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ScorecardSamit Patel’s hundred guided a solid run chase•Getty Images

Samit Patel’s first one-day century for three years guided Nottinghamshire to a six-wicket victory over Warwickshire and maintained their 100% start to this season’s Yorkshire Bank 40 competition.Patel, overlooked by England for the Champions Trophy, scored an undefeated 129 as his side reached their victory target of 239 with five balls remaining at Trent Bridge.The 28-year old had arrived at the crease in the sixth over, after Nottinghamshire had lost both Alex Hales and Michael Lumb inside the first six overs and went on to hit 12 boundaries and four towering sixes in his 123-ball knock.Hales, recalled after being dropped for his county’s latest championship fixture, continued his run of poor form when Oliver Hannon-Dalby, with his first delivery after returning from a lengthy injury lay-off, knocked back the batsman’s off stump for just 6.Lumb, who had posted a career-best first-class score of 221 not out just 24 hours earlier, had a brief but eventful stay at the crease. Despite hitting two mighty sixes, he scored only 21 but should have fallen earlier but for a comical slip by Ateeq Javid, whose feet went from underneath him as he positioned himself to take a routine chance at third man.Nottinghamshire overcame his loss as Patel and James Taylor combined with a punishing third-wicket stand of 125 to take the match away from Warwickshire. Taylor, who took his aggregate of runs to 318 in this season’s competition for just three dismissals, appeared set for his fourth score of fifty or above this summer until being over-ambitious and lifting a ramp shot to third man off Darren Maddy when on 46.There would be no denying Patel though, as he progressed to his highest one-day score before finishing the match with a straight six off Hannon-Dalby.Earlier, Maddy’s hard-hitting 56 had boosted the Warwickshire total to a respectable 238 for 7. He rolled back the years to bring up his 50 from just 33 deliveries, with nine fours and a six before he became one of Harry Gurney’s three victims.Gurney had been the pick of the Nottinghamshire bowlers, uprooting two of Will Porterfield’s stumps early on and then returning to see off Steffan Piolet in the penultimate over.Nottinghamshire’s task may have been easier had they held their own opportunities in the field. Tim Ambrose was dropped twice on his way to a 62-ball half-century as the visitors recovered from a scratchy start on a used surface.While last year’s defeated finalists slumped to their fifth loss of the current campaign, their victors celebrated a sixth straight win, their best start to a one-day season since 1976.

Lancashire 123 (Glover 3-29, Hogan 3-31) and 272 (Katich 65, Glover 3-41) beat Glamorgan 242 (Goodwin 69, Kerrigan 4-48) and 139 (Kerrigan 5-32, Chapple 4-64) by 14 runs
ScorecardGlen Chapple, so often Lancashire’s hero, took four wickets to inspire a miraculous victory•PA Photos

