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ScorecardA minute’s silence is observed at Hove for victims of the London terrorist attack•Getty Images

Worcestershire are facing their first Specsavers County Championship defeat of the season after Sussex took 14 wickets on the third day at Hove and they were forced to follow on.Replying to Sussex’s 579 for 8, Daryl Mitchell and Brett D’Oliveira put on 215 – a new first-wicket record for Worcestershire against Sussex – before they lost all ten wickets in 30 overs either side of lunch.Bowled out for 312, they followed on 267 behind and Mitchell saw three partners depart at the other end, two of them to Chris Jordan, before he went just before the close for 54 as his side reached 124 for 4 at stumps, still 143 runs adrift.D’Oliveira had been involved in a controversial moment earlier in the day. Umpire Steve Garratt upheld Vernon Philander’s lbw appeal when D’Oliveira was on 71, although the batsman clearly felt he had hit the ball first. The batsman was making his way back to the pavilion when he was recalled after Garratt had consulted colleague Neil Mallender.Sussex finally made a breakthrough in the 67th over when Mitchell misjudged a hook off David Wiese and was caught at long leg for 121, made from 211 balls with 20 fours and a six. It was his third successive Championship hundred and 27th of his first-class career.Wiese struck again when D’Oliveira (80) holed out to deep mid-wicket then Tom Fell was taken at slip as he pushed forward to Jordan, but the collapse really gathered pace after lunch when Archer and Philander took the second new ball.Archer took 4 for 21 in 7.4 overs with it to raise his tally of Championship wickets to 23. Stiaan van Zyl took his third well-judged boundary catch when Joe Clarke failed to control a pull. Ross Whiteley was yorked and Joe Leach lbw to one which kept low before Archer ended the innings when Jack Shantry feathered a catch behind.Sussex skipper Chris Nash presses umpire Neil Mallender about Brett D’Oliveira’s reprieve•Getty Images

Philander was no less impressive in a seven-over burst which brought him 3 for 31 as he picked up Ben Cox, Ed Barnard and Josh Tongue, who was the South African’s 500th first-class wicket.It was an impressive response by Sussex, especially as Steve Magoffin was off the field with an Achilles injury, and their patience when Worcestershire batted again was eventually rewarded.D’Oliviera and Mitchell had few alarms for 14 overs until D’Oliveira was brilliantly held by the diving Jordan at slip. Jordan then produced an excellent spell from the Sea End to have Fell held at mid-on – one of several Worcestershire batsman who had struggled to play the short ball – before Clarke played on and lost his off stump.Sussex claimed the key scalp of Mitchell six overs before the close when he shuffled across and was leg before to van Zyl for 54. Sussex will now fancy their chances of wrapping up their second win of the season on Monday.

