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Mumbai

Shreyas Iyer scored 809 runs in 10 matches in the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy at an average of 50.56•PTI

Where they finished last season
Lost to eventual champions Karnataka in the semi-final.Big Picture
Champions. Quarter-finalists. Semi-finalists. Any other team on the domestic circuit would be delighted with such consistency in the last three editions of the Ranji Trophy. Not Mumbai.Having won almost half [40] of the tournament’s 81 editions so far, anything but the title is treated as a failure in Mumbai cricket. As a result, to end a two-season drought, Mumbai have turned to coach Chandrakant Pandit.More than working on the skill sets of Mumbai players, Pandit’s main task is to get them to play as a unit. More than their loss to Jammu & Kashmir or the miraculous qualification for the knockouts or the first-innings collapse in the semi-final, the major talking point of Mumbai’s last season was the infighting within the team. It resulted in Suryakumar Yadav being replaced as captain midway through the season and being reprimanded along with a key pace bowler.The other major challenge to overcome for Mumbai is the lack of a stalwart in dressing room. Abhishek Nayar will be the senior-most player in the change room, which is used to seeing international regulars or domestic stalwarts leading the way.Players to watch
Shreyas Iyer‘s first-class season got off to a fascinating start. For a rookie playing his maiden season, to finish as the seventh-highest run-getter of the tournament was an outstanding feat, and it was followed by an enviable price in the IPL auction. He also featured for India A during their home series against South Africa A but it remains to be seen if Iyer can avoid the second-season blues.Captaincy, albeit of an IPL team, made Rohit Sharma a responsible cricketer, but Suryakumar Yadav appeared to have become complacent on and off the field with the additional responsibility. The talented batsman started the last season as the Mumbai captain and almost lost his place for the zonal Twenty20 tournament on disciplinary grounds. Will he be able to turn the tide?Coaching staff
Chandrakant Pandit has been reappointed coach of Mumbai’s Ranji team after 11 years. Omkar Salvi, elder brother of former India pace bowler Aavishkar Salvi, continues to be the bowling coach, while Ashutosh Nimse will be the physiotherapist.Preparation
A mix of regular and fringe players helped Mumbai win the Buchi Babu tournament, one of the most respected pre-season tournaments. It was followed by a fortnight-long training stint in Hyderabad, where Mumbai played two warm-up games.Team news
Wasim Jaffer has switched to Vidarbha while Sarfaraz Khan has moved to Uttar Pradesh, and Hiken Shah remains suspended by the BCCI. International commitments are likely to keep Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane away from the Mumbai dressing room for the second season in succession. This would mean that the likes of Iyer, Yadav, Siddhesh Lad and Nikhil Patil will have their task cut out. The bowling attack will be bolstered with Dhawal Kulkarni’s availability, at least for the first two games. Zaheer Khan, who missed last season due to an injury, has been left out of the squad for the first two games.Squad
Aditya Tare (capt & wk), Badre Alam, Vishal Dabholkar, Harmeet Singh, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Siddhesh Lad, Shrideep Mangela, Abhishek Nayar, Nikhil Patil, Abhishek Raut, Balwinder Sandhu, Shardul Thakur, Suryakumar Yadav.In their own words
“The expectations, like every year, are to win the title. We are not thinking about it at all. Our simple mantra is to work on the process rather than the result. I have been telling the boys not to take the pressure of winning the Ranji Trophy. If we do the right things in the middle, results will naturally follow.”