A glance at the scorecard for this match will do little to convey the intricacy of the contest over three days or the astonishing drama that unfolded on Friday evening when Glamorgan seemed to be progressing to what would have been a deserved victory in facile fashion, only to implode in spectacular style when within sight of 20 points.Needing to score 154 in a maximum of 47 overs on the third evening, Glamorgan cruised to 94 for 2 in 18.2 overs before losing the remainder of their wickets for 45 runs in 19.2 overs.Destroyer-in-chief was Glen Chapple, who once again proved that age is just a number when you have skill and core fitness in abundance. He had been roughly treated early in the innings yet he returned to take four wickets including top scorer Will Bragg for 61. Accurate and penetrative, Chapple is always at the batsmen, but so is Simon Kerrigan, the sorcerer’s apprentice. Bowling from the Penrhyn Avenue End, Kerrigan contained the batsmen and among his five wickets was the vital scalp of Murray Goodwin, caught by Simon Katich for 11 when attempting a cut.It was Kerrigan who had last man Michael Hogan spectacularly caught by a leaping Ashwell Prince on the long-off boundary as Hogan sought to score the 15 runs his team needed in something like three blows. That wicket sparked joyous scenes in front of the Colwyn Bay pavilion by Chapple and his players who were celebrating their first Championship win in 11 matches, a run stretching back to last June’s triumph on a gloomy Saturday evening at Chester-le-Street.But at first it had been the Glamorgan batsmen who were racing towards victory. Spectators settling down after tea expected the siege of Stalingrad; instead they got the Battle of M’boto Gorge from Blackadder Goes Forth. Wallace’s openers seemingly had little truck with arguments suggesting cautious accumulation was the best policy. Ben Wright and Will Bragg garnered 38 runs off the first 27 balls of the innings, a result of some over-pitched bowling, a few edges and a fast outfield, before Wright cut James Anderson low to Karl Brown in the gully. It seemed both teams had plans for Saturday. Now Lancashire’s players may be nursing the odd sore head while Glamorgan’s will be wondering where it all went wrong.”That win’s right up there with any we have achieved over the last two years,” Chapple said. “It’s a terrific victory and a great boost for the lads who have worked hard. It’s been a difficult week for us in some ways because we have not played our best cricket but we hung on and kept believing. We’ve come away with a victory we’ll remember for a long time.”But as Glamorgan discovered to their cost, getting into a winning position is one thing; sealing the victory – “bringing home the bread” as they call it in parts of Manchester – is very much another. At 12.22pm on the third day of this match Simon Katich essayed a drive at Glamorgan seamer John Glover but only succeeded in edging the ball to wicketkeeper Mark Wallace. His departure for a well-made, fighting 65 left Lancashire on 164 for 7 in their second innings and their lead was a piffling 45. It seemed Glamorgan were on their way to consecutive victories.Then again, this is cricket, a game which delights in taking the absurdly improbable and making it so. First Chapple and Gareth Cross added 42 for the eighth wicket, Chapple whacking Hogan into the back garden of a nearby house during his innings of 26. Then, when Chapple had holed out at mid-on off Mike Reed when the lead was 89, Kyle Hogg joined Cross, who was himself playing on the ground of the club he has represented in the Liverpool competition for some years. Together, these Lancastrians put on a further 63 runs with a mixture of shrewd aggression and unsparing vigilance.Rarely has Cross, a naturally aggressive batsman, played with more responsibility than he did during his 143-minute innings of 26; it took a fine two-handed diving catch by Dean Cosker to remove him. One run later Hogg gave Glover his third wicket when he stretched to drive and trudged off having made 47, yet another reminder of a frequently unfulfilled talent. All the same Lancashire’s lead was 153. It was, as they say, game on.The first session of the day had been as well contested and involving as its predecessors. Lancastrian hopes that Jimmy Anderson would frustrate the Glamorgan bowlers in the classic manner of the specialist nightwatchman were quickly demolished when the England batsman was beaten all ends up by Jim Allenby in the third over of the day when only a single run had been added to the overnight total.But likewise, Welsh fancies that the visitors’ batting would disintegrate like candyfloss in a high wind were similarly unfounded. Instead Katich and Steven Croft batted with busy, acquisitive competence to add 49 runs in fifteen overs before both batsmen perished caught behind attempting to drive in the space of three overs. Croft was the first to go, playing loosely at Reed, then Glover took the key wicket of Katich when he drove in a flurry of dust and footholds and Tim Robinson decided he had edged the ball. Not everyone was convinced but Katich trooped silently off. Never walk, never complain. He had made 65, an innings which had certainly kept his side in the game. As things turned out, it played a large part in winning it.

India squad for the Champions Trophy

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik (wk), M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar
In: Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar
Out: Ashok Dinda, Gautam Gambhir, Shami Ahmed, Yuvraj Singh, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane

Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh have been dropped from the India one-day squad for the Champions Trophy. Dinesh Karthik earns a recall after a gap of almost three years, and Umesh Yadav returns from injury.Shikhar Dhawan, who grabbed the headlines during the home Tests against Australia and has done well in the IPL since recovering from a hand injury, has made the 15. Allrounder Irfan Pathan, seamer Vinay Kumar and batsman M Vijay also make a comeback.Apart from Gambhir and Yuvraj, four other players who were part of the squad for India’s previous one-day assignment, the home ODIs against England in January, miss out: batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara – who is injured – and Ajinkya Rahane, and fast bowlers Ashok Dinda and Shami Ahmed.That leaves the squad with Dhawan, Vijay, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma as specialist batsmen. Karthik will be the back-up keeper behind MS Dhoni – though he is capable of fitting into the XI as just a batsman as well – while the spin department has a mix in offspinner R Ashwin, left-armer Ravindra Jadeja and legspinner Amit Mishra. Given the conditions in England, India were expected to go in with a five-man pace attack, and that is what they have done: Irfan, Umesh, Vinay, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma complete the 15.Gambhir managed 127 runs in five ODIs against England, and 34 runs in three against Pakistan before that. Yuvraj has one half-century in eight one-dayers since returning to the side following the completion of his cancer treatment.Dinesh Karthik gets a chance in India colours after close to three years•AFP

