Naman Ojha and then Ambati Rayudu edged behind an expansive drive.Ojha (51 off 48 balls) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (48 off 43), who scored a half-century on Sunday, stitched together a 76-run stand in 71 balls. The scoring rate never received a significant boost and Ojha continued to struggle after Bhatia’s dismissal in the 13th over. When Ojha was out off the last ball of the innings, Central Zone had nudged their total past 150, thanks largely to Mahesh Rawat’s late hitting. It, however, was not enough.

Brisbane Heat captain Brendon McCullum has been given a one-match suspension for maintaining a slow over rate in the match against the Perth Scorchers on Wednesday, and will miss the side’s next match on January 17. Joe Burns will take over as captain against the Melbourne Stars.The Heat were found to be six minutes behind the prescribed 90 minutes they had to bowl 20 overs, after time allowances were considered. This was also their second over-rate offence this season. They were also fined $1000 per player, which was later reduced to $500 as they did not appeal against the ruling.McCullum didn’t seem too impressed with the decision when he spoke to .”I think we were a little bit late today with it but it’s pretty difficult, you kind of get penalised for taking wickets,” McCullum said.”Overall, you’ve got 35,000 people turning up to every game, ultimately the product is going outstanding and we finished [the match] ten minutes early anyway.”Let’s see what happens. Hopefully I’ll be right for next game. I think there were some inconsistencies in that [the first over-rate penalty] but let’s wait and see. If you do get suspended, you get suspended, and that’s how it is.”Queensland Cricket’s chief executive officer, Max Walters, told the Big Bash League website, “It is a shame but we accept those are the competition rules we are playing under and [it] reminds us that we can continue to improve in all facets of the game. We’re sure Brendon and the team will rebound from this setback and finish the competition strongly.”

Kolkata Knight Riders have named former Indian seamer L Balaji as their new bowling coach for the 2017 IPL. He replaces Wasim Akram, who said “professional commitments and time constraints” had prevented him from being with the team this year.Balaji, who represented Knight Riders between 2011 and 2013, is currently in his first season as a full-time bowling coach with his former state side, Tamil Nadu. “I had thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a player for KKR,” he said, “And I am delighted to be back to the franchise that I have admired.”Knight Riders chief Venky Mysore was pleased to have one of his old team members back. “It is great to welcome Bala back to the KKR family. He was an integral part of our team and played a key role in helping us win the championship in 2012.”The 2017 IPL is set to begin on April 5 with the final scheduled for May 21.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Ahmed Shehzad hit five fours in his unbeaten 56-ball 61•Raton Gomes/BCB

Ahmed Shehzad’s half-century helped Comilla Victorians beat Barisal Bulls to record their second win in nine matches this season.For a change, Comilla started well in chase of 143, with openers Imrul Kayes and Shehzad adding 93. But by the time he was caught down the leg side by Mushfiqur Rahim for a 56-ball 61, Comilla were within 23 runs of victory.Imrul was equally destructive at the other end, hitting six fours and a six in his 35-ball 43. The formalities were completed with six balls left, with Marlon Samuels and Khalid Latif seeing them hope.Earlier Mushfiqur and Jeevan Mendis made 29 and 28 respectively in an otherwise disappointing batting performance from Barisal that resulted in them slipping to 92 for 7 in the 16th over.Enamul Haque ensured that they had a good finish with his 15-ball unbeaten 20 that had a four and a six, along with small contributions from tailenders Abu Hider and Taijul Islam. Left-arm spinner Nabil Samad took three wickets while Rashid Khan picked up two wickets.

Trevor Bayliss believes Ben Stokes could develop into one of the “all-time best allrounders” following his Man-of-the-Match performance in Chittagong.Bayliss, the England coach, made the comments after Stokes helped seal victory with 103 runs and six wickets in the match. Bayliss was particularly impressed with Stokes’ improvement against spin bowling on the sort of low, slow pitches on which he has struggled in the past.Coming to the crease in the second innings with England precariously placed on 46 for 4, Stokes compiled 85 in just over three hours with his trademark power complemented by some tight defence and mature rotation of the strike. He also gained reverse swing and generated impressive pace on a sluggish surface.”He could be right up there with some of the all-time best allrounders,” Bayliss said. “He’s young into his career and that’s going to be easier to judge the longer he goes. Only time will tell.”But the strides he’s made on the subcontinent playing spin have been top class. It wasn’t all that long ago we were wondering how he might go on spin-friendly wickets, but he’s a guy that works extremely hard in the nets.

