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With the competitive interest having long been put to rest, the Ranji Trophy semifinal between Karnataka and Hyderabad meandered to a listless conclusion in Bangalore today. Vanka Pratap’s sixth Ranji century and his second this season was the only saving grace after Karnataka’s resistance had terminated at 557 in the morning. VVS Laxman failed and Mohd. Azharuddin did not deign to grace the wicket with his presence as Hyderabad settled at a score of 236/6 to go ahead towards a summit clash with Mumbai in Mumbai beginning April 19.Earlier Dodda Ganesh enlivened the proceedings with some big hitting on the final morning. Ganesh struck consecutive sixes over long on and mid wicket off Kanwaljit Singh while Mansur Ali Khan who had got off the mark earlier with a five, including two overthrows, played the two spinners with an admirably straight bat. The third new ball was due eight overs into the session but Azhar persisted with the two spinners and it was Raju who drove the final nail into the coffin when Ganesh charged at him with head high in the air and eyes off the ball, to have his stumps rearranged. His 76 was the sixth half century of the innings and if just one guy had played a longer hand, Karnataka would have got within sniffing distance of the Hyderabad total.With a lead of 154 in the kitty, Daniel Manohar and Nandakishore resumed battle against the Karnataka seam attack. Ganesh bowled a short length to Manohar and was pulled away to the boundary on two occasions. But Ganesh persisted and took a good left handed catch to his intense delight as Manohar got an edge while trying to dismiss the ball from his presence once more. Off the very next ball, Nandakishore fell leg before to Prasad, playing forward but not enough to sow some doubt in the umpires mind. VVS Laxman and Vanka Pratap both got their first boundaries to the vacant third man area. With Sunil Joshi not taking the field, Vijay Bharadwaj was thrust into the role of lead spinner and in the second ball after lunch he uprooted Laxman’s middle stump through the gap between bat and pad, with the batsman having taken his season’s tally to 1258, just 22 short of Bharadwaj’s record.Parth Satwalkar kept driving into the midriff of silly point who was standing too close to hold anything but Bharadwaj finally snared him when he flicked one in the direction of midwicket where Akhil leapt to his right to hold a brilliant one hander. That left Hyderabad at 93/4 but Azharuddin still did not bother to make the effort to climb down one flight of stairs and enter the middle. Karnataka were bowling with enthusiasm and appealing spiritedly as they tried to make further inroads into the middle order although it was dubious whether this would serve any practical purpose.Vanka Pratap’s favoured routes for directing the ball to the fence were through the covers and to backward point as he got in some useful batting practice ahead of the final against Mumbai. After Riaz Sheikh presented a simple catch off Rowland Barrington’s leg breaks to Prasad at short extra cover, Vanka and Fiaz Ahmed added 99 for the sixth wicket in the final session. Vanka was more adventurous as his innings progressed, taking the aerial route several times, to the long on and long off boundaries. Dropped on 94 by substitute KN Ramesh, he reached his hundred off 201 balls with an extra cover drive off A Vijay. And when he holed out to long off where Ramesh made amends with a neatly judged catch off the very next ball, the match was called off with Hyderabad at 236/6 in the 73rd over.

