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Cameron Bancroft’s first Sheffield Shield century of the season lifted Western Australia to a strong position after day one against New South Wales at Bankstown Oval.The former Test opener showed trademark concentration before being dismissed in the final overs of the day as the visitors reached 3 for 231 at stumps. He fell victim to the new ball and was trapped lbw by Chris Tremain for 117, having hit nine boundaries in his 262-ball knock.Bancroft, who batted for 12 hours across two innings against the Blues at the same venue three years ago, looked more than capable of reprising that feat from the outset on Tuesday. He managed just 28 in the first session after Western Australia had won an important toss and elected to make first use of the wicket.”New South Wales bowled really well so I had to work hard for runs,” said Bancroft. “It is a wicket that is obviously quite slow with not a lot of sideways movement but there was enough variation to make it difficult.”The outfield is really slow as well which doesn’t help and I think spin will play more of a role as the game goes on.”Shaun Marsh proved to be an able lieutenant for Bancroft and batted with similar caution as the pair added 141 for the second wicket. The partnership ended when allrounder Jack Edwards induced a thin edge from Marsh for his second scalp.Edwards earlier sent Sam Whiteman back to the pavilion when the opener edged a sharp catch to Trent Copeland at first slip.Hilton Cartwright was 29 not out when stumps were drawn while new batter Josh Philippe is on 5.Daniel Hughes and Moises Henriques were notable returnees to the New South Wales side after missing the recent match due to a Covid infection and Australian team duties respectively.Both sides, along with Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania, boast two wins apiece heading into the penultimate round.

It was a game that was the length of a shoelace from going to a Super Over, but because Tim David ensured the shoelace in question didn’t touch the boundary rope, Multan Sultans sealed a scintillating six-run win against the Quetta Gladiators. For the first time this tournament, a side managed a successful defence of a total after Sultans scored 174, thanks to a blistering 57-ball 88 from unlikely leading scorer of the tournament Shan Masood. In a chase that saw wild swings of the pendulum, especially in the final five overs, David Willey was the star of the night, sending down two sensational death overs to just about keep Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men at bay.Chasing 175, Khushdil Shah was superb in nailing the Gladiators down early with the ball, a superb return catch to get rid of Will Smeed the highlight. Ahsan Ali was good for a few lusty blows but the Sultans kept chipping away with wickets, and Imran Tahir burst through the middle order with the successive wickets of Ben Duckett and Ashir Qureshi, before Khushdil returned to remove a struggling Sarfaraz Ahmed for 21 off 23.The final five overs of the contest were an epic in themselves. Sultans appeared to have sealed the game after Tahir’s three wickets helped his side burrow deep into the Gladiators’ lower order, but they hadn’t yet got rid of Iftikhar Ahmed. Traded in from Islamabad United, he demonstrated why he’s been such hot property in Pakistan T20 cricket over the last year or so. Three sixes and a four in the 17th over suddenly put the Gladiators back in charge against all logic, with the asking rate down to under nine once more.But Willey came in and bowled a nerveless, near-perfect 18th over, removing Iftikhar for a 13-ball 30 and conceding just three runs. Shahnawaz Dahani was less accurate in the penultimate over and fortunate not to see more slot balls dispatched, leaking 15 in his six deliveries. Crucially, however, a bit of brain-fade running from Sohail Tanvir cost Gladiators the priceless wicket of James Faulkner, and Quetta still needed eight with Tanvir off strike.It was down to Willey to execute once more. Three balls later, he had allowed just one run and seen Tanvir hole out to square leg. Mohammad Rizwan, calmness personified in a game of nail-biting drama, fatefully sent the tall Tim David out to the cow corner boundary where Naseem walloped the next ball. David held on, and ensured he’d tipped the ball back in before overbalancing and came back to collect cleanly, clinching a dramatic win for his elated side.Earlier – ages ago, it now seems – the Gladiators won the toss and inserted Sultans in. Mohammad Hasnain and Faulkner were miserly up top, and aside from Masood, no one could quite find their range for much of the innings. Rizwan fell for a rare second-ball duck after a miscue into the onside, and in his absence, the Sultans looked wobbly in the Powerplay. It was only at the death when the Gladiators lost their discipline slightly that the Sultans really made up for lost time. Once Masood slapped Iftikhar for two sixes in the 16th, the batters switched to death hitting mode, and a switch appeared to flicker on for Rizwan’s side.Tanvir missed his lines at the end and found himself punished, and despite Hasnain continuing the good work he’d begun in the Powerplay, the Gladiators conceded 67 off the final five overs. The Sultans subsequently took the momentum with them at the change of innings, and though it ebbed and flowed over the next 20 overs, the final swing, for once, went to the side that batted first.

