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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShane Watson’s 46 laid the foundation for a strong total•Associated Press

A blistering stand of 75 between Moises Henriques and Steve Smith towards the end of the innings was the difference, as Sydney Sixers’ 185 was enough to keep out Chennai Super Kings in a high-scoring contest at the Wanderers. Henriques made telling blows on the field as well, as his three middle-order wickets derailed Super Kings’ chase just as the asking rate started reducing. Suresh Raina threatened with an attacking half-century, but the lack of support at the other end hurt Super Kings’ chances.Shane Watson gave the Sixers a rousing start after they were put in to bat, and Chennai’s spinners hit back with wickets, but none of the bowlers were spared once the Smith-Henriques pair came together.Watson was harsh on anything short, and he made R Ashwin and Jadeja pay by cracking sixes over the on side. Only a run-out could have ended Watson’s stay and he fell in that manner four short of a fifty. He attempted a risky second run but wasn’t quick enough for Ben Hilfenhaus’ fiery throw from deep cover, which hit the stumps on the half volley.The spinners pulled things back for Chennai after Watson’s departure. R Ashwin struck twice in an over, removing Brad Haddin and Nic Maddinson as they tried to push the scoring. It wasn’t the worst thing to happen to the Sixers, though, as it brought Smith and Henriques together. The pair began by bashing two boundaries down the ground off the part-time leg spin of Faf du Plessis and from that point on, an above-par score looked possible. The bowlers hemorrhaged 61 off the last four overs, which included eight fours and three sixes. Bollinger and Hilfenhaus, who were held back for the final overs, came in for some stick as the pair of Smith and Hilfenhaus muscled boundaries and played some cheeky ramp shots to exploit the infield.Super Kings got off to a circumspect start, limping to 7 for 1 after three overs. Du Plessis gave the chase a push with a flurry of boundaries through the off side, charging the fast bowlers to unsettle their rhythm, in particular Pat Cummins. Cummins had the last laugh, though, when du Plessis advanced down the track to launch a straight six but couldn’t clear long-on.Sixers captain Brad Haddin risked introducing his spinners when Suresh Raina walked in. Raina targeted his favourite cow-corner region against the left-arm spin of Steve O’Keefe and was also alert to put away the length offerings from the seamers. The bowlers didn’t exploit Raina’s weakness against the short ball and with every Raina boundary, the game was Sixers’ to lose.Like they had done with the bat, the Henriques-Smith pairing proved decisive, this time in the field. Raina aimed for the long-on boundary off Henriques’ medium pace, but Smith took a well-judged catch at the edge of the rope. Henriques struck two balls later with MS Dhoni’s wicket and that had all but sealed the game for Sixers, with 44 needed off the last three overs.

After a late start due to rain KwaZulu-Natal posted 250 for six on the firstday of their three-day Supersport Series Shield match against the HighveldStrikers in Durban on Friday.Lead by a fluid 73 not out from former Test star Jonty Rhodes and a balanced64 from promising young batsman Ashraf Mall, the Dolphins ensured that thismatch might still produce a result because of positive batting.Mall was unlucky to be run out just as he was hitting his straps with fourconsecutive fours off of right-arm fast medium bowler Johnson Mafa.In a mix-up with Rhodes, Mall was stranded halfway down the pitch and aquick throw from Adam Bacher to wicketkeeper Nic Pothas ended his knock.Rhodes, with years of experience, was unfazed and continued to bat withassurity that would still see him in the Test side if he so wished.The gritty right-hander ended the day well set to progress to a centurywhich would set his team up for a useful total in the match that willrequire quick runs if a result is to be achieved.Earlier openers Mark Bruyns and Doug Watson failed to take full advantage ofeasy batting conditions. Watson scored just three before being trapped legbefore by Mafa.Bruyns scored 31 in a 60-run stand with Mall, but became the first run outvictim of Bacher who was like a mongoose in the field.Captain Dale Benkenstein scored 20 before being caught at wide mid-on byBrendan Horan off Mafa which brought Rhodes to the crease.After the dismissal of Mall, Errol Stewart and Goolam Bodi were unable toestablish themselves and were dismissed for 10 and 12 respectively.That brought the in-form Wade Wingfield to the crease and he saw play through tostumps with Rhodes and ended on 25 not out.