Even on one leg, there’s clearly still life in Brian Lara yet. But the second day of the tour match against Australia ‘A’ in Hobart represented yet another occasion on which its champion batsman and its line-up as a whole only limped and sputtered into action for West Indies.Still waging a losing battle against a persistent hamstring injury, the brilliant left hander was compulsorily demoted to number seven in the batting order. And, by the time that he arrived at the wicket, his team had already crashed to 5/80 and was staring another debilitating defeat squarely in the face.It was just as well, perhaps, that the defiant Ridley Jacobs (30*) was the man at the other end when his turn eventually came. For, in the doughtywicketkeeper-batsman, he found an ally at least capable of resisting for a long period the excellent line and length being maintained by a trio of wholehearted fast bowlers.Initially, Lara (62*) scratched, scraped, hobbled, and looked vulnerable to another early dismissal. But he then did something he has rarely seemed close tomanaging on this troubled tour – purposefully built a first-class innings littered with a brace of flourishing strokes. Every exertion appeared painful as he began; a state of torment not assisted by some high class bowling from Don Nash (3/37), Andy Bichel (1/52) and Mathew Inness (1/24) that tested the star player’s capacity to use his inconvenienced feet.With Jacobs there to help him and his own confidence growing noticeably all the while, though, he added an important unbroken stand of ninety-two to help lead amini-recovery at the end of the day. And, while it brought the tourists no closer than 267 runs to their opponents’ imposing 9/439 declared, the liaison at least delivered something in the way of optimism to the West Indian camp.Coach Roger Harper conceded that he would have preferred to have allowed his most accomplished batsman to recover from recent pain-killing injections for theentirety of the day. Necessarily, though, potential disaster in the West Indians’ fate in the match became the mother of Lara’s afternoon reinvention.”He had a course of injections in Perth and he’s still a bit sore,” confirmed Harper.”There’s still some time before the Third Test starts in Adelaide and we hope that he’ll be fully recovered.””The soreness in his leg, the stiffness; he was having some treatment in the dressing room,” said Harper of the decision to bat him so low in the order. “He wanted to rest it for a while and give himself as much time as possible prior to going out there. Ideally, we were hoping that he’d be needed tomorrow.”Lara’s pain was eased, and his need to run hurriedly between the wickets negated, by his capacity to strike ten boundaries and a five in a hand that spanned only 103 minutes. He also seemed to experience more freedom when spinners Brad Oldroyd (0/29) and Simon Katich (0/29) were asked to bowl the closing twelve overs of the day.Earlier, Australia ‘A’ had rocketed its way toward its lunch time closure with some highly spirited batting of its own. The in-form Katich (46) and Brad Hodge (14) disappeared in the midst of accurate spells from Marlon Black (1/71) and Kerry Jeremy (1/85) respectively. But wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin (37),Nash (30 from fourteen ferociously played deliveries) and Bichel (20) maintained the tempo of the innings sweetly.Perhaps mindful of the possibility that any of them might be called up to their country’s Test team in the wake of the injury-enforced absence of Brett Lee, pacemen Nash, Bichel and Inness then forced the West Indians to endure a torrid start to the reply. Sherwin Campbell (9), Daren Ganga (18) and Wavell Hinds (40) all succumbed to miscued, and unwisely attempted, hook shots while Jimmy Adams (0) and Marlon Samuels (9) were beaten by deliveries of fuller length.

Sussex appeared to have made promotion a formality by batting Warwickshire out of realistic contention on a low-key third day out at Edgbaston.Needing only a draw to confirm First Division status next year, the south coast county established an imposing lead of 397 thanks to centuries by Richard Montgomerie and Chris Adams.They lost only two wickets in six-and-a-half hours while adding 312 and they may yet make the game watertight by building on their total of 324 for 3 on the last morning.Warwickshire had one success in the first hour when nightwatchman James Kirtley was caught at first slip but began to look a dejected side after missing an opportunity to run out Montgomerie when he had made 40.The opener made his native county pay by taking his second hundred of the season off their bowling and when he was out for 121, he had completed eight centuries in his summer of nearly 1,700 first-class runs.He batted for nearly five-and-a-half hours, hitting 15 fours from 258 balls, and after so much care and application, it was a disappointing conclusion when he hoisted a short delivery from Vasbert Drakes to deep square leg.A third-wicket stand with Adams had yielded 199 and his partner was then on 99 after reaching 1,000 runs in a season for the fifth time in his career.The Sussex captain safely chalked up his third century of the year from 196 balls but remained intent on locking up promotion by cautiously advancing to 132 not as his young partner, Tim Ambrose, made an unbeaten 41 out of 78 in the 26 overs.

