All posts by csb10.top

Group AFor the second day in a row, eighteen wickets fell at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. With two more days to go, Saurashtra brightened their hopes for a knockout berth by setting a target of 247 and then reducing Railways to 97 for 6.Railways, reeling overnight at 71 for 8, could only add a further ten runs in their first-innings. Subsequently Saurashtra, sitting on a comfortable lead of 94, failed for the second time in succession as they mustered a meagre 152, but the target set seemed to be enough going into the third day.With the exception of Ravindra Jadeja, who played late to top score with 45, the visitors showed the same lack of application as that of the Railways’ batsmen. Luckily it did not hurt Saurashtra so much as Kamlesh Makvana ripped apart the Railways’ batting order in their second innings with his fastish offbreaks, which fetched him his fifth five-for in first-class cricket. There was not much hope for Railways when senior batsmen like Sanjay Bangar and Shivakant Shukla gave away their wickets by charging out to Makvana.The Railways coach Abhay Sharma, however, didn’t blame the nature of the pitch for the slew of wickets. “Some of our batsmen played bad shots. I don’t think the curator is responsible in any way. When you have a three-day gap between two matches, a curator could have hardly done anything,” Sharma said. “In northern India, it’s difficult to water the pitch as it might remain wet and also you can’t just use the roller on a dry pitch.”Orissa were staring at a big first-innings deficit as they ended on 76 for 6 in reply to Rajasthan‘s 423 in Jaipur. Robin Bist’s unbeaten 127 and Puneet Yadav’s 63 were instrumental in Rajasthan getting to an imposing score. The pair added 124 for the fifth wicket before Yadav was caught behind by Alok Mangaraj. The 24-year-old Bist, originally from Delhi, continued till he ran out of partners, hitting 16 fours in his knock. This is his fourth century in five matches for Bist, who at 829 runs is the top run-maker of season so far. Basanth Mohanty finished with 4 for 104.Rajasthan’s Pankaj Singh then made early inroads with the ball before Sumit Mathur, instrumental in Rajasthan’s victory against Saurashtra last week, took three wickets in five overs to leave the visitors in trouble. With Orissa still adrift by 347 runs, the defending champions would like the enforce the follow-on and try and go for an innings victory to get the bonus points and keep alive the chance of a knockout berth for second year in a row. If they do manage to do that, Rajasthan would have to thank Bist a lot. “This has been my best season in Ranji Trophy. Before this season, I had just one Ranji century. Now, I have five,” Bist told the at the end of the second day’s play.Wasim Jaffer became the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy and, along with the belligerent Suryakumar Yadav, steered Mumbai past Punjab‘s first-innings total during a typically elegant knock. Punjab toiled all day but were blunted by Mumbai’s ultra-defensive approach in the first session, and later by Jaffer’s and Yadav’s aggression. With Saurashtra and Rajasthan in strong positions in their games, Punjab’s chances of making the quarter-finals were slim. Read the full report here.The second day’s play in Shimoga followed the course of the first, as Uttar Pradesh mirrored Karnataka‘s batting effort to finish 39 runs short of the first-innings lead, with four wickets standing. Like their Karnataka counterparts on day one, UP built a solid base in the morning, only to lose wickets in a clump in the lead-up to tea. Like Stuart Binny on the first day, Mohammad Kaif battled through the slump, before stalling it with a dogged seventh-wicket stand. Read the full report here.Group BTamil Nadu strengthened their position against Madhya Pradesh in Chennai, with Dinesh Karthik scoring 156 – his second century in as many games – to take the team to 486. The hosts then consolidated their position by sending the vistors’ top order comprising Naman Ojha, Mohnish Mishra and Devendra Bundela – essentially the MP batting’s engine-room – back to the dressing room in no time.Earlier Karthik was bold in his strokeplay, despite having only the tail for support. Yo Mahesh, M Rangarajan and L Balaji all frustrated the MP bowlers, while Karthik went from strength to strength. After the debuant Amarjeet Singh failed to latch on a hard-hit return catch when Karthik was on 89, the former Tamil Nadu captain progressed to make 156. For MP, Ishwar Pandey finished with 4 for 123 off nearly 40 