South Africa captain Dean Elgar believes his side holds the edge in the upcoming three Tests against India by dint of playing on home conditions, even though they are “wary” of how well India have fared in overseas conditions recently to be the No. 1-ranked Test team in the world.”I think it’s pretty even-stevens. Us playing at home, obviously, gives us a little bit of an upper hand,” Elgar said two days out from the Boxing Day Test in Centurion. “They are ranked No. 1 in the world; we can’t not look at that. That’s something they have been for quite some time, in my opinion – just my being a cricket watcher and a cricket fan.”You can’t not give them the credit for what they have done over the last while. So, I am not going to sit here and say they are not the best side in the world because there’s a ranking system for a reason. But the mere fact that we’re playing in our backyard gives us still the upper hand going into the series.”Related

• Stats: South Africa's dominance in Centurion, and India's middle-order muddle

• Elgar: 'Not nice to see our coaches get lambasted for things'

• Just how formidable are South Africa at home, really?

• KL Rahul hints India may stick to five-bowler strategy

India’s 2-1 Test series victory on Australian shores earlier this year was key to propelling them into the inaugural World Test Championship final, where they finished runners-up to New Zealand. Hot on the heels of the title clash came the assignment against hosts England, which India dictated with a 2-1 scoreline before concerns around Covid-19 reduced the five-match Test assignment to four, with the fifth fixture postponed until 2022.On both tours India’s bowling attack, their pace contingent in particular, underpinned the majority of their dominance. With them expected to stick to their five-bowler make-up in South Africa, Elgar admitted the visitors’ attack posed the home team the most potent challenge in conditions typically conducive to speed, movement, and carry.”Their strength at the moment lies in their bowling,” Elgar said. “We are extremely aware of that as well. They’ve had a lot of successes as a bowling unit. They’ve got a lot of older spearhead bowlers that lead the attack and have got a good back-up set of bowlers as well.”And being in South Africa, I’m pretty sure their bowling attack will exploit the conditions reasonably well. Just knowing that we have our seamers and we’ve got a little bit of pace and bounce and the wickets may be do a little bit more in South Africa than it does anywhere else around the world.”Despite their triumphant showings in overseas conditions in the recent past, with their resurgence in the longest format having its roots in their victory in Johannesburg four years ago in a 1-2 loss to South Africa, that India are yet to clinch a Test series in the country could, Elgar said, enthuse Virat Kohli’s team to go for the jugular.”It (India having success in Australia and England) is something we’re obviously wary of. They’ve improved a lot with regards to their travelling record,” Elgar said, “I know Virat Kohli has emphasised on that kind of point – that they wanted to improve their record on the road. [We are] Extremely mindful of that; they have set themselves that standard. And I’m sure they’re going to try and fulfill it within this series.”And as much as I have the power of being the leader of this team, I’m going to try and prevent them from fulfilling that role or that dream of theirs. That makes an exciting and challenging series coming up for both teams. We know they’re going to come out firing; we’re extremely mindful of that as well. I’m pretty sure they know we’re also going to come out firing. Either way it’s going to be an extremely exciting Test series.”

KL Rahul has hinted that India are inclined towards playing five bowlers in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion, leaving them with a “very, very difficult decision” over which batter to pick at No. 5. While addressing a press conference on Friday, Rahul, vice-captain in the absence of Rohit Sharma, was asked whether India would find it hard to manage the workloads of their bowlers in case they only played a four-man attack.India have played five bowlers in each of their last 15 Tests, but with the allrounder Ravindra Jadeja injured and out of the tour, it will be a less-than-straightforward decision to stick with that combination in South Africa. Nonetheless, Rahul’s response suggested that five bowlers remains India’s preferred option.”I think more teams have started playing [five bowlers], because, you know, every team wants to pick up 20 wickets, and that’s the only way you can win a Test match,” he said. “We’ve definitely used that tactic, and it’s helped us in every Test match that we’ve played away from India. I think the workload also becomes slightly easier to manage with five bowlers, and when you have that kind of quality, you might as well use it.”Related