As many of his international teammates settle into Sri Lanka ahead of the World Twenty20, Australia’s Test captain Michael Clarke is making doubly sure the Champions League that follows it will impinge as little as possible on preparations for a series with top-ranked South Africa.Not required for either the World T20 or the Champions League, Clarke will instead lead New South Wales for the early start of the domestic season, which has itself been pushed forward by the presence of the T20 club competition in October.The timing of the event, and its demands on players, has long been a sore point among Test match representatives. This was never more evident than after Michael Hussey and Doug Bollinger had their preparations for a series in India hopelessly compromised by needing to remain in South Africa for the Champions League until only three days before the Tests began.Then Ricky Ponting’s vice-captain, Clarke said lessons had been learned. He is now working with the national team’s coaching staff and the team performance manager Pat Howard to ensure the likes of Brad Haddin, Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus, David Warner and Hussey can come back from the event ready and able to push South Africa for five days rather than 40 overs.”I think we can certainly learn from that, that’s for sure, and I think we are,” Clarke said of 2010. “Pat Howard’s been exceptional in regards to our planning, he’s made no bones about prioritising Test cricket, he wants us to have success in Test cricket, he wants us to be the No. 1 Test team in the world. We’ve got to prepare well and the preparation starts as soon as the boys get back from the T20 World Cup.”The advantage is that all countries are affected the same way, it’s not just the Australian players, we play against South Africa in November and there’s a lot of their players involved as well. It’s fair for everybody. It’s important that everybody who’s there for Champions League plays well there, has some success, but in the back of their mind thinking about the Test series against South Africa.”The young bowlers over there will be monitored, we’ll have Ali de Winter over there working on their bowling workloads, and bowling through that period with a red ball. I wish the boys all the best over there, hopefully they come back full of confidence and ready to go for that first Test.”De Winter’s presence as Australia’s bowling coach will be a significant help to the preparations of the fast bowlers, and a major improvement on the problems of 2010. Back then, Bollinger was given a program to work on while still playing for Chennai, but the presence of de Winter in the country will go a long way towards ensuring such plans are rigorously followed this time.The former coach Tim Nielsen has previously recalled the episode as an instance when Cricket Australia’s board and management did not support the performance objectives of the team, a scenario that hastened Howard’s appointment following the Argus review to ensure such objectives were not compromised.”I understand CA’s decision, but Doug Bollinger was playing four-over cricket right as the tour started, then broke down in the first Test,” Nielsen said last year. “I’ve no doubt if [he was] fit and right and bowling full-time we’d have won that Test match in Mohali.”I can’t imagine an AFL team would let their bloke go and do something like that [before a big game]. They look after their players as best they can for what’s important; they don’t compromise. That was one thing in my career as a coach I was a little bit upset about – that we didn’t get 100% support from CA, and our team was compromised by that.”Clarke is also grateful for the chance to spend time playing for NSW, in addition to leading them for the first time. His retirement from T20Is has afforded the odd window for rest and first-class cricket, granting Clarke a better chance of prospering when the South Africa Tests come around.”It’s an advantage for me to get back into some red ball cricket, that was a reason for me retiring from international T20 cricket a couple of years ago,” Clarke said, “to allow me to work hard on my one-day game and my Test game, and there’s no better preparation than to get back and play for NSW.”I think it’s great for first-class teams to have their international players back playing. I think the game needs it, I think the international players need to get back to play with their state or play for their grade club, I think it’s really important for the game.”I remember fondly having the chance to play with Steve Waugh when he captained Australia and what the feeling was like when he was around training. It gives you that little extra boost, I wanted to spend time in the middle with him, I wanted to score some runs with him, I wanted to show him I could play.”

A day after Ajit Chandila was interrogated in New Delhi on Wednesday by the BCCI Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chief Ravi Sawani, his lawyer has criticised the BCCI’s procedure, alleging that the Sawani report has relied on police documents rather than original investigation.”The BCCI’s procedure in itself is faulty,” Rakesh Kumar, Chandila’s counsel, said. “They have appointed a commissioner for inquiry who is not conducting any investigation on his own. He is just relying on the police documents which are submitted to the court.”Kumar, who accompanied Chandila for the questioning that lasted nearly three hours, added that his client wasn’t even “issued a show-cause notice”. “I am not aware what are the charges against my client and they are simply holding him guilty. In case they go ahead and take severe action against my client, we will certainly challenge it in the court of law.”While the BCCI on September 13 announced the verdict on all the other five Royals cricketers who were allegedly involved in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, banning Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan for life, suspending Amit Singh for five years, Siddharth Trivedi for a year and clearing Harmeet Singh of all the charges, Chandila’s case has been pending for long.Since Chandila received bail on September 9, Sawani, who had been appointed to hand over a report to the BCCI disciplinary committee, couldn’t meet the him earlier. As a result, the disciplinary committee of the BCCI had proceeded based on Sawani’s finding on all the other players except Chandila.”More than 10 days’ notice had been served to Chandila before Sawani questioned him. Once his findings are forwarded to the disciplinary committee, the committee will then summon the player before pronouncing its verdict,” a BCCI insider said.That is unlikely to happen soon since Chandila has sought “seven to ten days’ time” for submitting his written statement. Sawani can only finalise his findings once he receives the statement.