Maharashtra

Maharashtra will be looking at Kedar Jadhav to do the bulk of the run-scoring•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Where they finished last season
Semi-finalists, bowing out against Tamil Nadu on the basis of first-innings leadBig Picture
For a better part of the last decade, Maharashtra had employed the policy of trying and testing youngsters. After trying out far too many, and dumping most of them, from 2005-06 to 2010-11, Maharashtra has emerged as one of the most settled units in the Ranji Trophy. And it has borne results of late, with Maharashtra making it to the final and semi-finals in the last two seasons.If they are to maintain the consistency, their pace quartet will have to work their magic again. Over the last couple of seasons, the BCCI’s policy of preparing seamer-friendly surfaces had worked in their favour, as Samad Fallah, Domnic Joseph and Anupam Sanklecha made the most of conditions, with Shrikant Mundhe playing the back-up seamer’s role to perfection.If the BCCI’s diktat of letting spinners back in the game is followed to the tee, then Maharashtra will have to hope Akshay Darekar can be complemented by either Nikit Dhumal or Chirag Khurana.Players to watch
Allrounders are a rare breed in domestic cricket, but Maharashtra are fortunate to have two. Shrikant Mundhe has emerged as a consistent pace-bowling allrounder who is tailor-made to bat with the tail. Chirag Khurana had a breakthrough season with the bat last year, tallying close to 700 runs to lead his team’s run charts. His offspin bowling also proved to be more than a handful, with him being preferred as the lone spinner in the team.For the first time in four decades, a Maharashtra team will feature an international centurion, thanks to Kedar Jadhav’s hundred in Zimbabwe, and Jadhav will have plenty to prove after a lean 2014-15 against the red ball. If Jadhav can repeat the heroics of 2013-14, where he garnered 1200-plus runs, then Maharashtra’s batting woes will be all but sorted.Coaching staff
Maharashtra have stuck to last year’s coaching staff. Australian David Andrews continues to be the coach with Abhishek Joshi doubling up as physio and trainer.Preparation
After competing in a pre-season tournament in Nagpur in August, rain proved to be a dampener for Maharashtra in a preparatory tournament. Only one round of the eight-team tournament, including three teams of state players, could be played before the weather turned nasty. The selectors then made up for the lost time by hosting a four-day match between Under-23 and Ranji teams.Team news
Vijay Zol is back in the reckoning after missing most of the last season due to a shoulder injury. He will have to fight for his place though with the likes of Nikhil Naik and Jay Pande having impressed with a strong showing in the pre-season outings.SquadRohit Motwani (capt), Harshad Khadiwale, Swapnil Gugale, Kedar Jadhav, Ankit Bawne, Chirag Khurana, Rahul Tripathi, Sangram Atitkar, Naushad Shaikh, Vijay Zol, Akshay Darekar, Shrikant Mundhe, Samad Fallah, Nikit Dhumal, Domnic Joseph, Anupam Sanklecha.

The Central Zone Under-14 match at the Sukhadia Stadium in Bhilwara onthe third and final day on Thursday ended in a draw with Uttar Pradeshtaking home five points on the basis of the first innings lead.Rajasthan had to be content with three points.Set to score 305 for a win, Rajasthan made a disastrous start losingopener Ravishankar (0) bowled by Pradeep. Rajasthan were in deepertrouble when Pradeep bowled Ankit Agarwal (0) with only 5 on theboard. Then Atul Puri (14) and Sanjay Bharti (86) added 45 runs forthe third wicket. After Atul’s fall, Punit Yadav joined Sanjay to takethe score on to 132 when Punit fell to Bharat. Thereafter, Rajasthanlost four quick wicket before stumps were drawn on the final day.In their second innings, Uttar Pradesh openers AG Murtaza (122) and RPandey (23) added a quick 42 off 8.5 overs. Then D Issrani (54) joinedMurtaza to forge a 117 run second wicket partnership in 34.1 overs.Thereafter, Murtaza found company in RK Shukla (50 not out) to put on96 runs for the third wicket in 19.1 overs. The fall of Murtazaprompted the UP skipper to declare the innings.Earlier on the opening day, Uttar Pradesh won the toss and put up afighting 245 on the board. The chief architect being AN Alam with aneatly compiled 108 off 165 balls. During his 218 minute stay Alamheld the UP innings together even as wickets kept falling at the otherend. In reply Rajasthan were all out for 196 runs giving a 49 runlead to UP.