• If Dravid the coach is anything like Dravid the captain, be ready for unpopular calls

• India look to breach another fortress as they take on transitioning South Africa

• Elgar: 'Playing in our backyard gives us the upper hand'

• How India have evolved since their last South Africa tour

• Pujara backs fast bowlers to give India maiden Test series in SA

With a five-bowler combination leaving room only for five batters, it seems likely that Ajinkya Rahane – who averages 19.57 in 12 Tests this year – will be locked in a three-way tussle for the No. 5 slot along with Shreyas Iyer, who recently made a century on Test debut against New Zealand in Kanpur, and Hanuma Vihari, who warmed up for this series with three back-to-back fifties during India A’s shadow tour of South Africa.”Look, it is a very, very difficult decision to make, obviously,” Rahul said. “Ajinkya has been a very important part of our Test team and has played very, very crucial knocks in his career. The last 15-18 months, if I can think back, his knock in Melbourne was really really crucial; it helped us win a Test match. That partnership with [Cheteshwar] Pujara at Lord’s in the second innings where he got a fifty was really important, and that ended up in us winning the Test match. So he’s been a key player for us in the middle order, and he’s a very, very strong player.India have played five bowlers in each of their last 15 Tests•BCCI

“Shreyas obviously has taken his chances. He played a brilliant knock in Kanpur, got a hundred; so he’s very exciting. And Hanuma has done the same for us, so yeah, it’s a tough decision. But we’ll start having a chat today or tomorrow, and you’ll get to know [the No. 5] in a couple of days’ time.”One of the challenges of a South Africa tour, Rahul said, was getting used to the bounce of those pitches, which he suggested tends to be of a spongier nature than the bounce in Australia – at least in the early part of Test matches.”I haven’t played a lot of games here in South Africa, but from my experience, I think sometimes the pitches can be a little bit challenging because of the tennis-ball bounce,” he said. “We’ve played in Australia where the pitches are fast and bouncy, but here it can be a bit spongy in the first couple of days, and then it starts to quicken up. So when I played last time, each time the wicket was a bit difficult, and you had to understand and adjust according to that, so that becomes a huge challenge for both batters and bowlers.”On Thursday, South Africa fast bowler Duanne Olivier had suggested that the Centurion pitch for Boxing Day would be of a similar nature – slow to start before quickening up – and Rahul agreed with that assessment.”Look, I think Duanne Olivier will know these conditions a lot better than us,” Rahul said. “Yes, even the last time we played here, the wicket started off a bit slow and then quickened up, and then got slow again. I think from whatever information we can gather about the Centurion pitch, it’s been that kind of a pitch. And even in the centre-wicket practice, we experienced the same things, and we tried to prepare accordingly.”

Ed Pollock made Birmingham’s victory a formality•Getty Images

Birmingham Bears took a comfortable stride towards the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals when they thrashed Durham by eight wickets at Chester-le-Street.Despite 53 off 37 balls from skipper Paul Coughlin, Durham could only set a modest target of 145 for 8 and the Bears’ young opening pair of Ed Pollock and Dominic Sibley launched a blistering reply with 51 off the first four overs. Victory was achieved with 5.1 overs to spare.Swivel pulls produced two of the left-hander Pollock’s four sixes as his superbly-timed strokes took him to 52 off 25 balls before he skied a catch to the wicketkeeper.The closest Durham came to an early breakthrough was when Pollock, on 11, pulled Usman Arshad for what looked a certain six until Graham Clark leapt to palm the ball back in-field from above the rope.Two overs later Pollock pulled Brydon Carse for a huge six behind square then cut the next ball crisply for four as 19 came off the over.With 79 on the board when Pollock departed in the eighth over, the Bears were able to coast, although Colin de Grandomme joined in the barrage with two sixes off Paul Collingwood.The New Zealand player became Ryan Pringle’s second victim when he drove to long-on before Sibley stepped across to lift Arshad behind square for six to reach 50 off 37 balls. He remained unbeaten on 51, made largely through orthodox strokes.The contest was as good as over when, after choosing to bat on a pleasant afternoon, Durham subsided tamely to 30 for 4 in the sixth over.Keaton Jennings was the first to go. After struggling to four off ten balls on his return to county duty against Worcestershire on Friday evening, this time he stroked the first ball of the match, from Olly Stone, to the extra cover boundary. But he added only a single before lobbing Jeetan Patel’s second ball to short midwicket.Three balls later, Collingwood advanced to loft Patel over long-off for six, but it was his only scoring shot as he aimed to smash Stone over midwicket and fell lbw.Tom Latham spooned Stone gently to mid-off in the same over, then Clark made 12 before cracking a short ball from Oliver Hannon-Dalby straight to extra cover.Coughlin hit three sixes and scored the bulk of the runs in propelling the score from 68 after 12 overs to 110 after 15. Stuart Poynter’s unbeaten 36 off 30 balls further raised Durham’s spirits, only for Pollock and Sibley to dash them in impressive style.