Keith Mitchell, the chairman of the CARICOM sub-committee on cricket governance, has expressed “grave concern” over the comments of West Indies coach Phil Simmons about outside influences robbing him of the best possible ODI squad for next month’s tour of Sri Lanka.Mitchell recommended it was time for “Project West Indies cricket”, which would encourage unity, openness and co-operation from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) administrators to ensure Simmons and the selectors were given the autonomy to do their jobs.”The head coach’s comments about the selection of the West Indies one-day team to tour Sri Lanka are highly disturbing,” Mitchell wrote in an open letter to the WICB on Sunday.Earlier this week Simmons had revealed that he and Clive Lloyd, the chairman of selectors, were outvoted 3-2 in the selection meeting on September 23 on the inclusion of allrounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard. The pair have been out of the ODI side since the series in South Africa this January. At the time Lloyd had said he had spoken to the two players and explained to them that the selection panel wanted to move on and give youngsters more chances.But Simmons said Lloyd and Jason Holder, the West Indies Test and ODI captain, wanted Bravo and Pollard in the squad.”The disappointing fact is that you can lose 3-2 in a vote-off but there is too much interference from outside in the selection of the ODI squad and it’s disappointing for me to know that in any aspect of life … [people would use] their position to get people into a squad; or in this case, get people left out of a squad. It is wrong and I don’t like it and that is my beef with the selection of the ODI team.”According to Mitchell, all the leaders involved – captain, coach, selectors – needed the support of the WICB and no intrusion, if West Indies cricket had to regain its lost glory.”The team is now at an important crossroads, and it will require wisdom and good leadership to chart and follow the right path. It will therefore take the skill, motivation and priorities of the men who lead and the players who follow, to restore the team to world prominence.To that end, the leadership unit must receive the full and unequivocal support and cooperation of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), and the backing of an independent selection panel, that is free of interference, fear, or favour.”Mitchell said one reason his political party was elected to power in Grenada in 2013 was because it placed the interests of the country before any personal agendas. That was part of the manifesto called Project Grenada that Mitchell said had proved successful.”We need a similar “Project West Indies cricket” approach if the team is to be successful. The entire cricketing organization should be fighting battles on the field against opposing teams, and not with each other in boardrooms and offices,” Mitchell said. “I believe that if Simmons is given the right tools to do his job, the liberty to make critical cricket decisions, the autonomy to create learning environments in which young players can grow and prosper, and the freedom to field the best teams, West Indies cricket will flourish.”Mitchell also highlighted that Simmons, in the short time he has been coach – he took over after the World Cup in March – had already managed to sit with national players across the Caribbean and help them understand and buy into his vision.”Already the head coach and his coaching team have taken a great step forward by gaining the trust, respect and loyalty of the West Indies players. These are things that administrators and other West Indies coaches struggled with and failed to achieve during the last fifteen years.”A disgruntled players’ fraternity up in arms against a divided WICB and a revolving door of coaches and captains have been some of the factors responsible for West Indies cricket not only sliding down the rankings table but also losing face and respect in world cricket. Dave Cameron, the WICB president, who was elected for a second term recently, has tried hard to gain the players’ confidence and win over his opponents within the board, but has been severely criticised throughout his tenure. Nothing signified this more clearly than West Indies’ aborted tour of India last October.Bravo, who was the ODI captain on that tour, led the pullout with one ODI, one T20 and three Tests pending, due to a protracted disagreement between the players, the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association over the payment structure specified by the players’ revised contracts. Calling the episode a “monumental disaster”, the BCCI demanded $41.97m as damages from the WICB. Since then Cameron has received a lot of flak with critics, former players and CARICOM officials blaming him for the embarrassment caused to West Indies cricket due to the pullout.Ralph Gonsalaves, the St Vincents and the Grenadines Prime Minister and Mitchell’s associate on the CARICOM committee, accused Cameron of “dishonouring” his word after Bravo and Pollard were first dropped from the ODI squad. Gonsalves said Cameron had assured him at an earlier meeting that none of the India 14 would be “victimised” and the squads for South Africa tour would be picked on merit.Mitchell’s remedy for the WICB is to be more inclusive. “A sports organization needs good management and administration to function at its best, but it cannot win battles on the field without sensible, coordinated and innovative leadership at every level throughout its ranks. The organisation must not be divided unto itself.”Mitchell even quoted Pope Francis, who, in his speech at the United Nations earlier this week, “reminded the world about the dangers of polarisation, anger, hatred, resentment, exclusion and adversarial attitudes, and the benefits of inclusion, kindness, unity, cooperation and common purpose. We sincerely hope that his words were heard and heeded by our cricket administrators.”