How does Stokes’ performance compare?

Ben Stokes scored 103 runs and took six wickets in Chittagong. Here are what some of the game’s finest ever allrounders managed in Asia.

Gary Sobers WI v Ind, Mumbai, 1966
50, 53*, 3-56, 2-79
Tony Greig Eng v Pak, Lahore, 1973
41, 72, 4-86, 2-28
Ian Botham Eng v Ind, Mumbai, 1980
114, 6-58, 7-48
Kapil Dev Ind v Pak, Chennai, 1980
84, 4-90, 7-56
Imran Khan Pak v Ind, Faisalabad, 1983
117, 6-98, 5-82
Richard Hadlee NZ v SL, Colombo, 1987
151*, 4-102
Jacques Kallis SA v SL, Kandy, 2000
16, 87, 2-18, 1-25
Andrew Flintoff Eng v Ind, Mumbai, 2006
50, 50, 1-68, 3-14

“It’s his defence to spin that has improved out of sight. We know that if he gets a bad ball he can hit anything over the fence, but you’ve got to be there to get that loose ball. In the past he probably hasn’t had a lot of footwork, has played from the crease and backed his eye and his hands. But as we’ve seen on this tour, in the one-dayers and this Test, he’s defended really well off the front foot, got right out and smothered the ball before it had a chance to spin and jump past the outside edge.”It is not the first time Stokes has won high praise from an international coach. During England’s tour of the Caribbean in 2015, the then West Indies coach, Phil Simmons, remarked that Stokes was “in the mould of Jacques Kallis” and wished “I had him at No. 6…. That’s the kind of cricketer you need.”There will be those who scoff at such comments. They will point out that Bangladesh are rated the ninth-best team in the ICC’s rankings and suggest that conclusions over Stokes’ worth be postponed until he has achieved success more consistently and against higher-ranked sides. But a reflection on some of the great allrounders’ best performances in Asia over the last half-century (see sidebar) underlines the impression that Stokes’ performance in Chittagong is worthy of some respect. Perhaps the next few weeks in India will define Stokes’ reputation in such conditions.There may also be an element of psychology in Bayliss’ comments; hearing such praise from his coach can do Stokes’ confidence no harm. But there can be little arguing with the allrounder’s value to the team. So much so that, while England are considering rotating other players, Bayliss feels it is likely that Stokes will, fitness permitting, play all seven Tests before Christmas. Moeen Ali is viewed similarly by the management.”Stokes is very important,” Bayliss said. “He allows us to play that extra spinner and the third pace bowler. Mo batting at No. 5 plays a similar role to us, especially here in the subcontinent, and the way he played in the first innings, he is suited to playing spin bowling.”We don’t want to get halfway through the India series and have one or two guys injured and definitely out. And we also want to give those guys who will probably play at some stage some game time.”But it would be a brave man to bet against Stokes playing all seven Tests. I’m not sure we’d be game enough to drop him anyway; we might get a thump in the head. He’s a very resilient person, let alone cricketer, and he just keeps on keeping on. We’ve just got to watch what he does between the Tests to make sure he is available for all the matches.”While other players might be equally reluctant to miss a Test – “you would expect no less from a professional cricketer,” Bayliss said – it does seem England are committed to changes ahead of the second Test in Dhaka. Steven Finn, who has impressed with his rhythm and pace in training, could well come in for Stuart Broad or perhaps Chris Woakes, and Zafar Ansari may come in for Gareth Batty or perhaps Adil Rashid.England are keen to reiterate no-one is being dropped – Broad bowled an especially impressive spell towards the end of the first Test, including nine consecutive overs at the end of the fourth day – but may feel that Rashid, who was not at his best in Chittagong, would benefit from another bowl ahead of the India series.Ultimately, the decision over who plays in Dhaka may come down to the England management’s view of the pitch: if it looks like it will turn sharply, Rashid may be left out on the basis that the other bowlers will gain enough purchase. But if it looks flat, he will play as he can gain turn on surfaces they cannot. Bayliss, like Cook, is reluctant to field a fourth spinner and is not considering changing the batsmen.”It’s a bit like playing five pace bowlers on a green seamer,” he reasoned. “If three or four can’t do the job… Remember, we’ve got Joe Root who can bowl decent spinners as well.”I don’t think there’s any reason to change the top six at this stage. The top four guys found it very difficult against the new ball facing the spinners. That was very difficult facing good spin bowlers on a wicket which sometimes bounced up around your shoulder and sometimes skidded straight through. I’m sure all the batters will be better for it.”