There is, however, hope for Gambhir to be recalled for the tri-series in the West Indies, also featuring Sri Lanka, following the Champions Trophy. Gambhir has been included in the probables for the tour, along with Manoj Tiwary, Praveen Kumar, Shami Ahmed, Ambati Rayudu and Rahul Sharma. The selectors will pick from the 21 probables, which includes the 15 picked for the Champions Trophy.Seniors Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh have not been able to force their way back in. They, along with the injured and out of favour Zaheer Khan, were not even in the 30 probables announced for the Champions Trophy.Karthik has been the mainstay of the Mumbai Indians batting so far in the IPL, with 331 runs in 10 games at a strike rate of 140. He had a solid first-class season before that, scoring 577 runs at 64.11 for Tamil Nadu.Dhawan has previously played five ODIs for India, the last of which was two years ago, but only generated widespread interest on hitting the fastest century by Test debutant in Mohali in March. Following that he missed the final Test of the Australia series, in Delhi, and the first couple of weeks of the IPL due to injury, but has scored two unbeaten half-centuries in three games on return.Umesh was ruled out with a stress reaction in his back during the home Tests against England last year, his last game for India being the Ahmedabad Test in November. Yadav resumed bowling in the first week of March, and then played the domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He has been Delhi Daredevils’ leading wicket-taker in the IPL so far, with 13 scalps at 20.92, and has particularly impressed with his tidy bowling at the death.Irfan last played for India at the World T20 in Sri Lanka last September-October, and then picked up a knee injury in the Ranji Trophy ahead of India’s home season. Vinay had not made the Indian team since a hamstring injury ruled him out of India’s limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in July 2012.There had been speculation as to whether Mishra would miss out to a pace bowler for the tournament in England, but he has retained his place in the squad following a solid showing for Sunrisers Hyderabad – apart from being their leading wicket-taker so far with 16 in 10 games, he has produced handy cameos with the bat for the side.Dinda, on the other hand, has had a woeful IPL till date for Pune Warriors, being the tournament’s most expensive bowler at the death. So far, a fifth of IPL 2013’s sixes have been hit off Dinda.Rahane could not take advantage of the opportunities given to him in the one-day series’ against Pakistan and England, totalling 55 runs in four matches – of which 47 came in one innings against England in Rajkot.

HOBART, Nov 21 AAP – New South Wales captain Simon Katich is hoping for his first big score for his new team while Tasmanian skipper Jamie Cox simply wants a big score from someone when the two meet in the Pura Cup cricket match starting here tomorrow.Apart from an unexpected outright loss to South Australia at the SCG last Sunday, NSW has had a good start to the domestic season, trailing Pura Cup leaders Victoria and the Redbacks by just two points after two outright wins from four matches.But Katich said he hoped that 27-run loss to the Redbacks would be a good wake-up call for his team.The classy lefthanded batsman would also be looking for a catalyst for his own form.Katich averages 48.24 from 78 first class games, amassing more than 5,500 runs but since moving from Western Australia this season, times have been tough.Katich is yet to make a big score for the Blues despite being tipped as a future Test batsman.”I’m not disappointed with the way I’m hitting them, but I’m disappointed I haven’t converted,” he said.In his Warrior days, he regularly plundered the Tasmanian attack on Bellerive Oval.But he expected batting to be harder in this match.”Bellerive isn’t the same batters’ paradise it used to be,” he said.While NSW has made a strong start to the season, Tasmania, a finalist last season, is pointless after three away losses — including one to the Blues when Brett Lee, fired up after being dropped for the first Ashes Test, took 10 wickets for the match.The Tigers can at least be grateful that Lee is in Adelaide as Australia’s 12th man rather than Hobart this week.Cox said he’d been trying to figure out for 15 years why Tasmania always made poor starts to the season.”I’d like to have more to show at this stage, but we haven’t deserved more,” he said.”We haven’t been dreadful, but we haven’t had anyone make a big score or be a multiple wicket taker.”Katich was kinder to the Tigers.”They’ve had a slow start to the season and had less cricket than the NSW players,” he said.”Cricket is a confidence game. When you haven’t been playing a lot or getting the results you want, then it’s tough.”Teams (12th men to be named tomorrow morning)NSW: Simon Katich (c), Matthew Phelps, Michael Slater, Corey Richards, Michael Bevan, Michael Clarke, Mark Waugh, Brad Haddin, Stuart MacGill, Don Nash, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark.Tasmania: Jamie Cox (c), Sean Clingeleffer, Michael Dighton, Michael Di Venuto, Xavier Doherty, Adam Griffith, Shane Jurgensen, Scott Kremerskothen, Dan Marsh, Scott Mason, Shane Watson, Damien Wright.