After a slow start to their campaign, Guernsey have notched up their second win in consecutive days by beating Botswana by 25 runs at The Padang. Having won the toss, Guernsey’s batsmen made it count and posted a competitive total of 241 for 6. Lee Savident gave his team a sound start with a top score of 65 off 102 balls while Jeremy Frith also contributed a half-century. Stuart Le Prevost, the Guernsey captain, scored a quick 36 and the lower order made useful contributions. Botswana were on course during their run-chase, reaching 108 for 1, before they lost direction. Frith caught and bowled Faisal Rana for 57 and dismissed Karan Kapoor to leave Botswana on 112 for 3. Gary Rich took two crucial middle-order wickets before Jamie Nussbaumer dismissed the last four batsmen. He finished with 4 for 42 as Botswana were dismissed for 216 in the final over.Bahrain put in a powerful all-round performance to crush Norway by 232 runs at the Indian Association Ground. Imran Sajjad and Adil Hanif set up Bahrain’s innings with scores of 68 and 65 respectively before Tahir Dar boosted the total to 304 for 7 by blitzing 54 off 24 balls. Bahrain’s new-ball bowlers, Yaser Sadeq and Halal Abbasi, cut through the Norway top-order, reducing them to 35 for 5, a position from which they never recovered. Not content with an aggressive half-century, Dar took 2 for 13 in six overs while Fahad Sadeq claimed 3 for 16. Norway were shot out for 72 as early as the 28th over. The win ensured Bahrain’s berth in World Cricket League Division 5 next year.”Today we just played our natural game against Norway. In Bahrain we play on matting so it’s taken some time to get used to the turf wicket but today things really came together for us and we just went for it,” Dar said. “We really wanted to create a big target for Norway and the only way for us to do that was to hit the 300 mark, which we did and they failed to make it thanks to our strong bowling.”As for tomorrow’s final against Singapore, we know it’s going to be tough, Singapore have not lost a match this tournament but we’re confident and hopefully we can bring our winning way to the finals.”Singapore maintained their 100% win record by beating Malaysia by four wickets to secure their fifth victory in World Cricket League Division Six at the Kallang Ground. The victory also secured their place in World Cricket League Division five next year. Singapore’s bowlers backed up the decision to send Malaysia in by dismissing them for 183 in 50 overs. Muthuraman Sockalingam top scored with 43 while Mulewa Dharmichand was Singapore’s best bowler, taking 3 for 37. The home side’s chase started poorly when Buddika Mendis was lbw for a duck but Narender Reddy steadied the innings with a patient 64 off 134 balls. He was supported by Monish Arora, who scored 37, as Singapore reached the target in the 47th over.

Rawalpindi, Nov 4: England’s preparation for the three-test seriesagainst Pakistan got off to a confidence-boosting start when theydefeated Patron’s Eleven by an innings and 27 runs with more than asession’s play on the last day still remaining.The Patron’s Eleven, resuming this morning at 49 for one and requiring196 to make the tourists bat again, were skittled out for 169 some 44minutes before tea. England paceman Matthew Hoggard finished with fourfor 40 and spinners Ashley Giles and Ian Salibsury shared five wicketsbetween them.For the Patron’s Eleven, only left-handed Qaisar Abbas put up anyresistance of while scoring 44. He was dismissed in an unusual fashionwhen his attempted sweep short struck Dominic Cork at short-leg andscooped at mid-wicket where Ian Salisbury took a confortable catch. Hewas a model of concentration and application when he batted flawlesslyfor 15 minutes over two hours during which he received 81 balls. Hisinnings contained four boundaries.Mohammad Shafiq brought respectability to the home team’s score with a30-ball 26 that included three sixes, two off Giles and one offSalisbury, and a boundary.Test reject opener Mohammad Naveed Ashraf played a few delightfulshots before he succumbed to his over adventurous approach. He wascaught at the wicket by Paul Nixon, who finished with four dismissalsbehind the wickets, for 44 that contained seven boundaries.If Hoggard’s outswinger accounted for Naveed, the Yorkshire bowler’sinswinger left another Test discard Mohammad Wasim stranded in frontof the wickets for an easy decision by umpire Kamal Merchant.Hoggard, in the afternoon, added the scalps of Mohammad Shafiq andMunir Ansari to finish with encouraging match haul of nine for 104.His performance must be a great satisfaction for Nasser Hussain whosepacers have struggled in the one-dayers to not only take wickets butalso put brakes on scoring.”My eyes licked after watching the wicket. One of the best wickets Ihave played on. I am sure the selectors will reconsider me for thefirst Test squad,” Hoggard told reporters.Giles and Salibsury shared five wickets between them. Nevertheless,for the second successive time in the match, they couldn’t put upperformances which could be a matter of worry for Pakistan in theTests.Giles bagged three for 38 while bowling flat but Salisbury conceded 51runs from his 19 overs at the return of two wickets. While Salisburypicked up the wicket of Imran Abbas last evening, he added the wicketof wicket-keeper Javed Qadeer who offered no stroke to a straightishdelivery.Giles victims were Qaisar Abbas, Salman Shah who was caught behind andlast-man Mohammad Akram who mistimed a drive to be caught at cover.England now proceed to Peshawar on Sunday where they play NWFPGovernor’s Eleven in the final four-day match from Nov 8.