overs. Zafar Ali, the MP opener, witnessed three partners depart before stumps, leaving plenty for the visitors to do on the third day to match TN’s score.Gritty half-centuries from Sourav Ganguly and Anustup Majumdar put Bengal well on course to take a first-innings lead against Baroda at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. It was an eventful day for Ganguly who started the morning by wrapping up the Baroda innings while he finished with figures of 3 for 1. But Bengal were in for a rude jolt when they were wobbling at 98 for 4, which included the wicket of Manoj Tiwary, who had scored a century in each of his previous three matches. Bengal lost their opener Jayojit Basu to the left-arm seamer Gagandeep Singh, before Firdaush Bhaja had Arindam Das caught in the slips. Shreevats Goswami’s boundary-filled 38 came to an end when he nicked Gagandeep to the keeper. Gagandeep struck again when he had Manoj Tiwary caught at cover.Luckily Ganguly found a stable partner in Majumdar and the paired added vital 93 runs for the fifth wicket before the former Indian captain retired hurt due a left hamstring pull. Till then, Ganguly had 60 runs to his credit including nine fours. Majumdar, who ended the day unbeaten on 71, added a further 73 with Laxmi Shukla before stumps.Gujarat just about managed to take a slender first-innings lead of 21 runs against Haryana in Surat. Resuming on 46 for 1, the Gujarat top order showed an appalling lack of discipline and application, with no one managing even a half century. Luckily for the team, Pratharesh Parmar and Manprit Juneja showed some resistance, adding 63 for the fifth wicket, to help Gujarat to match Haryana’s score. For Haryana the job was done by India legspinner Amit Mishra and the debutant offspinner Jayant Yadav, as the pair took three wickets apiece to peg the hosts back. The other debutant, Mohit Sharma, took two wickets.Haryana erased the deficit of 21 by ending the day on a healthy 61 for no loss. If Gujarat lose this match, they would be relegated to the Plate division. And with the pitch aiding the spinners, a result seems likely. “The match is wide open and any target above 250-275 is going to be difficult to chase in the fourth innings on this ground with the wicket taking spin,” Jayendra Saigal, the Gujarat coach, said. “Our batsmen did not do justice to their talent today.”

Ian Bell, the England batsman, expects the occasional flashpoint in the series against Pakistan that starts next month, but knows both teams have a responsibility to compete in the right spirit.Contests between England and Pakistan have a history of courting controversy and this tour takes place in the aftermath of the spot-fixing verdicts, with Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir given jail terms after being exposed by the in 2010.Relations between the teams became increasingly strained during the one-day leg of that series but Andrew Strauss has previously spoken about how it is time to move on from spot-fixing. For their part Pakistan have a new-look team which has enjoyed a very successful 2011 although a number of players remain from the England tour.”It’s a slightly different Pakistan squad to last year. They are trying to prove lots of people wrong,” Bell told the . “It will be a tough series and I am sure that at some point there will be an incident or two. But it’s important we ensure that this series is remembered for the right reasons not for anything controversial.”Bell is also aware that England didn’t cover themselves in glory during the one-day series against India in October when the team was criticised for their attitude in the field as they slumped to the 5-0 whitewash.”We didn’t put ourselves in a great light in the one-day series India with some of the stuff that was going on and we need to make sure that this series is played in the right way. Hopefully that will happen. It’s important for both sides to be ambassadors for the game and we need to make sure that it is played in the right way.”Pakistan have finished 2011 as one of the in-form teams in the world, which bodes well for a tight tussle against England who start the series as the No. 1 Test team. Pakistan will have the advantage of greater knowledge of the conditions, having played ‘home’ Tests in UAE over the last two years, but Bell thinks inconsistency remains a real possibility.”Pakistan have great individual players, they always have done, but they are unpredictable,” he said. “On their day they can beat anyone but they can always lose to anyone. You never quite know what you are going to get with them.