ScorecardFile photo – Alastair Cook batted Essex to the close in Taunton•AFP

Alastair Cook’s first innings since he surrendered the England Test captaincy possessed enough quality to indicate that his resignation has not dulled his appetite for scoring runs. Steadfast and well-tuned, he reached the day’s end in Taunton on 39 not out and looked in the mood for the challenges ahead. Mark down that November date in Brisbane now.Three successive boundaries off Jamie Overton was almost high-spirited by Cook’s exacting standards. So many England captains retire immediately upon standing down, but for those who choose to return to the county circuit, it can be a satisfying place. You are a long time retired and, at 32, especially with England runs still to be had, there is no need to turn to farming for a while yet.With no Test cricket until July, Essex will benefit from Cook’s extended presence as they seek to adjust to Division One life, although Varun Chopra, signed in the winter from Warwickshire and omitted for this match as Cook recovered from a hip ailment, might face a frustrating period as he vies with Nick Browne for a place at the top of the order.Down Somerset way, they would expect Cook’s concentration to remain implanted. Concession of the England captaincy is a small frustration to bear as the years progress. After all, more than ten years have elapsed since Marcus Trescothick’s England innings ended in distressing circumstances and he has served them nobly ever since.They began queuing before 10am outside the main gate at Taunton, predominantly men and women of a certain age, joined by a sprinkling of youngsters of thoughtful mien, the sort who are unafraid, or fated, to grow up before their time.There were no sharp-suited marketing types among them and probably never have been. No ambitious businessmen endlessly checking their mobile phones. Just a rag-a-tangle of county fans looking forward to the start of a new season, clutching sticks, or haversacks or rolled up newspapers, eager to lay claim to their favourite seats as another Somerset season began.The lifetime ambitions of these battle-hardened observers of England’s professional circuit have largely softened. Live well, stay as healthy as might be expected, find contentment in their own pleasures. And, for many of them, families apart, there are few things more important than another summer of county cricket, a game of gentle memories and convivial conversations, a game they have long imagined will sustain them until they are gone. Now, not just here in Taunton, but in Derby, Leicester, Northampton and others besides, they are no longer quite so sure.The passion for county cricket is as strong in Somerset as anywhere in the country, Yorkshire included, but the county is not expected – certainly not in the first season at any rate – to host any matches in the new regional T20 tournament envisaged by the ECB to begin in 2020. Cardiff and Bristol will lay claim to the regional side in the west. They will wave it aside impatiently and turn up, as they always do, whether for four-day or one, for a county circuit they yearn to survive.There were no anti-ECB banners as there were at Chester-le-Street – a response to Durham’s enforced relegation – but the old certainties that the game will somehow survive are no longer quite as strong, however much administrators assure them The County Championship Is Safe With Us.Somerset, in their first day of Championship cricket, were unable to provide much solace. They were denied the title only on the final day of last season, but they succumbed tamely against a promoted Essex side for 209, when 300 might have been par on a pitch already turning modestly. Last season, one would have observed that it had been prepared with Jack Leach’s slow left-arm in mind, but nobody quite knows how Leach will go after his action was deemed illegal during the winter in a routine test at Loughborough.Most of Somerset’s runs flowed against New Zealand left-armer Neil Wagner, whose inclination is to attack whenever the opportunity and who went at five-an-over. If it swings, he pitches it up, if it doesn’t he often resorts to aggressive short stuff. Peter Trego, in particular, got his share of bouncers, but it was Lewis Gregory who was caught in the trap at leg gully.Trescothick was the recipient of an award for 25 years’ service. He must have lost count of the accolades and statistical achievements. All Somerset supporters will want to say they were there on the day he passes Harold Gimblett’s county record of centuries. He needs one more, but after looking in sound order he fell on 26, wafting to slip and well caught low to his right by Cook. Ravi Bopara fiddled two out, also removing the new captain, Tom Abell, Cook again on hand with a juggling catch.Dean Elgar was pugnacious and looked a natural replacement for Chris Rogers, who is now Somerset’s batting coach; James Hildreth, a batsman so full of optimism that he foretells an early spring, briefly flowered before he top-edged Jamie Porter on the pull; Steven Davies, on Somerset debut, played inside one that turned a touch; and Trego played responsibly, but 209 was no sort of total at all.Ashar Zaidi, a rarely used slow left-armer in the Championship, returned 3 for 18 on a pitch that can be expected to turn progressively, and only missed out on a career-best because of a drop at slip late in the Somerset innings. The culprit was Cook. Not quite able, therefore, to claim perfection.

Having made his second half-century of the match, KL Rahul was dismissed trying to drive Steve O’Keefe away from his body. It wasn’t the first time he had been out playing an aggressive shot in recent months. He drove away from his body and dragged the ball onto his stumps in the first innings of the Hyderabad Test against Bangladesh, and was caught at long-off after scoring a half-century in the first Test against Australia in Pune. He was out looking to hit over the top in the first innings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as well, though on that occasion he was running out of partners and looking for quick runs.Sanjay Bangar, India’s batting coach, has said he has had a “chat” with Rahul over the nature of his dismissals.”Generally within the batting group, over the last 18 to 20 months we have been so used to batting with five batsmen wherein all the batsmen have made that conscious effort to look beyond their personal landmarks. It’s not being happy with a 50 or 100 but batsmen who are wanting to go that extra mile, put in the hard work and play a big innings, which will have an eventual impact on the state of the match,” Bangar said at the end of day three.”That is something all the boys have been doing. Rahul was very disappointed and we definitely had a chat. It’s something that we want him to improve in the games to come because he is a quality player. The way he was stroking the ball, really looked comfortable, was smothering the spin really well and I think he understands that probably in the series and matches to come, he will definitely put a price on his wicket and see less of those unforced errors.”Rahul was one of two half-centurions in India’s second innings, the other being Cheteshwar Pujara, and a third batsman, Ajinkya Rahane, was batting on 40 at stumps. It was a crucial innings in the context of the match, but also personally for Rahane, who had passed 50 only once in his ten previous Test innings. Bangar, though, said Rahane’s form had not been a concern to the team management.”Rahul was very disappointed and we definitely had a chat”•Associated Press