Robin Peterson was feeling restless. While most of Test team-mates took a break after their victory over Pakistan at the Wanderers, he and his namesake Alviro, chose to play for their franchises in the final round of the first-class competition.For Alviro, it may have been important to contribute in what was set up as a championship decider for a team desperate for silverware (which they did not win) but for Robin it was more a case of itchy feet. “I wanted to play for the Cobras,” he said. “It’s no fun sometimes being the spinner in South Africa and you go through periods of play where you don’t even bowl.”In a team where winning has been the theme of the summer and the culture is as strong as it has ever been, it would seem unusual that the enjoyment isn’t evenly spread. But Peterson can be forgiven. Although he has leapfrogged Imran Tahir as the first-choice spinner for the Test team, like Tahir, his opportunities to contribute have been minimal.Since his six wickets against Australia in Perth, Peterson has spent two innings as a spectator – against New Zealand in the New Year’s Test and against Pakistan in Johannesburg. Only Jacques Kallis, whose workloads are being managed, bowled fewer overs than Peterson in Cape Town against New Zealand and Peterson bowled the least number of deliveries of all the bowlers in Johannesburg.On surfaces that have something for the quicks and with a pace attack as potent as the current South African one, Peterson understands that he is “surplus to requirements,” and, for the most part, accepts it. “It can be frustrating but you have to realise you are part of a team. The team comes first.”It’s magnificent to watch Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Jacques perform the way they do with the ball. I know my time will come so I just have to hang in there and be patient and keep working hard. It’s the best bowling attack I’ve ever played with and it’s something special to be part of. I have a front row seat to awesome performances.”To the average cricket fan, that would sound ideal. But Peterson is not a fan, he is a paid professional and he is starting to realise how trying that can be when the chosen vocation in South Africa is spin. Having flirted with the idea of a wicket-taking spinner in Tahir, South Africa’s Test strategy has resorted back to a holding tweaker in the Paul Harris mould.Peterson is learning how to adjust to that. “In South Africa, you need to realise that there is a certain role you’ve got to perform, whether it’s to keep it tight and give the seamers a bit of a break if there’s no spin or if there is a bit on offer, to try make a breakthrough when the seamers can’t. I’d love to play on turning wickets every weekend, but that’s not the case in South Africa and you’ve got to adapt.”Newlands is the most spinner-friendly surface Peterson will come across but it is not the subcontinent. In the last 14 months, it has been the scene of two of the three first innings scores of under 50 in the country. The last spinner to prosper there was Harbhajan Singh who took 7 for 120 in January 2011 but in recent times, it has had more for Philander than Peterson.He is not expecting that to change too much. “It would seem to be that the seamers do a lot of the damage but in saying that it’s probably the only surface that we are going to play against Pakistan on where a spinner could come into his own so hopefully I get an opportunity. I think there will be a little bit on offer if the weather stays good.”South Africa also want to be careful not to prepare a pitch that will deteriorate too much because of the threat of Saeed Ajmal. “It would be foolish to do that,” Peterson said. “He was their No. 1 Test bowler last year and you don’t want to give him something that assists him.”That probably means that Peterson won’t get any help from the pitch either so he may have to look for other ways to get in the game. His batting is thought to be another reason he trumps Tahir in selection terms but, like his bowling, that too has waned since Perth. There he scored 31 runs but since then has only managed 5, 8 and a duck.”I was disappointed with the way I got out in Johannesburg,” he said, remembering leaving a straight one from Mohammed Hafeez. “If the opportunity comes I’m going to go out there and show I’m a lot better than that.”He hopes to do the same with ball in hand which is why he opted for an extra match instead of a week off. However, Peterson bowled only 15 overs against the Knights. He took 2 for 33 in a first-innings workout of 13 overs and bowled just two in the second innings while the seamers did the bulk of the work. Business as usual then for Peterson.

Mumbai’s Wasim Jaffer has added more lustre to his glorious Ranji Trophy career by breaking the record for most centuries in the tournament. Jaffer’s hundred against Saurashtra on the second day of the final at the Wankhede Stadium was his 32nd, taking him past former Delhi batsman Ajay Sharma’s tally.”I feel very happy about it, scoring a hundred in the final means a lot, specially chasing a target,” Jaffer said. “We’re still six down, happy that I’ve got a hundred, the team is in a good position.”For the first 2-3 days it is going to help the fast bowlers. Their bowlers bowled really well in the first session, they didn’t give much, especially Unadkat,” Jaffer said. “It wasn’t that easy, once we survived that first session, then it became a bit easy, playing the first session well was critical. A 200-run lead would ideal, if that can happen we will be in a strong position.”During the innings Jaffer also reclaimed the record for most runs in the Ranji Trophy, moving ahead of his former Mumbai team-mate Amol Muzumdar, who had overtaken Jaffer earlier this season. Muzumdar was on television commentary when Jaffer broke the record for most runs, as he had been when Jaffer went past him for the first time in 2011. “Well done, Wasim,” Muzumdar said on air. “But it’s a cat-and-mouse game. I broke his record earlier in the season, now he has got it back.”