Graeme Swann has no plans to quit one-day internationals, despite his recent comments that the format should be ditched, but believes the seven-match series England are due to play in India next year is “ridiculous”.Swann came out with strong comments earlier this week saying that international cricket should involve Tests and Twenty20 but didn’t expect much support for his view. However, as a cricketer who is active in all three formats he insists something has to give and in 2012 is due to spend 250 days in hotel beds.”I do think we play way too much of it and the idea of a seven-match series in India next winter is ridiculous,” he told the . “But I won’t hang up my one-day boots because I missed so much cricket for England over the eight years before I got back in that I don’t think I’d forgive myself if I started to pick and choose what I played.”That would turn me into the player I don’t want to be and the sort of bloke I don’t want to be, because I love playing for England so much. I realise I’m incredibly lucky to do what I do and I just have to get on with it. I might not be happy about playing in a seven-match one-day series, but we’ve got to give the best account of ourselves.”Swann admitted there have been times he has not been completely motivated for an international match due to the continuous flow of fixtures. “It annoys me that your mind can be in a place where you’ve got an international game and you’re not itching to play in it,” he said.Swann is currently on a rare lengthy break from the game since being involved on the one-day tour of India during October. He will return to action to face Pakistan in the UAE next month, which is the start of another hectic period of international cricket for England.The UAE trip is followed by two Tests in Sri Lanka starting at the end of March and the home season starts in mid-May. Following the visit of South Africa there is the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka then England tour India for a trip that involves four Tests before the end of the year.

Simon Katich has suggested he will never be chosen for Australia so long as the team is led by Michael Clarke.Katich has admitted that Clarke did indeed play a role in his removal from the list of Cricket Australia contracts, having previously denied the pair’s colourful history had anything to do with the decision.Following Australia’s ODI series win in South Africa, Clarke responded by saying he was not a selector when the call was made, but felt Katich’s comments were hurtful to the morale of the team.On the day CA unveiled John Inverarity as its new full-time national selector, replacing the former chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch, Katich made a century for New South Wales in a drawn Sheffield Shield match and said he took little joy in the appointment because Clarke would not countenance his recall to the team.Katich’s relationship with Clarke deteriorated after a dressing room stoush at the end of the 2009 SCG Test between Australia and South Africa, in which Katich grabbed the then vice-captain by the throat after an argument had developed over when the team song would be sung.Though he previously denied any link between the incident and the end of his international career, Katich now revealed it had played a significant part.”It’s pleasing to hear but I think you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that it’s not just the selectors that had a part in sending me on my way,” Katich said. “I mean to be brutally honest obviously what happened in the dressing room here a few years ago didn’t help my cause. And obviously the captain and coach are selectors.”Just because he [Inverarity] is going to be chairman of selectors or whatever role it is I wouldn’t have thought that’d make too much difference.”Asked whether or not he could ever expect to play for Australia while Clarke was captain, Katich replied: “I wouldn’t have thought so. That’s probably why I’m in this position in the first place.”Katich also had further harsh words for CA, saying he had still not even received a phone call from the governing body’s Melbourne headquarters to discuss his removal or commiserate.”No one from Cricket Australia has been in contact with me since,” Katicih said. “I just think that no-one’s been in touch since that happened, it’s pretty disrespectful I think from my personal point of view. Given I’ve been contracted for 11 years, to not have any contact whatsoever that’s pretty disappointing.”As Chris Rogers said that’s blatantly rude to be honest. It’s just common courtesy to give someone a call back.”I enjoy playing my cricket here, so that’s why I’m still playing. A big part of that was I had a lot