“I am surprised we talk about him [Rahane] being under pressure,” Bangar said. “He has been the most impressive and utility player overseas, the kind of performances he has given in the last two to three years are worthy of applause. Outside India he averages more than 50 and here, when one says that he is not able to play that well, when we see the stats on the TV, his average in India is above 40 too.”For a middle-order batsman it’s good. Whenever he has gotten an opportunity [he has done well]. He was injured in the middle too. Before that he had scored 188 against New Zealand. On a difficult wicket against New Zealand in Kolkata he scored 77. Against Bangladesh he scored 82. He is a quality player. Today he applied himself well. [He] was part of a very crucial partnership today. We are just hoping that tomorrow he continues the same way.”When asked about Ravindra Jadeja’s promotion to No. 5, Bangar said the move had been made with his left-handedness in mind.”We wanted to have the right-left combination going. Jadeja has ability with the bat. We wanted to make sure that we get [Nathan] Lyon slightly away from his line of attack. Because whenever a left-hander comes, Lyon generally comes around the wicket and he favours more to bowl outside the rough to the right-hander. So just to upset his rhythm. If an opportunity arises he could have gone after the left-arm spinner [O’Keefe]. That was the plan, a well thought-out plan. It didn’t work that way.”Bangar felt the Test match, with India ending day three with six wickets in hand and a lead of 126, was in the balance, and that they needed two more good sessions to get themselves in front.”I think it will be a tough surface for both the teams and the cracks are going to get wider,” he said. “How they adapt to the surface and conditions is important. At the moment, the match is very much in the balance. I think if we put up a good show in the next two sessions then we will slightly have our nose ahead.”

Former India batsman Mohammad Kaif has been named assistant coach of the Gujarat Lions for the 2017 IPL season. The appointment will be Kaif’s maiden coaching stint, and he will be deputy to head coach Brad Hodge.”Glad to be part of such an exciting group of boys and a wonderful management,” Kaif said on Twitter in response to Lions’ announcement.Lions, captained by Suresh Raina, finished top of the league stage in their first IPL season, in 2016, but failed to qualify for the final because they lost both their playoff matches.Kaif, 36, was appointed captain of Chhattisgarh in their maiden Ranji Trophy season in 2016-17. He also led Chhattisgarh in the recently concluded inter-state T20 tournament, where they won two of the five games in the Central Zone.Kaif has been associated with three IPL teams as a player – Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kaif, who played 13 Tests and 125 one-day internationals, was an integral part of the Uttar Pradesh side for close to a decade-and-a-half, after making his first-class debut in 1997-98. He played a vital role in UP’s maiden Ranji Trophy title victory in 2005-06, when they beat Bengal on the basis of a first-innings lead in Lucknow.Renowned for being a gritty batsman and an excellent fielder, Kaif has 10,093 runs in 182 first-class matches at an average of 39.12.