Most centuries in Ranji Trophy

• 32 – Wasim Jaffer

• 31 – Ajay Sharma

• 28 – Amol Muzumdar

• 28 – Hrishikesh Kanitkar

• 27 – Amarjit Kaypee

• 26 – Brijesh Patel

• 26 – Surendra Bhave

• 24 – Vinod Kambli

• 23 – Sridharan Sharath

• 23 – VVS Laxman

• 23 – Pankaj Dharmani

Jaffer also went past 16,000 runs in first-class cricket and this century will be particularly pleasing for him, not just because it came in the final of India’s most prestigious first-class tournament, but because he scored it in a big match, after failing in the quarter-finals and semi-finals in pervious seasons. Mumbai’s coach Sulakshan Kulkarni had said that Jaffer’s low scores in those two games was one of the biggest factors behind the team not winning the title.It also gave Mumbai the first-innings lead and kept them on course to become Ranji champions for the 40th time. If Mumbai win, this will be Jaffer’s eighth trophy; the most Ranji title wins by any other team is seven, by Delhi.Saurashtra are among Jaffer’s favourite opposition. In 11 matches against them, he has two triple-centuries and five other hundreds. It was his unbeaten 314 against Saurashtra in only his second Ranji match, back in 1996-97, that spurred his Mumbai career, which has now lasted 17 seasons.

Sussex have acted to temper media excitement at the prospect that Sarah Taylor will become the first women to play county 2nd XI cricket next summer.As Taylor prepared to leave with the England women’s side on Thursday for the World Cup in India, where she is already bound to become the centre of attention, Sussex insisted that no guarantees had been given about a 2nd XI debut and that it was subject to further assessment of her ability.In a carefully-worded statement, Sussex said: “Whilst the club can confirm that initial and informal conversations have taken place between Sussex coaching staff and England women’s coach Mark Lane it needs to be stressed that these are at a very embryonic stage.”Sussex hold the abilities of Sarah, and indeed her Sussex and England playing partner – Holly Colvin – in very high regard, and to this end Sarah could, theoretically, solve our short-term dilemma surrounding our 2nd XI wicketkeeping place with both Academy keepers Callum Jackson and Leo Cammish still in full-time education and therefore unavailable for the early part of the season.”Sussex at the moment are going look at all available options including the possibility of using Sarah. In her case the first step would involve practising with the 2nd XI and to re-evaluate from there.”Media worldwide recorded Taylor’s likely opportunity as a pivotal moment for women’s cricket with even carrying the story on page one, where it hailed the development as “a groundbreaking move for women’s sport”.Although Taylor herself stressed that talks were only at an informal stage, Sussex’s director of cricket, Mark Robinson, still felt the need for Sussex to regain control of its own selection process.”Our 2nd XI coach Carl Hopkinson has spoken to Mark Lane about the fact we might be short of a wicketkeeper for the early part of the summer,” he said. “There may be an opportunity for Sarah in the future but at the moment the key thing is for her to train with the 2nd XI. Then we can see if she has adapted to the environment and then if we have an opportunity to play her, we can potentially take it a step further.”It’s important everyone involved has the right level of expectation. We don’t want to promise anything that can’t be fulfilled and it would be premature to suggest that a decision has been made about Sarah playing 2nd X1 cricket.”In some aspects, I’m certain Sarawh and Holly will cope easily, but in others it is a step into the unknown. So we’ll see what happens and then, if everyone feels it is the right thing to do and if it is not depriving people in our system who may have a chance of earning a professional contract, we can talk about playing in the 2nd X1.”Holly and Sarah were both in the Sussex Academy and we know both are excellent characters. They have shown excellent commitment to the club and, in many ways, their experience and professionalism would prove beneficial to our development of players.”Clare Connor, the head of England women’s cricket, is also a board member at Sussex. She suggested that Taylor and Colvin both needed challenges outside the women’s game, saying: “Sarah Taylor and Holly Colvin are highly-skilled cricketers who have progressed through the Sussex system, including the Sussex Academy, under the guidance of Keith Greenfield. Their potential, as with most young cricketers, is still to be fulfilled despite both players having already achieved so much for England in World Cups and Ashes Series.”Any opportunity for our players to be challenged and for their development to be accelerated beyond the norm would be welcomed, so long as those opportunities tallied with the player’s stage of development.”There is no getting away from the fact that this dialogue with Sussex is a hugely positive step for the game and our players. It is indicative of how the women’s game has progressed in recent years if players are turning heads in this way. I think it is also fantastic to know that first-class counties are open to such possibilities.””As a Board Member of Sussex, it is pleasing that the club is demonstrating an open-minded and innovative outlook to the game. Everyone at Sussex is a champion of the women’s game.”This piece was updated at 2.30pm on January 16 with addiitonal comments from Mark Robinson