of support at the time when the axing happened so to have that support has spurred me on to keep playing.”Hopefully some good will come out of my situation. I wasn’t the only one to go through it, plenty of players have felt the same frustration.”Following his removal from the contracts list, Katich had delivered a considered but unbridled attack on the national selectors and CA, foreshadowing much of the changes that were imparted by the Argus review, including the appointment of Inverarity.However at the time he denied his confrontation with Clarke had any bearing on the decision.”I don’t think that was an issue,” Katich said at the time. “We had a professional relationship.”Clarke had similarly denied any involvement in the decision to remove Katich.”To say that I have anything to do with it is plain wrong,” Clarke said in June. “And to bring up what happened – what was it, two years ago between Simon and I – is just as wrong.”We sorted things out there and then and I have enjoyed playing my cricket with him in the time since and I am looking forward to playing more cricket with him in the future. There is no ongoing issue between us and there wasn’t one from the moment we sorted things out that day.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Patrick Cummins hit the 150kph mark while taking 1 for 13•Associated Press

No Australian domestic side has lost to an IPL team in three seasons of the Champions League T20, and that trend continued after New South Wales beat Mumbai Indians in a low-scoring encounter in Chennai. The win not only keeps NSW in the race for the semi-finals but also in control of their own destiny, while Mumbai Indians will have to watch other results to know whether they progress.On a hot and cloudless day, and on a track where the ball kept low and didn’t come on to the bat, each member of NSW’s attack played their part as Mumbai’s batting faltered for the third time in the tournament. Only James Franklin put in a decent effort. Faced with a target of 101, it seemed a straightforward chase, but fast bowler Abu Nechim reduced NSW to 28 for 5 before they got home through Steven Smith and Ben Rohrer’s unbroken 73-run stand.The NSW bowlers made a terrific start with Stuart Clark, four days after his 36th birthday and having reduced his playing responsibilities, showing he had lost none of his old accuracy. Handed the new ball, he didn’t strive for pace and stuck to disciplined bowling to knock over Aiden Blizzard and Ambati Rayudu in his first two overs.Patrick Cummins, who is half Clark’s age, then took over. Hitting 150kph on what was widely expected to be a sluggish track, he showed why he’s being called a superstar in the making, intelligently mixing in the slower ball to befuddle the batsmen. In his first over, he got the key wicket of Kieron Pollard, who looked to bludgeon a full ball over midwicket. In the four overs he and Clark bowled from the fifth to the eighth, only five runs were scored.Much then depended on Andrew Symonds. He has not looked his old effervescent self in this tournament, and he struggled today as well. A charge down the track to swipe Steve O’Keefe ended with the ball crashing into the top of off stump and Mumbai Indians were gasping at 51 or 5 after 12 overs.Franklin, subjected to some criticism before the game over his position at No. 4 in the line-up, cut out the Hollywood strokes his team-mates attempted, preferring to play straight, highlighted by a perfectly timed on-drive off Moises Henriques for four. Even as he lost partners regularly, he kept poking the ball around, ensuring Mumbai Indians at least avoided the ignominy of finishing their innings with a double-digit score.NSW weathered the first over of the chase from the chief threat, Lasith Malinga. It was Nechim, though, who made the big breakthroughs, removing both openers, Shane Watson and David Warner, in his first over. With Malinga then dismissing Simon Katich courtesy a trademark swinging yorker, Daniel Smith nicking Nechim behind after attempting a footwork-less slash, and Henriques picking up a duck on being given lbw to a spinning delivery from Yuzvendra Chahal that pitched outside leg, Mumbai were well and truly in the game.Steven Smith and Rohrer then stabilised the innings and slowly took the game away from Mumbai Indians. With the spinners operating, the batsmen used their feet well to punch the ball for singles. It wasn’t till the 13th over of the chase that the first six of the match was struck, Smith clouting Chahal over midwicket. A Franklin long hop was helped to fine leg for four, a wide Malinga yorker was chopped past point for four more before a bunch of boundaries from Smith settled the match in the 17th over.