Dinesh Chandimal has been advised to go and work on his game in club cricket by Sri Lanka’s chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, after the tour of South Africa concluded with a 5-0 ODI defeat. Chandimal endured a difficult time in South Africa, where his highest score was 36 in 12 international innings. He was eventually dropped from the ODI XI for the last two matches.Although Chandimal had been among Sri Lanka’s most consistent batsmen in 2016, Jayasuriya suggest he was nevertheless prone to worrying troughs of form. In a previous stint as chief selector, Jayasuriya sent Chandimal off to play for the Sri Lanka A team in the middle of a Test series with South Africa.”Chandimal should go back to club cricket,” Jayasuriya told Cricbuzz. “He should work his game out. This is not the first time he has gone through a tough patch. He has to be mentally very strong. You can’t think of failure all the time. Have a chat to the computer analyst, find out what’s going wrong and come back stronger. These are tough times for him. You find media and social media going after you, and you have to keep these things aside and concentrate on your cricket.”Jayasuriya also said the surfaces in South Africa on this trip were surprisingly green, in comparison to Sri Lanka’s previous tours to the country. All three Test tracks had a substantial covering of live grass on the first morning – which Test captain Faf du Plessis confirmed was part of a ploy to neutralise Sri Lanka’s spinners. The limited-overs surfaces were more neutral in their appearance but Jayasuriya suggested several of those were perhaps made to order as well.”I am not trying to give excuses and I admit we played bad cricket – we should be up for any challenge. But having said that, I must mention that I have never seen so much of grass in South Africa especially when it comes to one-day cricket.”In ODIs, you generally get wickets that are good for batting. Port Elizabeth, for example, is the slowest wicket in South Africa, but this time I found they had left a lot of grass [on].”Though Sri Lanka recently triumphed in an ODI tri-series against West Indies, who are ranked ninth, and Zimbabwe, who are 11th, they have lost their four most recent bilateral series to higher-ranked sides.”The Champions Trophy in England is a few months away and hopefully that can be a new start,” Jayasuriya said. “Again the conditions will be tough and we need to sit down and discuss how we can prepare. Maybe we can send the team to England earlier to help the players to adjust to conditions.”

Hashim Amla is unique in many ways – his backlift, his beard, his batting records – and he could soon find himself the holder of another individual milestone. Test captain Faf du Plessis said there is a chance no other South African will follow in Amla’s footsteps and play in 100 Tests.”I am going to make a big call and say Hash (Amla) is probably going to be the last guy that plays 100 Tests for South Africa because of the way that the game is changing,” du Plessis said. “Quinnie (de Kock) and KG (Rabada) are possibly looking at that as youngsters but it’s a long way into the future.”Du Plessis is not being overly dramatic in that assessment. The average age of South Africa’s 13-man squad is 27.85, including two 24-year-olds who are yet to play a Test: Theunis de Bruyn and Duanne Olivier. Take them out and the average age of the expected playing XI at the Wanderers, with Wayne Parnell being swapped for Kyle Abbott, is 28.54.Of those, five players: du Plessis, Amla, Stephen Cook, JP Duminy and Vernon Philander are over 30. Dean Elgar is 29. De Kock and Rabada, who are 23 and 21 respectively, are expected to have lengthy careers but du Plessis said that does not necessarily mean a large collection of Test caps.”It’s a massive call to make. Test cricket these days, the game has evolved so much. If you look at Hashim and AB (de Villiers) and Jacques (Kallis) and Graeme (Smith) and all those guys, it was a period of a lot of Test cricket that was played over a long period of time. Now, there’s lots of T20s, so I think the game is changing a little bit, that you won’t play for as long because there is so much more cricket,” du Plessis said. “What I mean by that, is that its really special for Hash to do something like that. I’m not going to get to 100. The guys in the team that are playing now, JP, all those guys, its something we will never get to.”South Africa depend on Hashim Amla’s calming demeanour on and off the field•Getty Images

