Broad trumps Sarwan's century

England v West Indies, 2nd npower Test, Chester-le-Street, 4th day

West Indies 188 for 5 (Nash 1*, Ramdin 0*) trail England 569 for 6 dec (Cook 160, Bopara 108) by 381 runs 

Ramnaresh Sarwan's century lifted West Indies, but Stuart Broad brought them back to earth © Getty Images

Ramnaresh Sarwan claimed his fourth Test century in six Tests against England to lead West Indies' resistance on the fourth morning at Chester-le-Street, but Stuart Broad trumped his efforts with a brilliantly hostile spell on a flat deck, to revive England's hopes of wrapping up a 2-0 series victory.

In a defiant morning session played out under bright blue skies, Sarwan added 99 for the fourth wicket with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but Broad claimed both the big guns in contrasting styles, leaving West Indies rocking at 188 for 5 at the break, with Brendan Nash and Denesh Ramdin charged with the task of saving a still distant follow-on.

First to go was Chanderpaul, who had been content as ever to play the sheet-anchor role. Until his dismissal, his only problems had come from Graeme Swann, who nearly claimed his wicket for the third time in three innings when Paul Collingwood claimed a flying one-handed catch at slip, only for the umpire to correctly adjudicate that the ball had come straight off his toe.

But in the end it was Broad who made the breakthrough in the second hour of the morning with a clever piece of bowling from around the wicket. He drew Chanderpaul forward with a good-length delivery, but rolled his fingers over the ball to create an offcutter, and Matt Prior behind the stumps did the rest.

Sarwan responded in pugnacious style, driving with typically crisp authority and shrugging off the effects of a painful blow to the nether-regions when James Anderson jagged a lifter back into his box. But once Chanderpaul had fallen, he upped his ante, and rushed to his hundred with a blazing straight drive off Broad followed by a cracking pull in front of square.

But those strokes merely stoked Broad's ire, and in a brilliant response he blasted Sarwan from the crease with a trio of vicious lifters, the third of which ballooned off his glove to Bresnan at slip as he attempted to ride the bounce. England were jubilant, an opening had been forged, and the afternoon session promises to be an uncomfortable one for West Indies.

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Cool Sangakkara takes Punjab to victory

Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL, Bloemfontein

Kings XI Punjab 123 for 4 (Sangakkara 43*) beat Delhi Daredevils 120 for 9 (Karthik 32, Lee 3-15, Sreesanth 2-20) by six wickets

Brett Lee was the pick of Punjab's proficient attack, and his success ultimately proved decisive 

For the first time in what has been a mediocre campaign, the Kings XI Punjab arrived at the ground with three words carved in their minds: find a way. Yuvraj Singh, with his team in a do-or-die scenario, decided on fielding first on an obscure track and his bowlers vindicated that, limiting Delhi Daredevils to 120. They nearly muffed up a small chase, losing early wickets in a chaotic first six overs and then struggling after the strategic time-out, but yet again Kumar Sangakkara's level-headedness and Irfan Pathan's clutch hitting came up trumps. Delhi failed to hold it together defending a poor total, but can still make the semis even if they don't win any of their remaining games.

The side clinging on for hope before the semi-finals played with grit, while the one on song with near-flawless performances this season turned in a poor display. Brett Lee handed Virender Sehwag another poor score, Sreesanth dismissed Delhi's most consistent pair, and Lee returned with an inestimable wicket-maiden 17th over to help set up an achievable chase.

If any Delhi batsman needed time at the crease ahead of the semi-finals, it was Sehwag, but he again fell cheaply, ticking a short Lee delivery down the leg side. Sehwag has yet to cross 38 in this tournament - and seven innings have added up to only 107 runs. In the next over, Gautam Gambhir steered the ball to deep backward point, stole one, but didn't run the first one hard enough and was done in by a good throw.

With two wickets from four matches at 69.50 at an economy rate of 10.69, coming into this match, you could have said Sreesanth was lucky to get another chance. But he got it together today with four tidy overs of nippy medium pace that accounted for AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan. Sreesanth got his act together by hitting probing lines and finding just the hint of swing needed to keep the batsmen guessing, and though he didn't have further success, the damage had been done.

Punjab kept a check on proceedings during the Powerplay, allowing only four boundaries, one of which was down to poor fielding by Lee at third man. Dinesh Karthik and Mithun Manhas strung together a 50-run partnership but neither was allowed to cause much damage. The 17th over was priceless for Punjab, during which Lee had Farveez Maharoof ducking, slashing and fishing before knocking him over. Lee picked up his third wicket with the first ball of the penultimate over and finished with 3 for 15. He bowled fast, bent the ball back on a couple occasions, and offered the batsmen nothing. It was just what his captain would've expected given Punjab's predicament.