The women’s Ashes will retain the points-based format used in the current series when England travel to Australia in early 2014. There will be six points on offer for the winners of the sole Test match (or two for the draw), with two points for victory in each of the limited-overs matches.The schedule and venues have also been announced, with the series beginning in Perth on January 10 with a four-day Test. That will be followed by three one-day internationals and three T20s, which will be played as double-headers with the England and Australia men.The team with the most points from the seven matches will be awarded the Ashes. In the current series, England are 6-4 up, with three T20s still to play. The Test match was drawn and England won the ODI leg 2-1, thanks to a five-wicket victory on Sunday.Schedule for 2014 women’s AshesJanuary 10-13, only Test – WACA, Perth
January 19, 1st ODI – MCG, Melbourne
January 23, 2nd ODI – MCG, Melbourne
January 26, 3rd ODI – Bellerive Oval, Hobart
January 29, 1st T20 – Bellerive Oval, Hobart
January 31, 2nd T20 – MCG, Melbourne
February 2, 3rd T20 – Stadium Australia, Sydney

Kieron Pollard, the captain of the Barbados Tridents, has said that he will remain calm and collected despite Barbados’ losses in their previous two games in the inaugural Caribbean Premier League. Barbados currently top the table after starting with four wins on the trot, though indifferent form later on meant losses to the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the Antigua Hawksbills.”I never worry or panic. I trust and believe in my players and they, in me. We have areas to improve on, I admit. The team needs to be more consistent,” Pollard said. “Two losses can be overturned and we’re here to play cricket as professionals and win. We’re looking to top the table and need to be sharper in the field, and not lose wickets in clusters.”Desmond Haynes, the Barbados coach, also emphasised that the recent defeats were not cause for concern, as the team can assure top spot on the table with a victory over the Jamaica Tallawahs in Kingston today. “I think we’re going to bounce back. Jamaica’s dangerous but we have our plans set out. Our players know the job that needs to be done against them,” Haynes said.Paul Nixon, the Jamaica coach, meanwhile, saw his team fall to third after Thursday’s loss to Guyana and admitted that stiff lessons were learnt.”We made our mistakes and I fell short in terms of strategy and tactics, but we know we need to step it up big time against what many see as the best team in the CPL.” Nixon said.Fast bowler Vernon Philander, Jamaica’s South African signing, has been turning in remarkable cameos with the bat. He said he was hungry to derail Barbados. “The Jamaica camp has been great. The boys are gelling well and having fun,” Philander said. “We play the game to win and obviously we’re going to give it our best shot and hopefully it comes off. We want to top the table though it will be hard.”I came out here to get the experience with the white ball and to prep for me moving forward at the international level. Hopefully I can take a lot more sticks and obviously keep a lot of people happy and a lot of [batsmen] unhappy as well. I want to scalp out Barbados first and foremost.”

Fast bowlers James Pattinson and Peter Siddle have signed for Melbourne Renegades for the next two seasons of the BBL. The franchise also re-signed the former Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan for one year and confirmed two-year deals with legspinner Fawad Ahmed and batsman Alex Doolan.Both Pattinson and Siddle are expected to be on national duty for the 2013-14 Ashes and may only play for the franchise after the fifth Test ending January 7. The BBL, extended from this season, will run from December 20 to February 15.”I want to get back into playing short-form cricket,”Siddle said. “To have that opportunity again in four over bursts, having a crack and getting the pace up there. I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”The Pakistan-born Ahmed, was recently granted Australian citizenship, clearing the way for a possible call-up to the Test squad for the Ashes. Though originally part of the touring squad in England, he is currently with the Australia A squad in Zimbabwe. Ahmed played one game for the Renegades last season.”I worked really hard with the Renegades last season. It was a good six or seven weeks and they really helped me through BBL 2,” Ahmed said. “I [then] got an opportunity with the (Victoria) Bushrangers and it really clicked. For me, I was nervous at one stage but it was a good summer.”The Renegades have now signed 15 of 18 players for the forthcoming season, with the final three places to be filled by December 6.