Du Plessis had forgotten the one man closest to Amla, Dale Steyn. He has 85 Test caps but is not expected to return to action until June as he recovers form a shoulder injury. Steyn told ESPNcricinfo he thinks it could take him as long as three years to reach 100 Tests but after watching tribute videos to Amla on television in the lead-up to the Wanderers Test, he is motivated to get there. Perhaps any player would be, because as du Plessis said it is an “amazing, amazing effort”.It’s also a time to celebrate what a player has done over a sustained period of time and although Amla has stayed out of the limelight, attention has found him. His team-mates have heaped praise on him, with du Plessis the latest to join the chorus.For du Plessis, Amla has been an example of consistency, not just in runs but in attitude. “He has been the rock of our batting. He has been the most consistent player I reckon with Jacques Kallis that South Africa have ever had,” he said. “Of course he is not scoring as much runs now but what he brings off the field still offers a lot. Hashim when he is scoring runs or when he is not scoring runs is exactly the same person and that brings a calmness to the dressing room. Even when he is not scoring runs, he is offering a lot of value and for me as a player, I’ve learned a lot from that. You need to look at success and failure in exactly the same way.”Du Plessis said he’d like to see the rest of the South African batsmen learn how to bat big and long, like Amla•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Although Amla is no longer captain, he continues to offer leadership which is of particular importance to du Plessis, who has just taken over. “As a leader he’s a huge asset to me – I rely on his knowledge a lot. Take away the runs, the demeanour and person he is in the dressing room is very calm. Even if he goes to the wicket and doesn’t score runs it feels like he relaxes the batting unit – he’s just got that personality,” du Plessis said.Du Plessis would like the rest of the line-up to learn how to bat big, like Amla. Not only is Amla the holder of South Africa’s highest individual Test score but he also has the second-most number of double hundreds behind Smith, and his conversion rate is something du Plessis wants the team to try and emulate.”Hash’s concentration – that’s his biggest thing and his biggest asset. It’s something that I admire and it’s something that I challenge myself and the other batters with,” du Plessis said. “It’s happening too often these days that you don’t get enough guys to anchor big and score big runs. To score hundreds is great – we want to score hundreds – but to push ourselves to get even better to get to 150s and 200s. Hash is normally a guy that leads that.”While Amla will be celebrated at the Wanderers, there will be also be questions about his future. After 100 Tests and at his age, 33, there are people wondering whether Amla will retire in the near future. Du Plessis brought news that for now, they can shelve that thought.”I’ve spoken to him and he’s still very keen to push it as long as that great body of his will let him go. But he’s not even thinking about retirement.”

Alastair Cook has conceded that England’s Test fortunes may have “stagnated” over the past 12 months, but confirms he will not rush any decision on the future of his Test captaincy, in spite of another humiliating defeat in the fifth and final match of England’s tour of India.Cook’s dismissal for 49 in the first hour after lunch was the catalyst for another dramatic collapse on the final afternoon in Chennai, as England lost ten wickets for 104 runs in 48.2 overs – including their last six for 15 – to slump to defeat by an innings and 75 runs, and a 4-0 series loss.The defeat was England’s eighth in 17 Tests in 2016, equalling their record number of losses for a calendar year, and they will finish the year at No. 5 in the Test rankings, some way below the levels they might have anticipated after winning both the Ashes and a memorable away series against South Africa last year.When asked by Sky Sports if England had “stagnated” under his leadership, Cook responded: “That’s a fair shout, you can say whatever you want now, if I turn around here and slag everyone off and use emotive language, I’m not doing my job. When you lose Test cricket, you get criticised. You have to take it on the chin.”The defeat was Cook’s 22nd in 59 Tests at the helm, meaning he has overtaken Michael Atherton as England’s most defeated captain in Test history. However, he confirmed he will wait until the dust has settled on the tour before deciding whether to carry on as captain, following an anticipated meeting with Andrew Strauss, England’s team director, in the New Year.”This is not the place to be standing asking me these questions,” Cook said. “I have to go away and do some thinking. I need to get back home and do it without the emotive side of what’s happened over the last nine weeks.”In his subsequent press conference, he added: “I need to go home first enjoy Christmas as much as I can do and then come back in January and look to plan with Straussy and see what’s the right decision for English cricket. I’ve got to go away and decide whether I am the right man to take England forward. It’s the wrong time to make those decisions as energy is low, energy is low and you can make foolish decisions as those times.”When there’s not a Test match for seven months it’d seem very foolish to stand here now and make a decision which either you regret or don’t. If there was a Test match in three weeks time you’d have to think. But while there is a bit of space why not use it?”The defeat at Chennai was England’s second by an innings in as many matches, and just as in Mumbai last week, they were blown away in spite of winning the toss and posting a large first-innings total – 400 at the Wankhede, 477 at Chepauk.”I don’t think we ran out of fight, all the guys gave their all, but weren’t good enough,” Cook said. “Whether that’s a culmination of the pressure being built up over a long period of time, or a bit of mental tiredness, people will look at that and say it’s an excuse, but we haven’t been good enough in these conditions.”I said at the beginning of the series, it was vitally important to stay in the contest as long as we can, because we’ve seen in previous tours here, it’s a hard juggernaut to stop – the India juggernaut at home, when they’re are playing as well as that. Once they get ahead, their confidence goes and it’s hard to stop that momentum.”Whether 4-0 is fair or not, it’s hard to say,” he added. “We’ve struggled to take 20 wickets and we haven’t got enough runs, so we probably didn’t deserve much more than that.”We’ve missed opportunities, we’ve been in games and had good fortune to win four out of five tosses, but we haven’t pushed home our advantages. Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say we are not good enough in these conditions. We will have to be better when we come back.”