England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has been rested for the remainder of the one-day series against Australia and will be replaced by Jonny Bairstow for the final three matches.Although Buttler’s glovework has continued to improve his batting has faded in the second part of the season against Australia. He made just 122 runs at 15.25 in the Ashes and fell for a third-ball duck at Lord’s on Saturday, lbw to Glenn Maxwell. That followed a score of 4 at the Ageas Bowl when he drove loosely to mid-off.Being England’s wicketkeeper across all three formats since the middle of last year, when he was promoted to the Test side following Matt Prior’s ultimately career-ending injury against India, has meant Buttler has had an extensive workload.He missed the last one-day international against New Zealand and the T20 earlier this season, having sustained a finger injury, but has played 43 internationals since making his Test debut against India, at the Ageas Bowl, last July. Only Joe Root, with 44 appearances, has played more for England during that period and he has been granted a rest since the end of the Ashes.Between the end of the Ashes and the start of the limited-overs leg against Australia Buttler appeared in the NatWest Blast finals day for Lancashire having also played the quarter-final between the fourth and fifth Tests. Barely 12 hours after picking up the trophy at Edgbaston, as Lancashire overcame Northamptonshire in the final, he was at a training session in Cardiff ahead of the T20 international.Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, said: “While we initially felt Jos would have enough left in the tank for this ODI series, it has become clear in the last couple of days that he will benefit from a break from cricket ahead of the winter tours. We know that for players involved in all formats finding periods throughout the year when they can rest is key and Jos has had a heavy workload throughout 2015.”Resting  players provide opportunities for others in the international arena and Jonny Bairstow now has a chance to build on the one day form he showed at the end of the New Zealand series earlier this summer.”Bairstow was unlucky to be omitted from the original one-day squad having made a matchwinning, unbeaten 83 against New Zealand, at Chester-le-Street, in June on his recall. He was then also recalled to the Test team during the Ashes at the expense of Yorkshire team-mate Gary Ballance although did not completely convince at No.5.England already had Sam Billings, the Kent wicketkeeper-batsman, in the squad but do not yet view him as an option for the gloves and have left him out of the first two matches against Australia after he played the series against New Zealand and the T20 against Australia as a batsman.While Bairstow’s call-up to replace Buttler means at least one change to the England side for the third match at Old Trafford on Tuesday they will have to consider further alternative options as they try to keep the series alive having gone 2-0 down at Lord’s.David Willey and Reece Topley, the left-armers, will come into the equation to provide the bowling attack with some variety.

Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, has followed Alastair Cook in praising Peter Moores for laying the groundwork for the team’s recent success. Cook paid tribute to former head coach Moores after England’s innings victory at Trent Bridge saw them regain the Ashes and Farbrace echoed the sentiment, saying he would “defend him to the hilt”.Moores was sacked in May after the appointment of Andrew Strauss as England’s director of cricket. While England experienced a tumultuous year during Moores’ second spell as coach, he showed faith in a number of young players who have steadily helped improve the team’s fortunes.His final series in charge was a 1-1 draw in Tests against West Indies but the group stage exit at the World Cup cast an even longer shadow. Moores and Farbrace, who was brought in as assistant at the same time, had six months of 50-over preparation but saw the team fail even to reach the knockout stage after defeat to Bangladesh in Adelaide.England have made impressive strides in ODI cricket since then, while continuing the Test revival that Moores laid the foundations for after the 5-0 Ashes whitewash in 2013-14. Farbrace said Moores “gave absolutely everything to England” and backed him to do well with Nottinghamshire, where he has been working in a consultant capacity.”Following Mooresy down the tunnel at Adelaide was horrible. I did not enjoy seeing him take the stick that he did, and I will defend him to the hilt,” Farbrace said. “That bloke gave absolutely everything to England. I am so pleased that Cooky mentioned him because he did nothing but work hard for the team. He will still be in touch with the majority of the boys.”It is no surprise that he has come to Notts and in the time that he has been there he has improved them massively.”From my point of view, I hated the winter, I hate losing, but I have really, really enjoyed the last few months. But the team will go on long after I am finished with the England team, and be a very exciting team in the future.”England’s defeat to Bangladesh in Adelaide ended their World Cup at the group stage•Getty Images