Andrew Flintoff could be about to retire for a second time after Brisbane Heat conceded that his popularity as a commentator in the Big Bash League far outdid his effectiveness on the field.Flintoff managed only 74 runs and three wickets during the tournament in which Heat finished bottom of the table and on at least one infamous occasion he pushed the boundaries between cricket and light entertainment to the limit.That was when his most notable contribution was to provide an extended Elvis impression on the boundary while wearing a player mic during a Heat fixture against Hobart Hurricanes, his lengthy – and impressive – rendition momentarily interrupted when a six from Ben Hilfenhaus flew over his head.Instead of providing another performance of “In the Ghetto”, Flintoff could now be consigned to the ghetto for ex-cricketers if he decides also to step down from Lancashire’s NatWest Blast side. Neither Lancashire nor Flintoff have provided definite indications about whether he will play this summer.Whatever he decides, Flintoff’s return to professional cricket five years after he bowed to a series of crippling injuries has been little short of miraculous.He made an enthralling comeback in 2014, managing to bowl and bat effectively at times and almost stage-managing what would have been a remarkable comeback when Lancashire became losing finalists against Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston.But he looked increasingly physically spent during the Big Bash, as he freely admitted on commentary, leading him to hint at the end of the tournament that his playing days might again be coming to an end.There were claims even last year that Elvis was alive and well and, at 79, had made a comeback 36 years after his death. Flintoff is loath to follow the same route.Andrew Blucher, Brisbane Heat’s general manager, confirmed that, in Australia at least, the prospects of that are small as the franchise shifts the emphasis from promotional opportunities to the actual cricket.”Andrew Flintoff was outstanding for us off the field from a media point of view – for fans, supporters and sponsors he was absolutely outstanding,” Blucher told Cricket Australia’s website.”I think in terms of his on-field performance, by his own admission, he would say he was less than where he would like to be. We needed more from him on the field if I’m brutally honest.”We loved him, the fans loved him but ultimately we do need more out of an overseas – one of those two highly valuable overseas recruits.”Flintoff was recruited by Stuart Law, Heat’s coach and a former Lancashire team-mate, after he had ended a five-year retirement because of injury against all the odds. His commentary was popular with the Australian public – even though he has been a rare example in England of a former England captain who has not entered the commentary box – although it is not known if he could return next year.

Simon Jones is likely to miss the rest of the season after damaging knee cartilage which will keep him out of action for up to four weeks. Jones, who was forced to pull out of the England Lions matches against the South Africans last week, will undergo an arthroscopy to clean up the knee as soon as possible.”The plan was to have Simon still playing in September,” Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket, said. “Whilst this has not quite been achieved I am delighted with his contribution and the plan will be to rehab Simon in a way to get him back fitter and stronger for the cricket that lies ahead of him.”He has not played for England for three years after a series of abortive county comebacks, but this season marked his best chance yet. He has taken 42 first-class wickets at an average of 18.02 and a strike rate of 30 and his inclusion in the Lions set-up was another positive step before the latest blow. He was overlooked for the Tests against South Africa, but a good performance at Grace Road could have strengthened his claims for an England recall.With the Ashes coming around next year in England, Jones was shaping as a candidate for the winter tours but his latest injury must put that in doubt. If he doesn’t make the main trips to India and West Indies, he may get the chance on the England Lions tours, the first of which is to India before Christmas.