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAngelo Mathews made a resilient 84 but ran out of partners•Associated Press

New Zealand shrugged off five consecutive defeats with one of their most memorable victories in recent times, squaring the two-Test series with a 167-win at the P Sara Oval. Hammered in under three days in Galle, New Zealand stretched the hosts in Colombo by holding the edge over all five days and rounded things off just after tea, despite a resilient 84 by Angelo Mathews.It was New Zealand’s first Test win in Sri Lanka since 1998, and in a remarkable coincidence, that victory at the R Premadasa Stadium was also by the same margin. This win drew parallels with their inspiring win at Hobart a year ago. On both occasions, New Zealand were hammered in the first Test, but stunned the hosts by showing the resolve to fight back. While the Hobart Test was anybody’s game till the final moments, this Test was dominated by the visitors and coming into the final day, the only realistic outcomes were a New Zealand win and a draw.New Zealand’s penetrative seam attack – one of the positives to come out of an otherwise horror of a year – set it up by getting the top four the previous evening. The twin failures of the top order were responsible for Sri Lanka’s struggle through the Test. It meant that Sri Lanka were left with only one option – to play for a draw. They had to derive inspiration from Faf du Plessis’ marathon effort at the Adelaide Oval earlier this week to deny Australia.Mathews was the only batsman who looked like emulating du Plessis, but lacked support to help him last the distance. Thilan Samaraweera’s early departure, due to a communication breakdown early in the morning, only made the task tougher for Mathews. Dropping the ball towards short cover, Samaraweera set off for a non-existent single and was three-fourths down the pitch but Mathews wasn’t interested. Jeetan Patel threw the ball to the wicketkeeper, who broke the stumps before a deflated Samaraweera could make his ground.The wicket put Mathews’ survival skills to test. With the seamers swinging it towards the pads, the captain Ross Taylor set unconventional fields for Mathews, placing a silly mid-on and two fielders close at short midwicket on one occasion. Only five boundaries were scored in the morning session, with the focus more on wearing the bowlers down.The afternoon session was dominated by spin, with a spinner operating from one end for the entire duration. Tim Southee bowled round the wicket with a packed on side field, with a short leg, backward short leg and short square leg to create some opportunities. Doug Bracewell, for a short period, bowled short of a length to Mathews with the wicketkeeper up to the stumps.The Prasanna Jayawardene-Mathews stand frustrated New Zealand for 35.3 overs. New Zealand tried hard to create chances, placing fielders around the batsman when the spinners were on. The breakthrough after lunch came via Todd Astle, who generated good drift with his leg breaks. The one that got Jayawardene was one that drifted away and bounced more, clipping the shoulder of the bat. Suraj Randiv lasted only 11 deliveries, when he edged Trent Boult to second slip.Nuwan Kulasekara joined Mathews to add 46. Astle bowled loopy full tosses, that were clubbed over deep midwicket by Kulasekara and Mathews too used his feet to Patel and smashed a six over long-on.New Zealand were waiting to get hold of the second new ball to unleash their seamers. They would have been anxious to get quick breakthroughs and avoid a last-minute scramble for wickets, keeping the weather in mind. Poor light had curtailed play in the final session in the first four days, but Sri Lanka couldn’t stick around long enough for any divine intervention.Boult got the breakthrough straight after tea when he had Kulasekara fending to Kane Williamson who took a low catch at gully. Williamson, who plucked a brilliant catch in the same position on the fourth day, took another stunner when he took one inches off the ground to get rid of Shaminda Eranga. The third umpire studied several replays before giving it out. Boult rounded off the match when he had Mathews edging to Martin Guptill at second slip, giving New Zealand their second* Test win in 2012.*6:52GMT, November 30: The report had previously said this was New Zealand’s first win in 2012. This has been corrected.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKevin Pietersen put his troubles from Ahmedabad behind him with a confident start to his innings in Mumbai•BCCI