ScorecardArjun Nair scored 67 and then picked up 3 for 53 to earn the Man of the Match honour in a losing cause•Getty Images

A strong all-round performance from Arjun Nair was not enough to drag the Cricket Australia XI to its first win of the season, as Victoria claimed a double bonus point in their four-wicket win. Chasing 154, the Bushrangers reached the target inside 25 overs, but lost six wickets along the way, including three to Nair.Nair had opened the batting for the CA XI earlier in the day and made 67, the only batsman in his side to pass 20. Fawad Ahmed picked up 4 for 43 from his 10 overs, including the important wicket of Nair, who holed out to long-on in the 30th over at a time when he could still have lifted the CA XI to a competitive total.Marcus Stoinis picked up 3 for 28 and helped ensure the CA XI innings petered out, dismissed for 153 in the 38th over. Victoria’s win was never in serious doubt, especially after a 69-run opening stand between Cameron White (29) and Marcus Harris, which ended when Harris was bowled by Nair for 36.But in their push for the double bonus point, the Victorians did lose a few more wickets than they might have liked, as Nair and Brendan Doggett (2 for 36) did their best to keep the CA XI in the contest. However, the result meant that after four games the CA XI was still without a win, while Victoria jumped to second place from just three matches.

ScorecardChris Rogers top-scored with 58 to give Somerset the edge•Getty Images

Rikki Clarke and Chris Wright produced an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 70 as Warwickshire set up the prospect of an exciting third-day finish to the Specsavers County Championship match with Somerset at Taunton.The visitors closed day two on 131 for 8, needing a further 53 for victory, having been 61 for 8 at one stage, chasing a target of 184. Left-arm spinner Jack Leach claimed 5 for 33 from 18 overs.Clarke was unbeaten on 42 and Wright 38 not out, having come together with their team on the verge of defeat. Both hit sixes in a defiant and positive partnership.

Brown rues ‘soft’ dismissals

Dougie Brown, Warwickshire director of cricket: “Rikki Clarke and Chris Wright have shown what is possible on this pitch if batsmen are prepared to apply themselves. Again there were too many soft dismissals in our innings. The wicket has been tricky to bat on but by no means unplayable.”
Jack Leach, Somerset spinner: “It was a great day for me because first I went past 50 first class wickets for the season, then 50 Championship wickets, before ending up with a five-for. It has been a crazy two days of cricket and Rikki Clarke and Chris Wright have batted really well. The ball has tended to do more for the bowlers in the morning sessions.”