Shreyas Iyer, on 191 overnight, stood between Gujarat and a first-innings lead. His early dismissal for 194 on the final day meant Mumbai fell 15 short of taking three points, despite Shardul Thakur’s half-century at No. 9. Mumbai were bowled out for 417, having begun the day on 328 for 6.The second innings was reduced to a mere formality as Gujarat’s openers scored 82 without loss in 45 overs when the captains shook hands in Hubli. Priyank Panchal, the opener who made 232 in the first innings, was unbeaten on 56. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was named Man of the Match for a career-best 6 for 71.Mandeep Singh struck a brisk century, and medium-pacer Manpreet Gony hammered an unbeaten 66 off 26 balls, in the drawn game between Punjab and Tamil Nadu in Nagpur.Punjab had conceded the first-innings lead thanks to Kaushik Gandhi’s career-best 164. In the second innings, they scored at 4.74 runs per over, before declaring for 375. Mandeep Singh’s 128 off 160 balls anchored the innings in which Uday Kaul (65) and Gurkeerat Singh (55 off 45) also got runs, before a promoted Manpreet Gony hit eight sixes.However, the timing of Punjab’s declaration left Tamil Nadu only 37 overs to negotiate in a chase of 306. They lost only one wicket, as Abhinav Mukund (67*) and Gandhi (21*) put on 78 for the second wicket and took them to stumps.Saurabh Wakaskar scored his second fifty of the game as Railways settled for a point after conceding the first-innings lead to Madhya Pradesh at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. MP took the lead early in the day, having begun on 356 for 5, just 15 behind Railways’ 371. Overnight batsmen Devendra Bundela and Shubham Sharma continued their remarkable partnership for the sixth wicket, taking it past 200 and finally being separated with the score on 406, having come together on 164 for 5.Shubham scored 119, his maiden first-class century, while Bundela scored a career-best 188. MP added 104 runs in the last 21 overs, before declaring on 510 for 8. In reply, Railways reached 150 for 1 at the end of play. Wakaskar was unbeaten on 71, after putting on 100 for the opening wicket with Shivakant Shukla, who scored 57.