Scorecard

Sussex are probably fed up of watching Stuart Law bat on their home patch. His masterful 156, which pushed Lancashire to a valuable lead of 129, completed a hat-trick of centuries at Hove and it was a class above anything else on display in this match. Even though the pitch is offering precious little for the bowlers, Lancashire are now in a position to push for their second Championship victory of the season.It was hard work for Sussex to prize out wickets on a slow surface that nullified the threat of a limping Mushtaq Ahmed. To put Sussex’s disappointing first innings into context Gary Keedy, the nightwatchman, batted throughout the morning session as he registered his career-best in a 160-run stand with Law after Lancashire started on a precarious 67 for 4. Sussex fought back during the afternoon as Andrew Flintoff collected another failure, but Luke Sutton combined in a watchful stand of 89 and Lancashire’s deep batting order frustrated Sussex during the final session.Law, though, batted on a different level. His average against Sussex is 70 and in 17 matches against them (for Essex and Lancashire) he has 1613 runs. With such a record, Sussex were asking for trouble when they dropped him on 18 – a tough chance to Chris Adams at slip – and he was offered a second life when Jason Lewry spilled a much simpler opportunity at mid-on when Law was 101. It showed the class of Law that he was able to so easily switch between Twenty20 and four-day cricket.His first Championship century of the season came off 173 balls and was punctuated by silky cover drives, deft cuts and neat placement. He was happy to bide his time against pace and spin and almost everything went along the deck, barring a lofted slog-sweep off Ollie Rayner after he’d passed three figures. “I’ve been coming down here a while and have always had some good tussles with Mushtaq,” he told . “It hasn’t been going well in the Championship this season and it was about time the batting knuckled down so it was a good effort today.”However, Law’s batting prowess is well known. The same can’t be said of Keedy, who has an average of 11. He has previously performed valuable nightwatchman roles, but never quite with this success. It helped him that Mushtaq was clearly not a full fitness while Corey Collymore was below-par in the first session. Keedy has limited scoring areas, but used them well as he clipped off his pads and punched through the off side.His 157-ball innings passed his previous best which was 57 against Yorkshire in 2002. Mushtaq eventually extracted him from the crease, as Michael Yardy stayed low to take a good catch at silly point. After appearing flat during the long fifth-wicket stand, Sussex suddenly found a spark. Rayner, tossing up his offspin, bowled Steven Croft which one that didn’t turn much and beat the outside edge.Flintoff marched out at No. 8 – the position many would argue suits him these days – and drove his second ball just wide of Rayner for four. He was clearly itching to dominate, but didn’t enjoy facing a twin spin attack. Rayner and Mushtaq tied him down, then trying to break free Flintoff came down the pitch and clubbed straight to midwicket. Shortly after heading off he was back in the nets, but it’s time in the middle he really needs.Importantly from the match situation, Sussex were right back in the contest with Lancashire still behind by 21. However, Sutton showed the composure that Flintoff lacked and helped take them into a lead alongside Law. Mushtaq eventually claimed his second to end the partnership, but Glen Chapple is far better than a No. 10.Chapple wasn’t afraid to use his feet against a tiring attack and Law brought up his 150 shortly before the close. The Sussex bowlers were a weary bunch, none more so than Mushtaq. He has hinted that this might be his final season, despite a contract than runs until 2009, and many more days like this could well sway his mind.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Mumbai rounded off their IPL campaign with a comfortable win over the Bangalore Royal Challengers in a match reduced to 18 overs a side by rain. Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar weren’t troubled by the damp conditions and added 96 in 69 balls after Dilhara Fernando restricted Bangalore to 122 with controlled spells of bowling that fetched him four wickets.While Mumbai’s three seamers – Shaun Pollock, Ashish Nehra and Fernando – troubled the Bangalore batsmen with varying line and length, Bangalore’s bowlers, except Dale Steyn, caused no discomfort to Mumbai’s in-form openers. Rahul Dravid chose to open with Anil Kumble, like he did in the previous game, and was made to pay as Jayasuriya lofted the bowler for a four over his head off the second ball.In any opening partnership that features Jayasuriya, the other batsman will have to play second fiddle and Tendulkar did just that as Jayasuriya went on the attack. However both the batsmen were shaken by Steyn’s pace and ability to seam the ball both ways. In his first over – that went for one run – Steyn cut one in to Jayasuriya, then had him miss a pull with a ball that stayed low and followed it with an away delivery that Jayasuriya nearly edged to the keeper. But the inability of the other bowlers to get the right length undid Steyn’s efforts.The short ball was used effectively by Mumbai’s bowlers to keep the runs in check but similar deliveries by Bangalore’s bowlers went for fours and sixes off Jayasuriya’s bat. R Vinay Kumar was hit for successive sixes and fours to midwicket and fine leg in an over that cost 16 runs. In contrast, for Mumbai, Pollock and Nehra set up Shreevats Goswami for Fernando’s taking with back-of-length deliveries that jumped up at him. And though Mark Boucher countered bouncers from the two with ease, he appeared off-guard for one by Fernando and ended up lobbing it to Robin Uthappa at mid-on.In Mumbai’s last match, Fernando had a nightmare final over where he conceded 15 runs to hand the Rajasthan Royals their 11th win of the tournament. But he had no hangover of that game today as he took three wickets for three runs in his first two overs. Later, when Tendulkar kept faith in him and gave him the final over, Fernando responded by conceding only seven and picking up a fourth wicket.Bangalore were hindered not only by the slow outfield, that converted certain boundaries in to threes and twos, but also by Mumbai’s fielders, who contained runs by running hard and diving across the ground. The last three overs – which went for 30 runs – allowed Bangalore to go past 100 but it was never going to be enough to stop Jayasuriya and Tendulkar from sealing an easy win.