Shahid Afridi will return to Hampshire for the NatWest T20 Blast.He was part of the side that endured a poor 2016 campaign when they finished second-bottom of the South Group and his return with the ball was an underwhelming nine wickets in 12 matches although he was the most economical bowler.”He’s been an important part of our success in the short form of the game in previous seasons and we feel his talents fit well with the current squad,” Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket said.Afridi’s most recent cricket was the PSL which ended in early March. He scored 177 runs in eight innings at a strike-rate of 173.52 but only managed two wickets before missing the final in Lahore with a finger injury.

Tim Southee, the New Zealand fast bowler, has signed for Middlesex as their second overseas player for the NatWest T20 Blast. His arrival to play under the captain and coach combination of Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori – both former New Zealand team-mates of Southee – gives a strong Black Caps feel to Middlesex in the shortest format.Southee, who is currently playing for Mumbai Indians at the IPL, will link up with Middlesex in early July and is expected to be available for 13 group matches (out of 14), as well as the knockout stages, potentially.”Tim is one of the leading fast bowlers in the world. He has plenty of experience in T20 cricket and looks to bowl in the periods where we feel we could be better,” Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s managing director of cricket, said. “We look forward to welcoming him to Lord’s.”Southee previously played county cricket for Essex in 2011, when he took 22 wickets during the Friends Life t20, as well as scoring his only T20 half-century – 74 off 34 balls opening the batting against Hampshire. Overall, he has taken 139 T20 wickets with an economy of 8.26.”I’m excited to be joining Middlesex this year for the NatWest T20 blast and helping the club throughout the T20 competition,” Southee said. “When the opportunity come up to play for Middlesex it wasn’t a tough decision to make and I’m looking forward to calling Lord’s home while I’m there.”

Match facts

Kings XI Punjab v Rising Pune Supergiant
Indore, April 8, 2017
Start time 1600 local (1030 GMT)
2:59

Hogg: Changing captains shows lack of direction for Kings XI

Head to head

It’s one all, with each team having won at their home venue last year. These two teams finished bottom of the table last season.

In the news

Australia batsman Glenn Maxwell, who has never led any team in the 340 recognised matches he has played across formats, will debut as captain for Kings XI. He was picked for the role ahead of international captains such as Eoin Morgan and Darren Sammy.A last-minute addition to the Kings XI squad, Ishant Sharma is set to represent his fifth IPL franchise – the joint-second most by any player – against the team that let he go after the 2016 season. Kings XI brought in Ishant as a replacement for M Vijay, who is out of IPL 2017 with wrist and shoulder injuries sustained during India’s protracted home season. Ishant had gone unsold at the IPL auction in February, after a season in which he claimed three wickets in four matches at 49.33, conceding 9.86 per over for Supergiant.

Form guide

Rising Pune Supergiant beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in Pune

Shardul Thakur might get into Supergiant’s XI, after the lacklustre performance from the team’s frontline seamers in their opening game against Mumbai Indians. Ashok Dinda bowled the most expensive 20th over in IPL history – 30 runs – and the side’s fast-bowling trio, comprising Dinda, Deepak Chahar and Ben Stokes, conceded 114 runs for a solitary wicket.Kings XI’s INR 3 crore recruit T Natarajan made quite a mark in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, particularly with his six yorkers in a Super Over against Tuti Patriots. He could push Varun Aaron for a spot in the XI. Kings XI will also take the field with a new coach behind them; J Arun Kumar took charge following Sanjay Bangar’s resignation.Indore’s Holkar Stadium, which hosted its last IPL game in 2011, will be Kings XI’s second home after Mohali. Three games will be played at the ground.

