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ScorecardMichael Carberry gave Hampshire a blistering start (file picture)•Getty Images

As England plunge deeper into disarray, several discounted players could, if they so wish, look on rather smugly. Michael Carberry, it could be argued, is sitting prettiest. If anything, his repute has been enhanced as he channels his indignation into scoring runs for Hampshire. A swashbuckling fifty at Chelmsford silenced the crowd and got his message across.Carberry was one England’s more defiant players during a chastening winter, producing some stubborn displays at the top of the order, but he was overlooked by Peter Moores’ new regime. It is unlikely a recall will come, particularly in the longer-format, as England look to the future, but the manner in which he disdainfully clubbed and swatted the Essex bowling to, and over, the fence had an element of wrath about it.He spanked 25 off the third over of Hampshire’s chase, despite James Vince falling first ball to Graham Napier, and welcomed young Matt Salisbury into the attack the next over by bludgeoning him for three further boundaries. By the time his defences were breached by Ravi Bopara in the eighth over, he had struck six fours and four maximums – destruction had well and truly been done.Matt Coles – promoted up the order in an attempt to improve Hampshire’s run rate – took great pleasure in dishing out more punishment to Essex’s helpless attack in scoring the quickest half-century of the season as Hampshire reached their target of 168 with 15 balls left.Essex’s total was always likely to be inadequate on a bountiful surface and village-green sized boundaries. At one point, the umpires radioed upstairs asking for more balls to be sourced; it was lucky they did as the carnage escalated. In all, the rope was cleared 19 times but Hampshire suffered less damage as their slower bowlers operated acutely.Jesse Ryder, for a player who has built his repute in the shortest-format, has failed to provide the pyrotechnics he’s capable of on a regular basis up front. Ryder’s footwork, particularly against spin, is questionable at the best of times but the manner in which Will Smith fired one through his shadowy defences, trying to force one into the off side, set a precedent.The ease in which Essex have coasted through the group stage without him firing regularly is a testament to the subordinates below him. However, Paul Grayson will be hoping a below-par performance, in all disciplines, is nothing more than a blip in a near faultless season to date.Tom Westley has stood tallest as top-scorer and coming in at the fall of the first wicket, with Ryder’s indifferent form, there has been weight on his shoulders to direct the innings. He briefly did so with a quickfire 31 but after ignited the innings with a couple of glorious shots through the covers, Hampshire put the brakes on their charge.Essex lost four for 36 in the final five overs, however, as Hampshire’s spinners mixed their pace to great effect. Smith led the way with career-best figures of 3 for 17 as James Foster followed Ryder’s suit and Ryan ten Doeschate holed out to Glenn Maxwell at deep midwicket. Coles conceded 42 runs in his four overs but repaired the damage with the bat in some style.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel has said MS Dhoni was only stating “the facts” when he said Duncan Fletcher would coach India at the 2015 World Cup. There would be no need to discuss Dhoni’s comments at the BCCI’s next working committee meeting, he said, going against what some of his BCCI colleagues had said earlier.”Since Fletcher’s contract is till the end of the World Cup, Dhoni has only stated the facts,” Patel told ESPNcricinfo. “The issue of discussing Dhoni’s statement in a meeting does not arise.”Patel, however, clarified that the issue of the team’s support staff will be discussed in detail once team manager Sunil Dev and team director Ravi Shastri submit their reports at the conclusion of the ongoing series in England.Dhoni’s remarks on the eve of the washed out opening one-dayer in Bristol had created a stir in the BCCI ranks. In the wake of Shastri’s appointment and the shuffle of India’s support staff following the team’s capitulation in the Tests, Dhoni had insisted that Fletcher was still “the boss” and would be India’s coach at the World Cup. He had also said the decision to send bowling coach Joe Dawes and fielding coach Trevor Penney “on leave” during this series was “tough on them”.”Definitely he will lead us into the World Cup. Also he is still the boss. We have Ravi [Shastri] who will look into everything, but Duncan Fletcher is the boss. It’s not as if his powers or his position have been curtailed,” Dhoni had said, adding about the support staff, “Some things just [happen] this way. It’s a bit tough on Trevor and Joey, I know. Especially when fielders drop catches and the fielding coach has to miss the series.While interim president Shivlal Yadav had backed Dhoni, one of the five vice-presidents, Ravi Savant, had expressed the need to discuss the issue at the board’s next working committee since coach’s contract comes under the purview of the BCCI and not the team captain.