On the eve of his 100th Test, Kumar Sangakkara has called on the ICC to do away with two-Test series, describing such scheduling as “unsatisfying”. The third Test against Australia at Colombo will offer Sangakkara and his team the chance to pull back a 1-0 deficit, but they have not always been so fortunate.As a stylish batsman, successful captain and articulate statesman for Sri Lankan cricket, Sangakkara said he had taken part in too many series where the narrative felt unduly clipped due to the lack of a third Test.One of his imponderables is the 2007 series in Australia, where the under-prepared visitors lost in Brisbane but then, through Sangakkara’s own majestic 192 in the second Test, pushed the hosts far further. The prospect of a third match might have made a significant change to the script.”It is unsatisfactory to play so many two-Test series,” Sangakkara told ESPNcricinfo. “As a country, to be measured up as a Test country, you need to keep playing three to five Test match series as much as you can.”I don’t think five Test series are attractive anymore to TV networks, but I think Test series should be a minimum of three matches. I hope the ICC can stipulate that, I don’t know if they can.”Among forthcoming series, Australia’s visit to South Africa has been cut to two Tests to accommodate the Twenty20 Champions League, a move that has already been heavily criticised for marginalising Test cricket.”Test cricket is still, to my mind, the most important form of the game out there,” Sangakkara said. “There’s nothing like it, there’s nothing that comes close to it. This is the only arena where you can really make your mark as a cricketer. If you are successful at Test cricket, that is all that matters I think.”Sri Lanka’s success since Sangakkara’s debut in 2000 has been charted largely under overseas coaches, including Tom Moody and Trevor Bayliss. However Sangakkara is fervent in his desire for a home-grown mentor to take the role full-time, and cited the former opening batsman Chandika Hathurusingha as an ideal candidate.”I think we have a great opportunity to have a completely Sri Lankan coaching unit. That will be amazing if we can do it,” Sangakkara said. “And we’ve had candidates the calibre of Chandika Hathurusingha, who is now the assistant coach for New South Wales. He has been a great loss to us.”He made an amazing contribution to our cricket, and he is an extremely capable coach. Rumesh Ratnayake has also been exemplary, unfortunately he has come at a time when we’ve had quite a bad series, but these two people have shown we have the quality in Sri Lanka to have a completely local coaching unit which we can be proud of, and second to none in the world.”At the same time if the administration and the captain also think a foreign coach is the way to go, that is also no problem, because there are many excellent coaches around the world … There is Graham Ford, Geoff Marsh and a lot of other coaches in the running for this job, they’re fantastic people, they’ve got great records and have proven themselves all over the world.”Any one of them would be a great addition to our cricket, but on a personal level, and it’s not a sentimental thing, I think we have the quality in Sri Lanka as well, unfortunately not in Sri Lanka now. One of them is outside coaching NSW, but we have the Sri Lankans capable of also being national coaches and doing a great job.”