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Canny Bhatia steals one for Delhi

Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils, IPL, Durban

Delhi Daredevils 173 for 7 (Karthik 44*, de Villiers 44, Ojha 2-26) beat Deccan Chargers 161 (Gilchrist 64, Symonds 41, Bhatia 4-15, Sangwan 3-18) by 12 runs

Pradeep Sangwan helped Delhi endure the Gilchrist blitz before Bhatia cleaned up the middle and lower order 

Rajat Bhatia, arguably the best allrounder in India's domestic cricket, announced himself at the world stage tonight. Everything about Bhatia, his pace, his demeanour, his run-up, suggest an innocuous medium-pacer, but he was canny and deadly at the death, taking four wickets for four runs as Deccan Chargers choked to lose once again to Delhi Daredevils. Chasing 174 Deccan needed 25 in three overs, with six wickets in hand, but lost them all for just 12 runs.

When Bhatia came to bowl his final spell, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds had almost hit Delhi Daredevils into submission. After Gilchrist's powerful 33-ball 64, Symonds had chased smartly, mixing the big sixes with chipped couples. Twenty-five from 18 looked as innocuous as Bhatia is reputed to be, but when Symonds missed a low full toss from Bhatia things became interesting.

Dwayne Smith was fooled by a slow legcutter two balls later, and the game had turned. A big choke followed as Venugopal Rao gloved an Ashish Nehra bouncer next over, and RP Singh ran himself out after failing to get bat to another bouncer. Soon Deccan found themselves needing 14 off the last over, and Bhatia was accurate with his slower balls again, removing Pragyan Ojha and Shoaib Maqsusi.

It was a night when Delhi's domestic bowlers undid two Australian heavyweights. That Delhi could entertain hopes of winning the match despite the amazing hitting was thanks to the 18-year-old Pradeep Sangwan. When Sangwan came on to bowl, Deccan had raced to 30 in two overs. Sangwan removed T Suman in his first over, and claimed Rohit Sharma in his second, which was a maiden as well. Deccan scored 50 in the Powerplays, despite only three runs off two Sangwan overs.

If Sangwan seemed to be playing a different game from his colleagues, Gilchrist wasn't too far off that either. Unlike Delhi's domestic players, Deccan were hampered by their domestic batsmen who seemed to be caught in the headlights. By the strategy break, Gilchrist had peppered the leg-side boundary with five sixes between long-on and square-leg, scoring 63 from 31. Others - Suman, Rohit, Ravi Teja and extras - contributed 20.

It was Sangwan again who struck after that time-out, getting rid of Gilchrist with a yorker outside off, which the batsman played on. Still Gilchrist left the chase in able hands, Symonds, who came in at a surprisingly low No. 5. Right from the off, Symonds showed he was in great touch, hammering sixes and finding gaps in the field nonchalantly. With Delhi's main bowlers bowled out, the chase seemed in the firm control of Symonds, until Bhatia struck out of the blue.

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Dazzling Bravo hands Mumbai big win

Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians, IPL, Centurion

Mumbai Indians 122 for 2 (Bravo 70*, Tendulkar 41*) beat Kings XI Punjab 119 for 9 (Sohal 43, Duminy 2-15) by 8 wickets

Dwayne Bravo made little work of Kings XI Punjab's 119, scoring an unbeaten 70 to take Mumbai Indians to an eight-wicket win © Associated Press

For the second time in two meetings between these teams, Kings XI Punjab batted first and scored 119, but unlike the game in Durban, there was no redemption in the field this time as Mumbai Indians swept to an eight-wicket win to move up to 11 points and fourth in the points table. The win was set up by Mumbai's offspinners - Harbhajan Singh, JP Duminy and Ajinkya Rahane returned combined figures of 4 for 29 in nine overs to launch a stunning comeback. Dwayne Bravo ensured a hiccup-free run-chase with a magnificent unbeaten 70 in an innings full of expansive drives and pulls.

Mahela Jayawardene's absence due to a leg injury sustained during the previous game hit Punjab badly: not only did they miss his calm presence in the middle order, it also meant there were six left-handers in the top eight, since his replacement was Luke Pommersbach. That suited Sachin Tendulkar's offspin theory perfectly, and Punjab didn't help their cause with some reckless shot-making and brainless running between the wickets.