Michael Clarke said before Australia’s warm-up match that spin and reverse swing would be the dominant forces in the Test series. Not much seems to have changed after Australians were beaten by 153 runs by Pakistan A in Sharjah.Raza Hasan picked up three wickets with his left-arm spin in the second innings, including two from consecutive deliveries, and reverse swing played its part through the middle as well, as fast men like Rahat Ali and Mohammad Talha got the ball to move in the air. Phillip Hughes, the only man to score a half-century in Australia’s innings, said Rahat’s reverse had cost him his wicket.”Going forward we’re going to know spin is going to play a big part as well as reverse swing, so they’re probably the two biggest things [we got out of the game],” Hughes said. “It was probably what got me out. When the quicks came back on for their second spells, that’s when it started reversing.”It’s more [difficult] when you start your innings against reverse swing. That’s probably the toughest challenge for the middle-order batsmen. When you’re batting out there, it slowly gradually starts reversing. Unfortunately today personally I didn’t go on and get that big one, which I should have.”Hughes edged behind on 65 but he had spent enough time at the crease to show that his work against spin has improved since last year’s Test tour of India, where he struggled tremendously in the turning conditions. Hughes was happy to sweep both Raza and the legspinner Karamat Ali, and pounced on the pull when they dropped short.”When the ball’s spinning in, I feel quite comfortable sweeping and also using your feet,” Hughes said. “It was nice to spend some time in the middle against a couple of quality spinners.”Although Hughes is unlikely to play in the first Test in Dubai, he enjoyed the opportunity to open in both innings in Sharjah, with David Warner resting his injured groin ahead of the Test. The Australians chopped and changed their batting order and used 15 members of their squad in the Sharjah game, and Hughes said there were positives despite the loss.”The huge positive is a lot of guys got a good run-around in the last four days,” he said. “Everyone’s had a bit of a crack at different roles so that’s a real plus for everyone in the change room.”[Pakistan A] bowled very well over both innings. With their spin they bowled well and their reverse swing today, we’ve seen that with their second spells coming back. The quicks bowled very well. That’s something we’re going to have to look in to.”