Farbrace described England’s World Cup as a “disaster” but said it had helped provide the motivation to improve. Farbrace led the team in a thrilling 3-2 ODI victory over New Zealand, before the arrival of Trevor Bayliss as coach, and the feelgood factor established during that series fed into England’s dramatic Ashes surge.”We were all low. I said at the time in Sydney, it wasn’t Peter Moores’ fault we failed in the World Cup. He did nothing but work his socks off for England cricket. He is an excellent coach and bloke and was a very popular member of our group.”The decision was taken to change the coach after that World Cup. It was a disaster, there is no getting away from it. We didn’t play well. We got blown away in the first game and I don’t think we ever recovered. We were all hurting. Your pride takes a hell of a hit. You bump into people on the street and they say ‘Oh, you work with the England team, you are rubbish’. It hurts, it really does hurt.”The last week in Australia was a horrible week for all of us. Players get stung by that criticism. But we came back and the lads just felt it was time to change the way we were playing and our approach to certain things and they have carried that out. And we have seen the improvement.”England’s attacking approach, which saw them win the third and fourth Tests against Australia inside three days, was formed in part during the visit of New Zealand, with Farbrace filling an interim role in charge of the side. He pinpointed a counterattacking stand between Joe Root and Ben Stokes on the first day of the first Test of the summer – a game England ended up winning by 124 runs – as the catalyst for what followed.”Against New Zealand I don’t think we set out to be an ultra-attacking team,” he said. “It just happened by chance, at 30 for 4 on that first day at Lord’s, that Root plays one way, get his singles and scores boundaries, and Stokes came in and whacked it. And all of a sudden the headlines were ‘this new England way of playing’. But I think we stumbled across it as opposed to set out to play in that way.”I think it suits us. You look at the way the middle order play and they are all quite attacking batsmen. Trev keeps telling them to have a positive mindset, because then you are in the best position to play whatever ball is delivered to you – in the best position to leave, defend or hit it.”England’s sense of team unity played a big part in their Ashes victory•PA Photos

Farbrace also praised the ethic that has been instilled within the side, of enjoying success as a group. He offered Jason Roy – who continued to attack while opening in the ODIs against New Zealand despite the lack of a significant score – and Moeen Ali adapting to bat at No. 8 in the Test side as examples of the team’s needs taking priority, before highlighting Stokes’ pivotal display with the ball at Trent Bridge, where his second-innings 6 for 36 sealed the victory that returned the Ashes.”An interesting relationship has developed between Cooky and Ben Stokes,” he said. “Over the last 18 months or so, Stokes has wanted to bowl more and maybe Cooky hasn’t always trusted him to bowl so he has had short spells. Stokes knows he has short spells so he has been trying to impress with inswingers, bouncers, yorkers, whatever.”What we are now seeing, is that Stokes has had a couple of good spells and has been thrown the ball a bit more. So he is getting confidence from Cooky, Cooky is getting confidence in Stokesy, and now he is bowling spells like he did on Friday – a long spell which was needed for the team.”So the next time we are in that situation, Cooky will have no qualms about chucking Ben the ball knowing that he can do it, and Ben won’t feel like he has to prove himself every time he bowls. When players are not trying to prove something to the captain or coaches and just playing the way the team needs them to play, that is a great place for a team to be.”

Martin van Jaarsveld helped stabilise a shaky start to the Northerns Titans’ first innings, playing his part in two partnerships on a rain-affected first day of thei Supersport Series match against the Griqua Diamonds at SuperSport Park on Friday.The Titans were on 160 for three wickets when bad light ended play an hour earlier than the scheduled close.The start of play was delayed by an hour and 40 minutes following the morning’s downpour, after which Griquas captain Martyn Gidley sent Northerns in to bat first.Northerns were in trouble early on, losing their first wicket for only seven in the fourth over.Opener Rudi Steyn was the man to go when dismissed for two runs after being caught at silly mid-on by Jason Brooker off the bowling of Zahir Abrahim.The home team were on a miserly 57 when Jacques Rudolph was dismissed for 33, caught in the slips by Grant Elliott off Johann Louw.It was left up to Van Jaarsveld to add some respectability to the innings.His 50-run partnership with Rudolph for the second-wicket was followed by a 101-run stand with Neil McKenzie for the third wicket.The Klerksdorp-born Van Jaarsveld guided Northerns to 109 for two at tea, and claimed his half-century shortly after the break.But the revival ended when Van Jaarsveld was caught at first slip by Mickey Arthur for a 70 in 108 minutes which included 10 fours.McKenzie was not out on 39 and Gerald Dros (2) was his partner when the black rain clouds drifted over the oval and forced a prematureclose with 48 overs not bowled.