Group A

Fourteen wickets fell in Dharamsala in the fourth-round clash between Bengal and Railways. Railways’ bowlers vindicated their captain’s decision to field by dismissing Bengal for 205. But their batsmen couldn’t hold on to the advantage as they slipped to 37 for 4 by the close.Four of the five bowlers used by Railways picked up wickets, with Anureet Singh’s 4 for 66 leading the way. Right-arm medium pacer Amit Mishra picked up 3 for 38, while Karan Thakur took two wickets and Karn Sharma one. Bengal’s innings featured two partnerships of note. First, Sudip Chatterjee, the No. 3 who top-scored with 85, added 52 with Sayan Mondal for the second wicket. He then combined with Agniv Pan for a fifth-wicket partnership of 66. Ashok Dindachipped in with a 26-ball 30, before Bengal’s innings was wrapped up in 69.5 overs. Dinda got the wickets of Saurabh Wakaskar and Mrunal Devdhar early in Railways’ reply. Amit Kulia and Sayan Ghosh also joined in with a wicket each to compound Railways’ woes.At the Feroz Shah Kotla, Deepak Hooda was in sight of his maiden first-class double century as his career-best 190 not out headlined Baroda’s day of dominance against Punjab. Baroda piled on 358 for 6 in 90 overs, despite a four-for from Sandeep Sharma, who had rocked them early in the day with the wickets of their openers.With Baroda reduced to 11 for 2, Dhiren Mistry and Hooda compiled 178 for the third wicket to offset the early stumble and lay a solid platform. Mistry made 76 before being caught behind off Siddharth Kaul. Hooda added 80 more for the fourth wicket with wicketkeeper Pinal Shah. Sandeep removed Pinal for 42 and Yusuf Pathan for a second-ball duck, while Vishnu Solanki also fell cheaply. But Hooda stayed dominant and ended the day with 16 fours and three sixes, having struck at 88.37 per 100 balls.Elsewhere, at the DRIEMS Grounds in Tangi, Tamil Nadu put behind twin early jolts to recover to 262 for 4 on the opening day against Madhya Pradesh. Tamil Nadu lost both their openers for ducks inside the first two overs, after being put in. They were then lifted through half-centuries from Kaushik Gandhi (71*) and Dinesh Karthik (95).Gandhi and Karthik got together with the score at 54 for 3 and added 144 in 46 overs for the fourth wicket. Karthik struck 15 fours in his 153-ball knock, before being caught off Chandrakant Sakure, the right-arm medium pacer, five short of a century. B Indrajith and Gandhi then joined hands for an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 64. Indrajith was unbeaten on 44. Sakure ended the day with 2 for 47, while Ishwar Pandey and Ashwin Das, the new-ball duo, dismissed the Tamil Nadu openers.At the Palam Grounds in New Delhi, right-arm medium pacer Imtiaz Ahmed’s 4 for 48 helped Uttar Pradesh fight back against Gujarat, who squandered a strong start to end the day on 276 for 8. Gujarat’s openers Samit Gohel and Priyank Panchal laid a solid platform through a 122-run opening stand. Both batsmen made scores of 60, before Imtiaz dismissed both. But none of Gujarat’s other batsmen could make a noteworthy contribution, with the exception of Parthiv Patel, the captain, who also scored 60. Chirag Gandhi, the No. 6, was not out on 33 when stumps were drawn.

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim has said that consistency will be their main target in the second Test against England, even though their fighting performance in the Chittagong Test raised expectations of a better result in Dhaka. Recent history, however, suggests that Bangladesh have a hard time following up on a good performance in home Tests.Against Pakistan last year, they were hammered by 328 runs in Dhaka after earning a credible draw in Khulna in the first game. In 2012 against West Indies, they got close in the first game before going down in the second game by ten wickets. Three years earlier against Sri Lanka, they again fought well in the first game but were crushed by 465 runs in the second Test.”Our challenge will be to play consistently, especially against a good side like England,” Mushfiqur said. “We wouldn’t have become the No. 1 team in the world by beating England in Chittagong so our target remains to do well over four to five days in a Test, and afterwards if we get into a winning position, we will push on. We have many more performers in our side these days. So everyone has expectations from the players. Our performance and the fight we put up in the first Test wasn’t unexpected. We will also try to cope with the pressure of expectation.”Mushfiqur said that the loss in the first Test, and the bitter aftertaste as the margin was their closest in terms of runs, would spur them on for the second match. “We are still hurting from the loss in Chittagong so it is best to move on from that game,” he said. “We know that had we given 1% more, the Test would have been in our favour. We would like to take the positives from that game, and use them in Dhaka.”Mushfiqur said that the Bangladesh spinners’ attacking nature would keep them in the game for a long time, though heavy rain on the day before the first Test could have some effect on the Dhaka pitch, which was expected to be drier than usual.”The rain might have some impact on our plans,” he said. “The wicket is mostly prepared but if the sun was out today, it would have dried up further. If there’s a bit of moisture, the ball would be gripping on the surface for the spinners. Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan combined to take 18 of the 20 wickets to fall, and they will be expected to have a similar effect in this game as well.”Their spinners don’t have to attack because of their pace bowlers. For us, the spinners are the main weapon; they have to attack and take the wickets. I think in that sense, our spinners are ahead of them. They are natural at bowling with the new and old ball, defensive or aggressively. But I would still say that our spinners have room for improvement.”