Scorecard
The victorious Western Australia team with the trophy•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Western Australia have ended a nine-year drought in the domestic one-day competition with a crushing 64-run victory over New South Wales.The Warriors outclassed the Blues in all departments. Michael Klinger led the way with a commanding innings, falling just four runs short of a century, while Jason Behrendorff claimed a five-wicket haul as WA’s pace attack killed off NSW’s chase in just 44.1 overs.Only Shane Watson provided any serious threat as NSW struggled to overcome the loss of early wickets.It was the perfect start to Klinger’s first season with the Warriors under Justin Langer. The former South Australia captain was toiling as a part-time first-class player in Victoria when WA last lifted a one-day trophy at the end of the 2003-04 season. Now, after enjoying several successful years with the Redbacks, the 34-year-old’s transfer to the west has brought immediate rewards.After winning the toss, WA’s innings began as brightly and breezily as the conditions at the SCG.It was NSW’s first match of the season at their spiritual home but the dusty-looking pitch offered little assistance to their five-pronged pace attack, and with Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe on international duties, only the part-time spin of Nic Maddinson offered any variation.Warriors’ opener Marcus Harris looked both comfortable and threatening as he cantered to 33 but the left-hander chased Gurinder Sandhu’s full and wide opening delivery and top edged to Watson at first slip.That combination of caught and bowled could have been repeated on at least two more occasions but for the slowness of the pitch, Sandhu watching the ball clip the edge of Simmons’ bat only for it to fall frustratingly short of Watson.While the departure of Harris eased the run rate somewhat, Simmons and Klinger built solidly, adding 83 before Simmons departed in typically aggressive fashion, trying to hoist Pat Cummins over the square-leg boundary.Klinger’s partnership with Adam Voges was almost as fruitful and when Voges was beaten by a Sean Abbott ball, a good length delivery which nipped back and clattered into middle and leg, the Warriors had cruised to 204 for 3.Doug Bollinger’s two wickets in three balls put the brakes on WA’s scoring before Ashton Turner chimed in with a lusty cameo which helped lift the total to 255.NSW’s chase began in dismal fashion, the hosts losing two wickets in the first four overs.Maddinson had already suffered a painful blow while fielding, colliding awkwardly with Kurtis Patterson in the outfield as the pair unsuccessfully attempted to prevent a boundary.Maddinson limped to the dressing room and didn’t return to the field but recovered sufficiently to open the batting. Four balls later he was trudging to the Members’ Stand once more, his stumps shattered by Behrendorff.The Warriors had injury worries of their own. Joel Paris, who entered the final as WA’s equal highest wicket taker for the tournament, exited early after suffering a quad strain during his second over.Captain Adam Voges brought himself into the attack and struck with his first delivery, an arm ball that skidded on, removing Phil Neville and leaving the Blues in disarray at 10 for 2.Watson’s start was streaky and he was yet to score when a leading edge off the dangerous Behrendorff popped up only to drop a fraction short of Turner at backward point.From that moment, Watson, playing solely as a batsman as he continues his recovery from a calf injury, set about giving his state a fighting chance of reaching the target, ably supported by Patterson.Twice Watson sent the ball sailing into the Ladies Stand, and once over the long-on boundary, and the familiar sight of his powerful front-foot cover drives was encouraging.At the same time as his Australian team-mates were struggling to combat spin on a dusty Dubai pitch, Watson made the most of what spin was on offer in Sydney, singling out Ashton Agar and Adam Voges for special treatment.But if there was a familiarity about Watson’s style, there was also a frustrating sense of deja-vu when he fell, to the faintest of feathered edges off Agar, just as he was closing in on a century.NSW’s chances all but evaporated with his departure, as WA’s fast men ripped through the middle-and lower-order.The visitors were also sharp in the field, and Nathan Coulter-Nile took two outstanding catches to remove Ben Rohrer and Sandhu, both off the bowling of Behrendorff.Fittingly, it was Behrendorff who hammered the final nail as he had Sandhu caught by Coulter-Nile, sparking joyous celebrations for the men from the west.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq will take no further part in the one-day series against New Zealand, having picked up a hamstring injury during the second ODI on Friday. Shahid Afridi will lead the side in his absence.Misbah sustained the injury in the third over of New Zealand’s chase in Sharjah, and did not take the field for the rest of the game. The PCB is yet to decide whether Misbah will stay with the team or return to Pakistan.His injury comes at a crucial time for Pakistan, as the team tries to firm up its combination and build momentum ahead of the World Cup in February and March.The series against New Zealand is currently tied at 1-1, with three games to play. The third ODI will be played on Sunday, in Sharjah.Pakistan are also without fast bowler Umar Gul and allrounder Bilawal Bhatti for these matches. Gul, who had made his return to international cricket in this series after a long injury layoff, was left out of the second ODI due to a bruised tendon in his left ankle. Bhatti, meanwhile, is out with a hand injury.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
3:40