ScorecardWith Yorkshire hovering on the brink of relegation, Ryan Sidebottom remained determined that his side would go down fighting on the third day of their County Championship clash with Somerset at Headingley.Firstly, the former England paceman played a major part in a ninth-wicket stand of 53 – the highest of the innings – which dragged Yorkshire to 195 all out and left them trailing their opponents by 70. Then, in a furious spell of bowling either side of tea, he grabbed four for 34 in 12 overs as Somerset stumbled to 46 for 5. They closed the day on 124 for 6, with a lead of 194, to leave the game wide open and Yorkshire still in with a shout of recording their only win of the season at headquarters.When stumps were drawn, however, the scoreboard showed that Yorkshire’s over rate stood at minus two and if it should remain in the red then they will be relegated, regardless of what may happen elsewhere next week. If they get back on an even keel, Worcestershire require only one more point to send Yorkshire down.Until Sidebottom began his heroics, Yorkshire looked like ending a depressing campaign on another dismal note as wickets began to fall immediately they resumed their innings, at 20 without loss from nine overs. Joe Root was lbw to Alfonso Thomas’ fifth ball of the morning and captain Joe Sayers was similarly dismissed in the next over from Steve Kirby.A beautiful delivery from Kirby nipped away from Anthony McGrath and found the edge for James Hildreth to take the catch at first slip and only Adam Lyth batted with any authority as both Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance got out to poor shots.Lyth completed his half-century off 76 balls with eight boundaries but Yorkshire went in to lunch on 121 for 6 after Adil Rashid had been bowled by Kirby shouldering arms to the last delivery before the interval.The slide continued early in the afternoon, with Thomas accounting for Lyth and Ajmal Shahzad in consecutive overs to bring in Sidebottom at 133 for eight. Both he and Rich Pyrah jogged along nicely until Sidebottom went for a big hit against Murali Kartik and hit a high ball straight into the air for Hildreth to position himself underneath and take the catch.Thomas had last man Moin Ashraf lbw without scoring to give him figures of 5 for 66 and Somerset’s first-innings lead was sufficient to keep alive their slim title hopes.Alex Barrow and Arul Suppiah safely negotiated the first eight overs from Sidebottom and Shahzad before the former left them in disarray with three wickets for one run in 16 balls, Barrow being caught behind and Chris Jones and Hildreth falling lbw.Somerset were 26 for 3 at tea and with the third ball after the break, Ashraf had Hildreth nudging a fast catch to McGrath at first slip, the fifth wicket then going down at 46 when Peter Trego slapped Sidebottom into the covers to be well caught by Ballance diving to his right.Jos Buttler threatened a recovery until McGrath was brought into the attack and pinned him lbw in his first over but Craig Meschede and Thomas rallied Somerset once Sidebottom was out of the attack, Meschede slamming Rashid over midwicket for six. The seventh-wicket stand was worth 46 at the close, with Meschede on 30 and Thomas 25.

Australian Institute of Sport beat New Zealand A by 14 runs at Peter Burge Oval in Brisbane to hand them their second defeat in as many games. New Zealand won the toss and had the early ascendancy when Andy McKay removed AIS opener Sam Whiteman for a third-ball duck. Tim Armstrong however ensured AIS did not suffer too much from the early setback, with an unbeaten 74 off 66 balls. He shared in two substantial partnerships for the second and third wickets, with Tom Beaton and captain Ryan Carters respectively, to steer the hosts to a strong score, despite a closing-overs slump. New Zealand’s chase ran into early trouble as they lost four cheap wickets, including two to run-outs. Luke Woodcock struck a fighting half-century to keep the chase alive, but Ben Cutting’s stifling spell (3 for 15) ensured New Zealand would fall well short.South Africa Emerging Players sneaked to a thrilling four-wicket win against India Emerging Players in a game that ended off the last ball at Fred Kratzman Oval in Brisbane. Asked to bat first, India were propelled by an aggressive 45 off 33 balls from S Anirudha. Ajinkya Rahane contributed a quick 29, but the innings owed a lot to Saurabh Tiwary, whose four sixes in 40 off 32 balls provided the final kick. Mthokozisi Shezi was impressive in picking up 2 for 15 in his four overs. Chasing 157, South Africa stumbled thanks to early strikes by Jaidev Unadkat, but Temba Bavuma reignited the innings with a decisive 57 not out off 31 balls. Obus Pienaar and Mangaliso Mosehle provided just enough support to take their side home off the last ball.New Zealand A bounced back after losses in their first two games, with a 13-run win against South Africa Emerging Players at Peter Burge Oval. Neil Broom anchored New Zealand with 47, while Doug Bracewell and Derek de Boorder contributed scores in the 30s to steer their side to 156. South Africa started off superbly with Richard Levi smashing 74 off 40 balls with five fours and five sixes. Reeza Hendricks supported him well with 32 off 40 balls, but South Africa collapsed spectacularly after their exits. Bracewell was at it with the ball as well, snapping up two wickets for 16 runs in three overs, while Trent Boult picked up 2 for 19, as South Africa finished well short of the target.India Emerging Players wound up the day’s action with a six-run win over Australian Institute of Sport at the Fred Kratzman Oval. India chose to bat, and while many of their batsmen got off to starts, there wasn’t a single half-century in their innings. Captain Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu made 30 apiece, while Saurabh Tiwary launched three sixes in 29 off 14 balls. Manoj Tiwary complemented him with 36 off 23 balls and India were set for a big score, but Ben Cutting stalled them with a series of late strikes that earned him a five-wicket haul. India opened their bowling with left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla and his two early wickets pushed the hosts on to the back foot immediately. Glenn Maxwell turned things around with a rousing 59 off 23 balls, which included seven sixes, as Jaidev Unadkat and Bhargav Bhatt suffered. Umesh Yadav managed to end Maxwell’s carnage, and Australia’s chase lost steam steadily. Vinay Kumar finished with a three-wicket haul to give India their second victory in three games.