James Whitaker, the England national selector, has poured cold water on the notion of Kevin Pietersen returning to play for England saying the batsman is “not part” of England’s plans.Pietersen, buoyed by incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves’ suggestion that an England return is possible, is attempting to mount a challenge for an England recall by cancelling his IPL contract and fully committing to county cricket – but a deal with Surrey might be delayed until more clarity on his potential future is gained.Graves has had a telephone conversation with Pietersen and intends to meet him when Pietersen returns from his BBC radio commentary duties at the World Cup. By that time, Graves will be officially in office.

Pietersen T20 record since England split

• Delhi Daredevils (IPL) R 294 Ave 29.40

• Surrey (NatWest Blast) R 225 Ave 22.50

• St Lucia Zouks (CPL) R 30 Ave 15

• Melbourne Stars (Big Bash) R293 Ave 41.86

Pietersen used his commentary stint to reaffirm his ambitions: “If I can do anything that can help me get back into it for England then it’s something I want to do. I love playing for England.”But Whitaker, also speaking to the BBC, refused to entertain talk of Pietersen playing for England again, saying there was no place available in the England middle order.”We haven’t had discussions at all about Kevin,” he said. “I know Colin very well, he is entitled to his opinion, but Kevin isn’t part of our plans. We’ve been developing our team for a year in Test match cricket. We’ve had some good conversations about what happened after the end of Australia.”We’ve produced some good middle-order players with Gary Ballance, Joe Root and Ian Bell continuing to perform well, so we are happy with where we are in the middle order.”England Test captain Alastair Cook also played down the prospect of Pietersen returning, saying: “I think it’s very unlikely,” he said. “There’s been a hell of a lot of stuff happened with his book and all that kind of stuff. It’s a long way back from that.”

THE Western Australian Cricket Association selectors have made one change to the Western Warriors team to play Tasmania in a Pura Cup match at the WACA Ground from December 8-11.Fast bowler Matthew Nicholson has been ruled out because of injury.All-rounder Kade Harvey will replace Nicholson in the Warriors 12.Harvey, 27, has played 11 Pura Cup/Sheffield Shield games.The Warriors team is:Jo Angel (captain), Murray Goodwin (vice-captain), Beau Casson, Michael Clark, Geoff Cullen, Kade Harvey, Scott Meuleman, Marcus North, Chris Rogers, Luke Ronchi, Adam Voges and Paul Wilson.Nicholson, 28, injured ligaments in his right forearm while bowling during Friday night’s ING Cup limited-overs victory over Tasmania.The extent of his injury will be known following an examination by a specialist on Saturday morning.

• Sunday is Family Day at the Warriors opening day of the match against the Tigers. Loads of fun activities, including Bouncy Castle, Animal Farm, Fastball and Face Painting is on offer for the kids.

Somerset County Cricket Club claimed another first when the Playing for Success Study Support Centre that is based at the County Ground was officially opened by Mr Michael Phipps, Divisional Manager from the Department of Education and Skills.In his opening speech Mr Phipps told the large group of representatives from the education and sporting world who gathered in the Centre of Execellence for the occasion that whilst three other first class counties, Durham, Leicestershire and Northants also have Playing for Success Centres, Somerset were the first Centre to be officially opened.The state-of-the-art ICT centre, which wasinitially launched at the ground in June, has already provided learning opportunities in literacy, numeracy and ICT for more than 100 young people.The students, aged from ten to 14 years, also benefit from the development of their personal and social education.A summer school was held during the summer holidays and regular sessions are held for up to 20 students at the end of the school day. The star pupil on each course is rewarded by a free membership to Somerset Cricket Club.Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson told those present: “It’s very pleasing that we have been able to put these facilities to good community use, and it is a delight to see the young people here at the County Ground.”The Somerset boss also paid tribute to Simon Lowe who is the Playing for Success Study Support Centre Manager. He said: “With all good ideas you need someone to put them into practice and Simon Lowe has done a superb job. He is very enthusiatic and a great ambassador for the Centre.”.Simon Lowe, a lifelong cricket enthusiast who taught PE and maths at Ladymead School in Taunton for 12 years before taking on his new job told me: “The centre is a fantastic place for young people to come and learn. The County Ground is a great setting for a classroom. Having the players as an integral part of the young people’s learning experiences and the environment of a professional sports club inspires them to attain higher levels than perhaps they are used to at school.”The Playing for Success Study Support Centre is open on four evenings a week, and at present is attended by students from four primary and four secondary schools in the Taunton area.

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