In England, it has become customary to look at Kevin Pietersen and see only a problem. In India, the talk is of his star quality. That unmistakeable batting talent was to the fore once more on a sweltering second day of the Mumbai Test as he began to put his tribulations behind him and rebuild an England career that he once imagined might be lost for ever.Alastair Cook, the England captain who must manage Pietersen’s maverick talents, must have looked down the pitch and concluded that this was a problem worth having. Cook, who in his worst moments must have imagined that India was becoming an insurmountable challenge, could spot an ally from 22 yards away. Between them, they stilled India’s spin-bowling frenzy.Cook was 13 runs short of another Test hundred at the close, another formidable innings in pressing circumstances. Alongside him, Pietersen had made an unbeaten 62 in enterprising fashion. Instead of talk of “reintegration,” as formally laid down by the ECB, they chatted informally between overs of cricketing matters, of runs and wickets and ambitions to win a Test and square the series. It is far too premature to suggest that the good times were returning, but perhaps the deepest pain is behind them.One bemused Indian pundit, observing Pietersen in full flow, suggested that he struggled to cope with the regimented ways of England, where people “liked to stand in queues.” Well, they have certainly been queuing up in recent months to take a pop at Pietersen. He will hear little such criticism in Mumbai. It is perhaps no surprise that in the country which lavishes more affection on him than any other he began to rediscover his mojo.Pietersen, lambasted for a frenzied approach in Ahmedabad, played confidently against India’s spinners from the outset. He confidently despatched his first ball, from Harbhajan Singh, to the cover boundary. Another upbeat drive against Pragyan Ojha restated his well-being. His footwork was trim, his misjudgements were rare. There were times when his presence alone seemed enough to draw errors in length from the Indian spin attack.Cook continued to unravel India’s mysteries, a power to be reckoned with in all climes, on all surfaces. Twice he used his feet to Ojha, hitting him over mid-on for six and four, as he combated the bowler’s leg-stump line, backed up by three close leg-side catchers. As his innings progressed, he swept as productively as at any time in his Test career. They were shots illustrative of a batsman carefully extending his range.The sweep shot injured two India short legs in the process. Chesteshwar Pujara was struck in the ribs and left the field. The substitute, Ajinkya Rahane, emerged with more padding than a luxury sofa and pulled off some nerveless, agile stops – a sofa on casters – before he, too took a battering and withdrew from service. There was not a noticeable rush to take his place.R Ashwin bowled the best over at Cook – a top-edged sweep, two play and misses and an edge short of slip reminding England that this test could swing India’s way in a flash – but Harbhajan, returning from a 15-month absence for his 99th Test, found little to sustain him.

Smart stats

• In just three innings, Alastair Cook’s aggregate for the series has exceeded 300 – it’s 304. The previous England batsman to score more than 300 in a series in India was Graeme Hick, who scored 315 in six innings in 1992-93.

• The undefeated 110-run stand between Cook and Kevin Pietersen is the fifth for the third wicket for England in Tests in India; three of those five are by this pair.

• Cheteshwar Pujara has a series average of 382, which is the second-highest ever for India, behind Rahul Dravid’s 432 against Zimbabwe in 2000-01.

• The 111-run stand between Pujara and R Ashwin is only the seventh for the seventh wicket for India in Tests against England.

• Graeme Swann became England’s 14th bowler, but only their second spinner, to take 200-plus Test wickets. In all, he is the 16th spinner to reach the landmark.

• Monty Panesar’s 5 for 129 is the sixth instance of an England spinner taking a five-for in the first innings of a Test since 2000. Panesar, Swann and Ashley Giles have each achieved it twice.

• In 17 Test innings in Asia, Jonathan Trott has scored 507 runs at an average of 29.82.