MacGill: No interest in Clarke as World Cup captain

Michael Clarke battled through severe back pain to make his 28th Test hundred, Steven Smith scored his fifth and the pair punished India’s inconsistent bowlers on a second day badly hit by rain. The pair racked up 163 for the sixth wicket through three long interruptions in play, hitting 21 fours in the 30 overs they batted together. Poor light ended play four deliveries after Clarke fell for 128.Clarke, who had taken injections after retiring on 60 in the 44th over on day one, accompanied Smith out under gloomy skies in a start delayed by ten minutes. He winced as he pulled and hobbled more than he ran initially. Unable to lean fully forward, he stood on the crease and hit the fast bowlers. He used his feet to spin, dragging himself to the other end if a run was available, or lurching back to the crease if it wasn’t. His mobility improved gradually, but even late in the day, he was gingerly taking the twos.India were unable to test even a half-fit Clarke. Their fast bowlers had been too full and wide at the start of the match. This morning, they pulled their lengths back too much. Ishant Sharma, their best bowler on day one, started short and wide to be put way for four by Smith. Mohammed Shami did the same first ball of the next over, and Clarke helped himself this time.Both batsmen brought up emotional hundreds. Clarke celebrated quietly with an intensely expressive face after coming through a bouncer burst from round the stumps on 98. Smith walked up to where 408, Phillip Hughes’ Test cap number, had been painted on the ground and stood there to look up at the sky.Smith then set about the Indian bowling with even more purpose and aggression, powering boundaries in limited-overs fashion. India had conceded 51 in the 12.2 overs leading into the first interruption. Between the second and the third, they leaked 50 in 7.3. Varun Aaron went for nearly six runs an over, Shami five, and the debutant legspinner Karn Sharma tallied over four. The lowest any of them conceded was 120.Smith was in so much control he did pretty much whatever he wanted to. He slogged Aaron just past the bowler’s head for four, he made room and drilled Shami through the covers, he reverse-swept Karn from outside leg stump.He did offer a simple stumping chance when he missed a charge at Karn, but Wriddhiman Saha, having kept for 109 overs, could not collect. Smith was reprieved again off Karn, on 161, when Ishant put down a diving chance at long leg. Clarke swept the next ball straight to square leg, and Mitchell Johnson walked in. The only plus for India was that he had a bat in hand, and not the new ball.

One fielder was the difference between Xavier Doherty and Nathan Lyon – the extra boundary rider removed from the shot locker of international captains in October 2012 – in the World Cup deliberations of Australia’s selectors.The national selector Rod Marsh and his colleagues Darren Lehmann, Trevor Hohns and Mark Waugh, effectively concluded that their leading Test spinner Lyon was not up to the task of bowling with only four run-saving men shielding the boundaries. In the same breath they decided that Doherty was capable of doing so, in concert with his state captain George Bailey.Marsh also offered up the old argument that spinners need contrasts. The allrounder Glenn Maxwell’s place in the squad has often precluded Lyon from greater opportunity in limited-overs matches, and as a left-arm spinner it is thought that Doherty will pose different questions for the batsmen.”Xavier is a proven one-day bowler,” Marsh said. “We know exactly what we’re going to get with Xavier, we’ve got one guy in the squad who spins the ball into the right handers and we need a guy who is going to take the ball away from the right handers.”That’s where Michael [Clarke] comes in as well because he’s another option there as is Steven Smith. But having said that it’s a little bit different these days because there’s only four men outside the circle and it makes it a little bit more difficult I think for some spinners and I’ll leave it at that.”Lyon’s only chance to apply for a World Cup berth arrived in Zimbabwe and the UAE last year. Marsh said the selectors had “fiddled around” with various options, also including the legspinner Fawad Ahmed, on the way to deciding that Doherty was their man.”We had to find what we thought was the best option and we fiddled around a bit and I think we had to do that to prove to ourselves what we wanted really and in the end it boiled down to the fact we thought Xavier was the right man,” he said. “We did fiddle and we make no excuses for that. We had to find out what we wanted to find out.”Regardless of the fiddling, Lyon was not given the chance to play even a single ODI in Australian conditions after the fielding restrictions were changed from five to four. “No he hasn’t,” Marsh said, “and it’s hard to dispute that fact because it’s a fact.” Lyon’s lone appearance in Australian colours on home soil was as far back as February 2012.Some had raised the possibility of a more left-field selection choice for the Cup – namely Cameron Boyce or Adam Zampa, who have impressed in the Big Bash League. Boyce was also notably effective in his Twenty20 international appearances against Pakistan and South Africa at the start of the season.But in explaining their omission, Marsh returned to the theme of the missing extra fielder. “Both good young bowlers but we didn’t think either was ready for this tournament, to be honest,” he said. “The fact that there are only four men out counted against them.”But we hope they develop because there’s nothing more exciting in any form of the game – apart from raw pace – than maybe leg-spin bowling. If we had Shane Warne we may have picked him…”So it is that Doherty gets his chance to bowl for Australia at a World Cup, four years after injury kept him out of the 2011 tournament in the subcontinent. He can thank the ICC’s amended playing conditions for his chance, just as Lyon can curse them for his omission.