ScorecardKevin O’Brien finished with his best ODI figures of 4 for 13•ICC/Sander Tholen

The O’Brien brothers, Niall and Kevin, made telling contributions with bat and ball respectively to guide Ireland to a comprehensive 88-run win in Amstelveen, which left them needing just one more win to qualify for the 2015 World Cup. Niall scored 70 to help Ireland to 236 before Kevin ran through the Netherlands middle order to finish with his best ODI figures of 4 for 13 in seven overs to send Netherlands crashing to 148 in 36 overs.Ireland began poorly when they opted to bat, losing Paul Stirling in the second over, bowled round his legs by Edgar Schiferli. Netherlands should have had William Porterfield off the second ball of the innings when he pushed the ball low to cover. The drop cost the hosts as the Ireland captain went on to top score with 79. The fielder, Michael Swart, redeemed himself soon after when he held the catch at extra cover to send back Ed Joyce for 22.Ireland then staged the most decisive partnership of the match, that of 125 between Porterfield and Niall. Porterfield hit eight fours in his 79 while Niall scored four fours in his 70. The stand was broken when Niall was run out in the 38th over. Ireland lost another quick wicket when Gary Wilson was stumped off Swart. Kevin then walked in to add a quick 32 off 22 balls with three fours and a six. He was out slogging to deep midwicket to Mudassar Bukhari, who took 3 for 41.Netherlands started their chase confidently, progressing to 52 for 1 after ten overs. They lost control after that as they lost three wickets for 19 runs. Kevin took the first of his four wickets when he had Tom Cooper caught for 8, before taking a return catch to get rid of the innings top-scorer, Wesley Barresi, for 55. Barresi’s dismissal left the hosts limping at 99 for 5.Kevin then claimed the wickets of Daan van Bunge and Bukhari to leave Ireland on the brink of victory. Alex Cusack sealed the win when he had Peter Borren caught at cover.Ireland now have 19 points from 11 games, four ahead of Scotland. Netherlands and Ireland meet again on Tuesday and a win for Ireland will make them the first side to qualify for the World Cup. Should they lose, they will have another chance when they face Scotland in the final round of matches in September.

ScorecardLions beware: Ajmal Shahzad roars in delight•Getty Images

To look at the Sussex scorecard will paint the picture of a top order of starts needlessly squandered but the truth could not be more different. For that, credit must go to Nottinghamshire’s captain, Chris Read, who, on a Hove pitch that offered something for both sides, rotated his attack well enough to curtail the home batsmen as soon as it looked like they may take the game away.His main weapon was Ajmal Shahzad, who started the day responsibly to bring up his first half-century in nearly two years and notch a fourth batting point for Nottinghamshire – something that seemed unlikely when Chris Jordan took his sixth wicket of the innings to send Luke Fletcher on his way.An extrovert with the ball, Shahzad’s batting is prim and proper. Dealing primarily in drives and pushes as he acted as Samit Patel’s deputy on Friday evening, before taking over as the lead act and farming the strike in a responsible manner this morning. The late Graham Roope, who coached Shahzad at Woodhouse Grove School in Bradford, believed him to be as good with the bat as he was with the ball and he would have been buoyed by the application his former pupil displayed.When Steve Magoffin tempted him to hook from in front of his nose, he controlled it brilliantly to get the ball in front of square and away for four to the midwicket boundary to reach 53 in 139 balls. Three runs later he was gone, flashing at wide ball from James Anyon, but he could be forgiven for having a go after playing his part in a rearguard resistance that saw the last four wickets put on 244 runs (more than twice as much as the first six).Luke Wells and Chris Nash got the Sussex reply off to a great start with 57 runs in the remaining 13 overs before lunch, as Harry Gurney, Fletcher and Shahzad were either a touch too full or a smidge too wide. But they wrestled back control well and Shahzad, who was starting build up a good head of steam, found the breakthrough when he got a good length ball to rise up, take Nash’s inside edge and remove the bail adjoining middle and leg stump.Further pressure brought about the demise of Wells, whose innings typified Nottinghamshire’s increasing control in the field, as he chipped Patel back to Fletcher at mid-on having looked at ease with proceedings.Ed Joyce joined Michael Yardy at the crease – the latter looking in fine fettle as he took some runs off his bowl-a-like Patel – and the two left-handers began to push the score along nicely, until a bloody-minded Shahzad spell after tea broke their stand.Thundering in down the slope from the Cromwell Road End, he fired one through the defence of Yardy that upended his off stump before letting out a hellacious roar that would have made a lion back down. Shahzad had a third three overs later when Rory Hamilton-Brown gave an extremely difficult chance low to the left of Alex Hales at first slip, who did incredibly well to get a hand to the ball, let alone hold on.The biggest wicket of the day was arguably Joyce’s, not least because he was accruing in a typically classy manner. When he could only greet Gurney’s first ball of his evening spell with the shoulder of his bat – James Taylor running in from cover to take a dolly of a catch – Nottinghamshire would have fancied themselves to hustle out a couple more before stumps.But some fine counterattacking from Ben Brown and Jordan put 41 more runs on the board in only 35 deliveries to leave things nicely balanced going into the second half of the game.