No Test side has opened with two spinners virtually since cricketing time began, but India did, confident of England’s fallibility against spin. Cook built an opening stand of 66 in 31 overs with Nick Compton as India’s slow bowlers initially struggled to find much purchase and, after England’s miserable year, he must have found the relative calm of the Wankhede Stadium strangely eerie. Then it started again, a cacophony of shouts and cheers, as Compton and Jonathan Trott departed to Ohja to leave India buoyant at the end of an afternoon session where they had to work hard to make an impression.Trott, so often the rock in England’s better days, is looking more fallible by the moment on India’s turning pitches and his footwork was uncertain as he edged back to the sixth ball he faced, from Ojha, to be plumb lbw. His expression looks stonier and stonier. As do his feet. Moments earlier, Compton’s stubborn resistance ended when his defensive edge carried comfortably to Virender Sehwag at first slip. Compton has made a strikingly cautious start to his Test career – this latest vigil brought 29 from 90 deliveries but his defence has been sound and his commitment undeniable.England have also found a way to dismiss Pujara in India. Shortly before lunch, Graeme Swann drifted one wide, drew him down the pitch and as Matt Prior removed the bails Pujara had been stumped for the first time in his first-class career. Simple. After around 17 hours in the series. He finished on 135, from 350 balls, to follow his unbeaten double hundred in the first Test in Ahmedabad and his thought processes remained crisp and logical to the end.England’s spinners again capitalised on helpful conditions as India added another 61 in 25.1 overs to their overnight 266 for 6. Monty Panesar ended Ashwin’s reviving knock with a brisk arm ball and finished with 5 for 129 on his return to Test cricket. Graeme Swann took three of the last four wickets to fall to finish with 4 for 70, including his 200th Test scalp when he trapped Harbhajan lbw, and was also helped by an erroneous decision by umpire Aleem Dar when he gave out Zaheer Khan at short leg.After his 34 overs on the first day, Panesar was a picture of concentration, his eyes set in a blank stare of concentration as if saying: “Processes for Mushy bhai, processes for Mushy bhai”.However, England’s fielding lapses remain an everyday occurrence. Trott was the latest culprit, failing to lock on to Harbhajan’s edge to his left at first slip. He was perhaps fleetingly unsighted by Prior’s gloves, but Trott’s starting position was poor and his reactions were lumbering. He has not fielded regularly at slip for some time and it showed.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDale Steyn celebrates his fifth wicket as South Africa closed in on victory•Getty Images

South Africa, dominant since the start of the second day, secured an innings and 12-run victory at The Oval as they broke the back of some stubborn England resistance either side of the new ball on the final afternoon. Ian Bell and Matt Prior had given the home side hope, but Imran Tahir broke the stand and Dale Steyn then steamed in to finish with 5 for 56.The result was nothing less than South Africa deserved for a performance that confirmed what a formidable team they are and they achieved it on a ground where they had not won in 13 previous attempts. Indifferent on the first day, they barely put a foot wrong from the moment they rattled England on Friday morning. Showing the benefit of a finely balanced attack including pace, swing, seam, accuracy and spin, they did not fret when resistance was being put up.It was England’s first home defeat since losing to Pakistan, on the same ground, in 2010 and their first innings loss since facing South Africa, at Johannesburg, earlier that same year. For South Africa, it continues their run of taking the series lead each time in England since readmission although it is the first time they have won the opening Test since 1994.As in England’s first innings, when Kevin Pietersen was dismissed, it was wicket moments before the second new ball that undid much of the good work. Prior, having shown impressive judgement, swept Tahir who was bowling around the wicket into the rough and a top edge went to Jacques Kallis at slip. The sweep, which caused England so many problems in the UAE and in Galle, was back to haunt them.Bell, having reached his slowest Test fifty and resisted for 220 deliveries, then played his worst shot for some time when he guided the ball straight to Kallis at second slip as though giving morning catching practice. As in Cape Town in 2010 it was another defiant display from Bell but the weakness of the shot that ended his stay was symptomatic of why England came off second best. You cannot let down your guard for a moment against this South Africa team.A tail, even with England’s pedigree, against a new ball is gift-wrapped for a pumped-up Steyn and it did not take him long. Stuart Broad was given out through the DRS to a glove down the leg side and Graeme Swann drove to cover. Tim Bresnan and James Anderson resisted for 10 overs, delayed tea, and threatened to make South Africa bat again, but Tahir ended the match with a grubber to trap Anderson lbw.Although England had hope shortly after lunch, the major damage had been done the previous evening with the loss of four top-order wickets. Bell and Ravi Bopara resumed with the deficit still 150 and the odds stacked against them.Initially Bopara suggested solidity with a tight defence and a couple of confident shots into the leg side, although he came within a millimetre of losing his off stump when he left a delivery from Steyn which shaped back. Then, in Steyn’s next, his eyes lit up at the offer of some width but instead of the ball finding the cover boundary it took a bottom edge into middle stump. The days between this Test and Headingley will be filled with further debate over his Test place.After the early spells from the quicks, Tahir, who created plenty of problems on the fourth evening especially for Andrew Strauss, was introduced and should have removed Bell for 20 in his first over but AB de Villiers could not take a regulation outside edge. It was de Villiers’ first mistake of the match and ultimately would not prove costly.For the second time in the match, Prior and Bell were nearly involved in a run out when Prior played a ball square to cover and Bell was a little slow responding for the run, but de Villiers could not quite gather JP Duminy’s throw. When Bell elegantly drove the last ball of the session down the ground there was just a thought that a Cardiff-style escape was within England’s grasp. South Africa soon dashed that notion.