South Africa took what seemed like everything any team would want when they left for the World Cup, except one thing. Apart from the obvious – 15 players with all their kit – they have a support staff that includes a head coach, an assistant coach, a former coach, three different bowling coaches, a fitness coach, a physiotherapist, a logistics manager, a team manager, a media manager, a security manager and a video analyst. Who is missing? A psychologist.”We’re not taking one,” Russell Domingo said. “I’ve tried to approach this World Cup as though we are approaching any other series. We’ve been playing really good cricket without the services of a mental coach over the last year and a bit, so why create the anxiety when we’ve been doing so well without it. This team is mentally in a better state than it’s ever been. They’ve won games in high-pressure situations under different conditions at different venues. They’ve got a pride in performance, they are passionately led by a captain who plays with his heart on his sleeve. All the blocks are in place to overcome those mental challenges that we are going to face.”The days of mental conditioning, Paddy Upton-style are behind South Africa. Even though they consulted with Henning Gericke, the man who worked with the national rugby team on their triumph at the 2007 World Cup and was used by the cricket side in 2011 as well, they are focusing on the bigger picture rather than emphasising the World Cup as an all-or-nothing event.”I am trying to downplay the importance of this World Cup,” Domingo said. “It’s massively important, we know that from the public perception but for us, it’s just business as usual. I am hoping my wife still loves me after the World Cup if I come back having not won a World Cup, and I am hoping she loves me the exactly same if we come back having won the World Cup.”There’s so much that happens in life and there are so many unfortunate people that my happiness as a person shouldn’t depend on whether I win a World Cup. It would be great to win it, we are desperate to win and we will do everything we can to do it but there are also more important things in life.”Things like visiting a young child whose dream it was to meet Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers, Vernon Philander and play street cricket with him and his friends. That’s what the quintet did last week. Things like starting a foundation to focus on the development of young cricketers in an underprivileged community. That’s what JP Duminy did last week. Things like spending time with a new-born daughter, a la Rilee Rossouw, or a loving pack of dogs, Steyn-style.South Africa’s cricket-life balance must be the envy of other sides, who sometimes find themselves training while South Africa sightsee. But is an approach that has worked because when it is time to work, South Africa know how to do exactly that.At this World Cup, their two areas of concern are middle-order batting and death-bowling and they are specifically addressing both. Michael Hussey will be used as a consultant in Sydney to work with some of the batsmen and Charl Langeveldt is travelling along with Allan Donald and Claude Henderson to help coach the bowlers. Hussey’s involvement has been described by Domingo as “low-key” but important. “He is going to be very much in the background,” Domingo said. “It’s important for him to connect with some of our middle-order batters – he is a middle-order batter of immense experience, he is a World Cup winner, he knows conditions and I am excited by the possibility of him joining us.”Although South Africa will be drawing on Hussey mid-competition, Domingo does not think that speaks to any problems with their preparation. Of all the teams at the competition, South Africa had the longest lead-up period, which dated back to July last year. They have played 24 ODIs and won series in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, New Zealand and at home; their defeat in Australia has been considered part of the learning curve. Everything, Domingo believes, is in place. Everything including the mindset.”I’m happy with the time we spent at home, competing on our home shores, finalising a few things with our structure of play and heading over there with a fresh attitude.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:28