The likely XIs

Kings XI Punjab: 1 Manan Vohra, 2 Glenn Maxwell (capt), 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 David Miller, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Axar Patel, 8 KC Cariappa, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 T Natarajan/Varun AaronRising Pune Supergiant: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Ben Stokes, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Jaydev Unadkat 9 Imran Tahir, 10 Shardul Thakur/Ishwar Pandey, 11 Adam Zampa

Stats that matter

• In Indore, where the last T20 match played was during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – India’s domestic T20 competition – in 2015, teams batting first won seven out of ten matches.
• In Maxwell, Kings XI identified their tenth captain – the most among all IPL teams. This lack of stability across seasons is, perhaps, best reflected by the overall standings: they have finished at the bottom of the table three times – the joint most by any franchise, along with Delhi Daredevils.
• Against Kings XI, MS Dhoni has four half-centuries – the most for him against any team – and his best strike rate against an IPL team (three matches minimum).
• David Miller’s slump in form has resulted in his average, strike rate, fifties and balls per boundary decreasing every year, starting 2013, where he amassed 418 runs in 12 innings with an average of 59.17. In the two games against Pune last year, he scored only seven runs apiece, in a season where he got 161 runs in 13 innings.
• Supergiants’ run rate of 8.00 in Powerplays, while batting first, was the second best last season. Ironically, they lost all seven matches in which they batted first last season. A big contributor to that would have been their economy rate in Powerplays when defending totals: 9.80, the worst among all teams.

ScorecardCraig Overton’s hat-trick couldn’t rescue MCC•Getty Images

Middlesex overcame a 153-run deficit on first innings, as well as a Craig Overton hat-trick, to secure a tense one-wicket win over MCC in Abu Dhabi. John Simpson’s unbeaten 89 provided the crucial plank in Middlesex’s chase of 305, as the wicketkeeper helped the last three wickets chisel out 64 runs after Overton had appeared to swing the match towards MCC.Harry Podmore and Tom Helm, who had shared six wickets to help skittle MCC for 151 in their second innings, kept Simpson company in partnerships of 36 and 22 respectively and, although Mason Crane removed both as part of a four-wicket haul, No. 11 Ravi Patel hung on to help complete victory.Simpson was the hero when Middlesex chase 302 eight down at Taunton last year, on the way to the club’s first title in 23 years. MCC’s Somerset trio of Overton, Lewis Gregory and Jack Leach did their best to undermine Middlesex again, taking 15 wickets between them, but the champions ultimately proved too strong.MCC saw their last two wickets fall on the third morning with only four added to the overnight score; Liam Plunkett was unable to bat after straining a calf earlier in the match. That still meant Middlesex needing to score considerably more than the 179 they managed in the first innings for victory.They were given a much stronger base by the top order second time around. Nick Gubbins and Nick Compton both struck half-centuries and they looked to be cruising to their target on 242 for 4 in the 54th over.Enter Overton, wicketless to that point. He pinned Steve Eskinazi lbw for 44, had Middlesex captain James Franklin caught behind first ball and then won another lbw decision against James Harris to change the complexion of the innings. Simpson, however, stayed calm and ticked off the runs with the lower order to ensure Middlesex would start their season with a win under lights.

ScorecardFile photo – Hilton Cartwright struck nine fours and four sixes in his 145-ball 94•Getty Images

A solid first-innings batting effort from Western Australia extended their advantage against Tasmania in their Sheffield Shield match in Hobart. Resuming on 1 for 149, Western Australia went on to post 410 on the back of fifties from Hilton Cartwright (94), Cameron Bancroft (84) and Josh Inglis (55).Bancroft and Cartwright added 98 for the second wicket, but Tasmania’s bowlers chipped away thereafter, reducing Western Australia to 8 for 369. Wicketkeeper Inglis, batting at No. 7, struck a counter-attacking half-century off just 48 balls to push Western Australia’s lead to 212. Cameron Stevenson picked up three wickets, while Simon Milenko and Cameron Boyce took two wickets each.Tasmania lost their openers within the first four overs of their second innings. In the eighth over, Alex Doolan was caught off fast bowler David Moody and Beau Webster was dismissed four overs later, as Tasmania slumped to 4 for 37. George Bailey and nightwatchman Stevenson took Tasmania to stumps, still trailing by 154.