After the first five overs, though, it seemed this match would be a run-fest just like the previous one of the day, when Ross Taylor's heroics had lit up Centurion. Punjab rattled along to 50 off a mere 32 balls, with Sunny Sohal (43 off 23) plundering boundaries at will, either shuffling across his stumps to flick to leg, or giving himself room to carve sixes over point. Soon, though, Harbhajan came into the attack, beat Kumar Sangakkara with his first three deliveries, and from there Punjab had little to cheer as Tendulkar quickly latched on to the offspin theory.

Coming in to bowl in the eighth over, Harbhajan immediately settled into a magnificent rhythm. Bowling from round the stumps to the left-handers, he flighted the ball, got it to drift in, and the spin away sharply. Sangakkara was clueless off the first three deliveries, and then lost that contest comprehensively when he played all over one from Harbhajan's next over.

Duminy was soon pressed into the attack, and he responded with two strikes in his second over, first getting Wilkin Mota to hoick one to Harbhajan, who juggled repeatedly before holding on, and Yuvraj Singh, who paid the price for hitting against the turn. The twin offspin success prompted Tendulkar to try Ajinkya Rahane, and that move paid off too, as Pommersbach played a rash head-in-the-air shot that typified Punjab's approach.

In between all the spin trouble, Punjab contributed to their own downfall with some extremely sloppy running between the wickets. Mota gave it away with one such effort, making no effort to get back into his crease when Tendulkar misfielded at midwicket.

The bowlers had done much more than had been expected of them, and Bravo and Tendulkar ensured the run-chase would be a canter. Punjab nailed a couple of wickets - including that of Sanath Jayasuriya - to give them some initial hope, but Bravo, who survived a tough caught-and-bowled chance off Irfan Pathan early in his innings, ended the momentary high with a fearsome assault on Sreesanth which turned the momentum completely Mumbai's way.

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Delhi wallop Kolkata to go top

Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL, Johannesburg

Delhi Daredevils 125 for 3 (de Villiers 40*, Warner 36) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 123 for 8 (Ganguly 44, Agarkar 39, Mishra 3-14) by seven wickets

Amit Mishra kept Kolkata on the mat with his triple-strike © Associated Press

The reduced canvas of a Twenty20 game is supposed to shorten the gulf between sides but in Johannesburg there was no hiding the difference in quality between the two teams at opposite ends of the table. Another commanding performance from Delhi Daredevils helped them sweep past struggling Kolkata Knight Riders and regain their No.1 spot. After their bowlers, led by Ashish Nehra and Amit Mishra, had restricted Kolkata to a paltry total, the batsmen - led by AB de Villiers - kept the chase in hand and strolled to victory with seventeen balls to spare.

It initially seemed Brendon McCullum would script a surprise after he swatted the game's second ball for six and jumped out with intent on the next. However, he was wrongly adjudged lbw off Nehra's next delivery, with the ball going over and wide of offstump, and Delhi gained an advantage they never relinquished.

Worse was to follow for Kolkata three balls later, when the reliable Brad Hodge edged to first slip for a duck. Morne van Wyk, one of the few bright spots in Kolkata's campaign, continued the procession by slapping a Dirk Nannes short ball to square leg. By the end of the second over Kolkata had lost three of their foreign recruits for nine runs.

Sourav Ganguly and Yashpal Singh tried to get their side back on the rails. Ganguly carved one into the Kolkata dug-out in the fourth over, and Yashpal collected a couple of hard-hit boundaries in the next. The singles were also being picked off, and Ganguly was looking extremely good, particularly square on the off side.

Enter Mishra. He got rid of Yashpal and Wriddhiman Saha in his first over, and Kolkata slid to 46 for 5 after eight. There was some less than assured running between the wickets when Ganguly and Moises Henriques were together before Henriques became Mishra's third victim after an uncomfortable eight-ball stay that yielded two runs.

Prime Numbers

271

The number of runs scored by AB de Villiers, who tops the batting charts for Delhi Daredevils

35

The number of runs added for the eighth-wicket partnership between Ajit Agarkar & Murali Kartik, the best in the tournament

67.75

de Villiers' batting average - the best in the tournament so far

134

Kartik's bowling average in the tournament

Kolkata were then content to take the singles, cutting out most risks - Ganguly opening up only on a free hit, clobbering Mishra over long-on for a massive six. Ajit Agarkar also found some rhythm against Pradeep Sangwan, lofting him for a couple of boundaries. Just as Kolkata seemed to be recovering a bit, Delhi got rid of Ganguly.

Agarkar then threw his bat around to take his side into triple-digits, taking his chances with some uppish shots, to finish on a 29-ball 39.

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