Holding: Fielding made the difference for Ireland

Ireland hung on like they would for dear life, beating Zimbabwe by five runs in one of the most thrilling finishes in this World Cup. After 657 runs and 17 wickets, a game of fluctuating fortunes came to an end when Ireland’s captain William Porterfield ran hard from long-on to take the final catch of Tawanda Mupariwa, who had almost clinched it for Zimbabwe with two fours and a six in the penultimate over.Zimbabwe, whose campaign is now effectively over, hung their heads low as they walked off, but they would be proud of themselves for almost pulling off only their second 300-plus chase.As for Ireland, they are now fourth in Group B with six points, behind Pakistan on net run-rate, but they would be especially glad that they have found one bowler other than George Dockrell to help out their one-dimensional attack. Bellerive Oval’s first match at the World Cup was a predictable bat-off, but Alex Cusack held his own, taking four wickets and giving away just 32 runs at 3.36 per over.The match was lit by a pair of lively innings from either side. Ed Joyce’s 112 earned him the Man-of-the-Match award, and Andy Balbirnie’s 97 ultimately overpowered Brendan Taylor’s 121 and a heroic 96 from Sean Williams.Set a steep 332 for victory, Zimbabwe looked to be down and out when Taylor exited in the 38th over, but Williams brilliantly orchestrated the chase with Regis Chakabva. He never let the run-rate rise above the nine per over, but once he was dismissed in the 47th over, Ireland once again got one foot on the door.Williams, having survived a run-out attempt already, heaved Kevin O’Brien towards midwicket where John Mooney took the catch over his head. The TV umpires were asked if Mooney’s left boot had clipped the boundary. Eight replays were inconclusive, but by that time Williams had already gone into the dressing room and the umpires signaled the catch stood.Enter Mupariwa. With 26 needed off 12 balls, he hammered two fours and a six, his first since his ODI debut, off Kevin O’Brien, leaving Zimbabwe with just seven needed off the last over.But keeping with the frenetic nature of the last few overs, there would be one final twist. Cusack bowled Chakabva first ball with an off-cutter, meaning Ireland required just one more wicket. Tendai Chatara inside-edged the second ball away for a single, and the equation was six needed off four. Mupariwa was just one big hit away from a famous win, but off the third ball, he could only find elevation rather than distance, as Porterfield successfully held on to his third grab of the game, at long-on, sparking wild celebrations from his team-mates.Not many would have expected such an end when Zimbabwe made a circumspect start to the chase with the openers Chamu Chibhaba and Sikandar Raza falling five balls within each other. Stirling dived to his left to complete an excellent catch at first slip to dismiss Raza, while Porterfield ran back from point to safely pouch Chibhaba’s skier in the ninth over. The Zimbabwe innings fell into more trouble when Hamilton Masakadza tickled to Gary Wilson in Kevin O’Brien’s first over.The experiment of promoting Solomon Mire to No. 3 failed as he was caught at point for just 11, minutes after he was dropped at cover by O’Brien. Zimbabwe’s required run-rate touched eight per over in the 20th over, leaving too much on the plate of Williams and Taylor.When Taylor had gotten off the mark, he became the fourth Zimbabwean to reach 5,000 ODI runs. He kept finding the boundaries from the early stages, striking Kevin O’Brien through mid-off twice, as well as midwicket and mid on. Andy McBrine was cleared over midwicket for the first six of the innings, after which came the slap over midwicket off Paul Stirling’s slow offspin. Taylor reached his fifty in the 24th over, off just 38 balls, and responded with four more boundaries. He followed it up by smacking Stirling just over a diving John Mooney at long-on for a second six.In the 35th over, Taylor reached his seventh ODI hundred, coming off only 79 balls. In Dockrell’s last over, he piled into the left-arm spinner with two sixes and a four through wide mid-on. The 18-run over spoiled the figures of Ireland’s best bowler, who ended his 10 overs giving away 56 runs for just one wicket.Taylor was finally dismissed for 121 when Cusack duped him with a slower ball, which was easily caught by O’Brien. It was only the second time in his ODI career that Taylor was dismissed after making a hundred.Williams remained unfazed and struck seven fours and three sixes in his 83-ball knock, hacking over square-leg and midwicket with equal aplomb. He ran Ireland ragged with his own pace between the wickets, and completed 2000 ODI runs in the 25th over. He ended up making his highest ODI score, but it could have been so much more.Sean Williams’ controversial dismissal for 96 was the turning point of Zimbabwe’s chase•AFP