ScorecardRyan McLaren helped give South Africa’s total respectability but it was not enough to challenge Pakistan•AFP

There were enough Pakistan supporters at The Oval to give the impression that this warm-up ahead of the Champions Trophy mattered, but in essence it was pointless, not just in terms of the group stages but also in the general scheme of things.Pakistan will claim a psychological advantage after breezing to a six-wicket victory against South Africa with more than four overs to spare, they were vastly superior throughout and their supporters celebrated a well-drilled victory with their usual enthusiasm, but it will not much matter in the morning.These sides meet again at Edgbaston in a floodlit affair in Group B in a week’s time, but if Pakistan’s comprehensive victory will ensure they will go into the match with their confidence high, it will all count for little the moment the real match begins.AB de Villiers, not surprisingly, took such a view. With South Africa so comprehensively beaten, he would have been a fool not to. “It’s not about the result, it’s about what you get out of it. I am sure each guy will stand up when the time is right. I think Pakistan’s loss in South Africa will have affected them more than us today. That was a competitive series; this was just a warm-up game.”South Africa beat Pakistan 3-2 in that series but it was a scratchy series victory which provided further evidence that their dominance in Test cricket is not replicated in the one-day game.Of more concern to South Africa will be the state of Dale Steyn’s back. “It’s a bit stiff and sore – we will reassess it in the morning,” de Villiers said. Steyn departed at the end of the fifth over, clutching his side, but it could have just been that he does not like warm-ups, especially a warm-up which included his loss of a bouncer battle with Nasir Jamshed, who got two in three balls, top-edged the first one and then hooked the second over fine leg for six.It is an odd thing that the top eight teams in the world are in England for the Champions Trophy and that some of them are practising against each other a few days before the off, but not in any sort of meaningful way, in the nonsensical “15-a-side, bat and field 11” hybrid that is gradually gaining currency as a way to provide decent practice, while quietly undermining the game in the process.Pakistan rested arguably their two most threatening bowlers, Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Irfan and took a look at the rest of their attack. It was a shrewder move than playing all 15 and they were not complaining when they made good use of helpful bowling conditions and reduced South Africa to 83 for 7 after 22 overs.But South Africa did field 15 and, when that happens, the best XI almost invariably get to bat. With JP Duminy coming in at No 8 and Ryan McLaren one place lower, their position was in essence stronger than it appeared. The eighth wicket added 94 in 23 overs and South Africa escaped to the sort of score that gave Pakistan some decent batting practice.That did not scrub out Pakistan’s good memories in the field. Hashim Amla lasted only two balls before Junaid Khan had him lbw. Colin Ingram took a single to Misbah-ul-Haq which was presumably based on the Always Run To The Oldest Player In The Tournament theory, only to find that his stumps were thrown down at the non-striker’s end.Asad Ali bowled a decent new-ball spell and finished with 3 for 30, while Wahab Riaz, who took identical figures, responded to his destruction of South Africa’s middle order – Faf du Plessis, Farhaan Behardien and David Miller within the space of four overs – by fist-pumping celebrations that he would struggle to beat were he to take wickets in the final itself.When Pakistan batted, life continued to go swimmingly. Jamshed ran himself out carelessly, a direct hit by Amla from midwicket, but Imran Farhat batted capably, Mohammad Hafeez retired out with a half-century to his name and the most outlandish dismissal of all, suffered by Asad Shafiq, as the bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe freakishly parried his drive to Aaron Phangiso at mid-off raised merely an eyebrow or two.Somehow, cricket just about gets away with these low-intensity games. The warm-ups have been deliberately under-promoted so as not to devalue the real tournament, but TV still provides live coverage of this cricketing wallpaper and treats it with fake seriousness. The matches are played with a respectable level of intent and, who knows, some players might even be playing for their places, but there is no discernible tension. The game just floats by in a vaguely harmless manner.Pakistan’s tour of Scotland and Ireland, and South Africa’s warm-up in the Netherlands were proper warm-ups, offering the chance of an upset that matters. So, too, the series between England and New Zealand. The game would have better served if other warm-up matches had taken place against the counties, offering further chance of a spot of giant-killing, but there is so much cricket in England you could not have trusted the counties to put out full-strength sides and no doubt the telly would not have liked it.