Earlier, Jeetan Patel had finished with 5 for 86 as Somerset, from an overnight 41 for 1, were bowled out for 211 in their second innings, skipper Chris Rogers top-scoring with 58, the only half-century of the match so far.After 21 wickets had fallen on the first day, ECB Cricket Liaison Officer Phil Whitticase was sent to view the second day’s play.It was batting errors, rather than any great terrors in the pitch, which accounted for the vast majority of wickets. There was assistance for seam and spin bowlers on both days, but also a large number of soft dismissals, which both sides will reflect on with regret.Somerset led by 13 runs when play began and had progressed their second innings to 70 when Marcus Trescothick, on 25, had his off stump uprooted by Patel.James Hildreth made only a single before falling lbw to a Chris Wright delivery that nipped back off the seam. But from 75 for 3 Somerset prospered, Rogers reaching a 123-ball half-century, and Peter Trego hitting sixes off Patel and Josh Poysden.The home side looked well placed at lunch, which was taken with their score 128 for three. But Patel began the afternoon session by gaining lbw verdicts against Trego (31) and Rogers after a fourth-wicket stand of 55.Leg-spinner Josh Poysden weighed in with 3 for 52 as only Dom Bess (25) offered much lower order resistance.Although the ball was turning, Warwickshire would have fancied their chances when their second innings began.Instead a mixture of good bowling and inept batting saw them slump to 49 for 6. Leach ripped the heart out of the innings by sending back Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell for a combined contribution of five runs before having Alex Mellor caught at short-leg for 22.Bess removed Sam Hain and Keith Barker, both pouched by Marcus Trescothick, who with the second dismissal equalled the record number of catches in first class cricket by a Somerset outfielder, 393, set by Jack White during a career that ended in 1937.But just when it seemed Somerset were sure to wrap up victory, Clarke and Wright produced the biggest stand of the match, putting the state of the pitch firmly in perspective.

Peter Handscomb scored 137 off 244 as he led Australia A to a big win in Townsville•Getty Images

Australia A captain Peter Handscomb scored his eighth first-class century to give his side a 98-run first-innings lead and set up a thumping 10-wicket win over South Africa A in the second unofficial Test in Townsville. The win meant that Australia A emerged with a clean sweep of the two-match series.

Boland injured

Fast bowler Scott Boland sustained a low-grade fracture of the right hand on the final day of Australia A’s match against South Africa A in Townsville.
Boland will return to Melbourne for further medical review before it is decided whether he will rejoin the squad for the latter stages of the upcoming quadrangular one-day series and four-day games against India A. Boland has not been replaced in the squad.

South Africa A had elected to bat, and started very slowly, with the openers putting on 26 runs in the best part of 15 overs before Dean Elgar departed for 5 off 40. Stephen Cook and Omphile Ramela both notched up fifties in a second-wicket partnership of 83. Ramela went on to score 82 off 199 and served as the top-order ballast in South Africa A’s first innings. But right-arm pacer Joe Mennie and legspinner Mitchell Swepson finished with figures of 5 for 61 and 3 for 55 respectively to limit South Africa A to 304.Australia A piled on 402 in reply, largely thanks to Handscomb’s 137 and a knock of 92 from opener Kurtis Patterson. The two put on 114 for the second wicket, before right-arm pacer Andile Phehlukwayo dismissed Patterson eight runs short of a century. Handscomb batted on, while useful contributions from the middle and lower order gave the home side to a healthy lead.Faced with a first-innings deficit of 98, South Africa A slumped to 180 all out in their second innings, with no one making more than Dane Vilas’ 36. Vilas was one of four batsmen to fall to Swepson in the second innings, as the 22-year-old finished with 4 for 33, to take his match haul to seven.Australia A had little trouble in chasing down a target of 83. Patterson registered his second fifty of the match as the openers swept past the finish line in 15 overs.South Africa A’s series defeat here comes on the heels of a two-match series against Zimbabwe A in which they failed to win the first unofficial Test in Harare, before winning the second in Bulawayo. For the likes of Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma, this series was the last chance to prepare for an upcoming home Test series against New Zealand.

Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer has offered New Zealand an invitation he may end up regretting after a difficult second day in the field for him and his men in Bulawayo.”They will keep us out there which we don’t mind. We don’t mind if they bat all day again,” Cremer said, warning New Zealand that the more time they spent in the middle, the more confident Zimbabwe would be of denying them a victory. “We’re going to try and drag the game out for as long as possible and take time out of the game.”For a man who delivered 35 overs, 26 of them in a single spell, it seems like a bold statement to make. But Cremer always knew he would have a heavy workload in an XI that cannot accommodate another seamer because it needs an extra batsman.”I knew coming in to this game, we were one frontline seamer short so I knew I was going to do the bulk of the bowling anyway,” Cremer said. “I see myself as a bowler that will lead the attack so I knew there would be a bit of extra pressure on me. The other bowlers that we’ve got are a lot younger and lot more inexperienced. So I look to try and get wickets and get us into good positions.”His task was made even more difficult by the absence of another bowling option and the regular wicket-keeper. Sean Williams and Regis Chakabva spent the day recovering from the flu and tonsillitis respectively and Cremer is hopeful they will be okay by Saturday. Without them, he had to bowl even more than usual and was denied two wickets by fumbles from the substitute Brian Chari, who missed a stumping and could not hold onto a catch. Had either been successfully completed, Kane Williamson could have been dismissed earlier.Despite that, Cremer praised his young attack for staying upbeat after being demoralised by the batting effort on the first day. “I thought the guys fought hard, They didn’t run away with the game. We kept them in check. We knew it was going to be tough to get wickets because it’s a good batting surface so we wanted them to go at two or three runs an over and we wanted to take some wickets, which we did,” he said. “We are still upset we didn’t score enough runs but that’s the way it is.”In the next two days, Zimbabwe will have the chance to make amends for the first innings when they bat for a second time, in all likelihood with a view to saving the Test. Cremer knows the surface will get more difficult but hopes their approach will be strengthened by the lessons learnt from their mistakes. “Tomorrow morning it will still be for good batting but from later on in the afternoon, it will be dusty and start spinning and bouncing, so we have to start thinking about how we will play in the second innings,” he said.”Because we haven’t played enough, we are sometimes not sure what to expect and not sure how to go about it but now the guys have seen what to expect. Nothing will change in the second innings. I’m sure New Zealand will still use the short ball and the seamers as much. Hopefully guys will have the right mindset to bat long.” To bat all day.

When Anil Kumble took over as India’s head coach, he was quick to acknowledge the influence of his predecessors, notably John Wright, and said he would continue to pick his brain. In only his first week in the job, Kumble has already re-introduced one of Wright’s key concepts: a buddy system.During the 2001 series against Australia, Wright assigned a partner to each member of the team, usually pairing a batsman with a bowler. One such relationship, VVS Laxman becoming Zaheer Khan’s unofficial batting coach, carried on well beyond Wright’s tenure. Kumble has instituted something similar, usually pairing a batsman with a bowler or an allrounder: Shikhar Dhawan with Mohammed Shami, for example, or Virat Kohli with Bhuvneshwar Kumar.”It’s about the senior guys communicating with the junior guys,” Stuart Binny said. “Today we’ve paired up – each guy’s paired with another guy; it’s called a ‘buddy programme’. So it’s me and Rohit [Sharma] paired up together. Ro has played a lot of one-day cricket and Test cricket, and for me to share thoughts with him, that’s the way forward, I think. If I can help Rohit by 2%, then maybe he can help me with 30% – that’s what we’re looking to do today. It’s about helping each other through situations.Binny said the primary reason for the system was to get the players to communicate better, and voice their thoughts without hesitation.”It’s about me and Rohit communicating about our net sessions, about areas that I bowl [for example]. In the past, many guys held back because you didn’t want to say something to upset another guy, but we’ve been pushed in a direction to communicate what we want, especially with our games. There’s a lot you can learn from someone else, even by telling him that, I think this is the way forward. Communication is the key, I think. That’s what we’re trying to breed.”Over the course of their Test careers so far, Binny and Rohit have often vied for the same spot in the side, depending on whether conditions have demanded an extra batsman or an allrounder. Binny said that topic hadn’t come up yet. “No, not yet. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but, look, the team comes first, so whatever needs to be done on that day or before the Test match, we’re there to do it.”There was a slightly lopsided air to India’s nets session on Saturday in Bangalore; among the first to pad up was Amit Mishra, and one of the first spinners to have a lengthy bowl was Cheteshwar Pujara, who yelped in delight when he beat Ajinkya Rahane’s outside edge. Pujara had perhaps already picked up a tip or two from his buddy Mishra.”We’ve divided in such a way that batsmen will help bowlers and bowlers will help batsmen, so that whenever we need to play six or seven batsmen, the batsmen can chip in with the ball, bowl seven-eight overs for us,” Mishra said. “My buddy is Pujara – he bowls a bit of legspin; he can help me with my batting, and I can help with his legspin, so that whenever we might need it, he can bowl seven-eight overs for the team and help us.”