ScorecardSouth Africa Under-19s registered a comprehensive win against England Under-19s in the fourth one-dayer of the seven-match series, winning at Arundel by 150 runs to take a 2-1 series lead after the third game was washed-out. The South Africa innings was propelled by fluent knock of 124 by No 3 batsman Gihahn Cloete. Cloete was well supported by Quinton de Kock, who made 66, and Shaylin Pillay with 42, before some hard-hitting from the lower-middle order carried the team to 298 for five. The South Africa bowlers then produced tidy, incisive spells to bowl out England for 148 in 38 overs. First-change bowler Corné Dry was the pick, claiming 3 for 17 in a five-over spell. None of the England batsmen provided much resistance, No 8 batsman Peter Burgoyne top-scoring with 28.

Scorecard
Lancashire need a further 205 runs to claim their sixth win of the season heading into the final day of an enthralling County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire.The visitors were set for a smaller run-chase when they had the hosts at 81 for 7 in their second innings, but yet again the Notts tail wagged as Paul Franks and Andre Adams put on 119 for the eighth wicket and pushed the hosts to 216 all out.Franks made 57 from 88 balls – his fifth Championship half-century of the season – while Adams hit 51, including three sixes and five fours. Sajid Mahmood was key to ending the hosts’ resistance, picking up 5 for 74 to complete the second 10-wicket match haul of his career.Having been set 237 to win on a pitch showing uneven bounce, the visitors reached 32 for no loss at the close, with Paul Horton unbeaten on 14 and Stephen Moore 17 not out.The day began with Lancashire on 293 for 8 in their first innings, although Luke Fletcher removed both Mahmood and Kyle Hogg in quick order to wrap things up and claim 5 for 82.The two Lancashire bowlers then set about destroying the Notts top order as the visitors collapsed to 40 for 4 inside the opening 12 overs. Mahmood had Neil Edwards and Samit Patel lbw either side of Hogg removing Alex Hales, brilliantly caught at point by Steven Croft, before former England international Mahmood took the key wicket of David Hussey, beaten for pace as his off-stump was sent cartwheeling.Riki Wessels and Steven Mullaney steadied the ship to reach lunch with Notts on 79 for 4, a lead of 99, but a devastating spell from Hogg after the interval appeared to have swung the match in Lancashire’s favour as the seamer picked up three wickets in seven balls.Mullaney was lbw to the first ball of the session, Wessels was caught behind for 35 playing defensively and Chris Read was also adjudged leg before playing across the line on the back foot.The first of two rain showers then arrived to give Notts a chance to regroup. Adams swung belligerently after play resumed to put the visiting attack off their stride and while Franks was more circumspect, he also seized on any loose deliveries.Mahmood’s return did the trick as Adams gloved a hook shot to wicketkeeper Gareth Cross and Franks was stumped off Gary Keedy, with Fletcher last to go with a sliced drive off Mahmood to cover.