Earlier, Joyce’s well-paced hundred, and the continued good form of Balbirnie helped Ireland’s innings rise to their highest-ever ODI score – 331 for 8. But it was never considered to be safe on a flat pitch, especially with a one-dimensional bowling attack.Joyce came in during the third over and survived an edge that fell short of first slip and a dropped catch when he skied one off Mupariwa on 34. He reached his fifty in the 23rd over, off 62 balls. Ireland’s hundred was up by then too, but the pace of the innings was rather lethargic.The arrival of Balbirnie, following a 63-run partnership between Joyce and Porterfield, changed the complexion of the innings. He added 138 runs off only 18.3 overs with Joyce to reclaim the advantage. Balbirnie was batting at No 4 for the first time, but he was in tune to what was required at the stage. Being new to the crease, he let Joyce do most of the hitting during their partnership, which eventually became Ireland’s highest second-wicket stand in ODIs.Joyce looked more authoritative after crossing fifty, hitting sixes over midwicket, square-leg and long-on. He reached his third ODI hundred (and second for Ireland) off 98 balls and was dropped for a second time on 105 by Craig Ervine at cover. The same fielder, however, caught a simpler catch at midwicket to finally get rid of Joyce, whose 112 came off 103 balls.Balbirnie took over and clattered 58 runs in 5.4 overs with Kevin O’Brien. Taylor, the stand-in captain, made plenty of bowling changes to thwart the onslaught, but Balbirnie kept going at a rapid pace. Ireland took 44 runs in the batting Powerplay before Balbirnie struck Panyangara for 21 runs in the 44th over with two fours and two sixes, one of them flicked on one knee over backward square-leg.Kevin O’Brien and Gary Wilson struck 24 and 25 respectively but Balbrinie, who was faced very few deliveries after the 45th over, missed out on a century when he was run out in the final over for 97. Williams and Chatara took three wickets each, as Zimbabwe had to make do with only three specialist bowlers and three part-timers.

Likely XI

1 Chris Gayle, 2 Manvinder Bisla/ Mandeep Singh, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 S Badrinath, 7 Darren Sammy, 8 Varun Aaron, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Sean Abbott/ Mitchell Starc/ Adam Milne
Click here for the full squad

2014 finish

Seventh, out of eight teams, with five wins and nine losses.

Big picture

Royal Challengers Bangalore crave flamboyance. Their personnel are largely a bunch of big-hitters sprinkled with quicks who can clock 150 kph. Even their exploits in auctions – waging bidding wars to hike up prices and drain opposition reserves – grab attention. star-studded team, but never the constellation grouped together with the IPL trophy in hand.Part of the problem is that they lack for a sense of occasion – losing the very first match of the tournament and coming second-best in two finals. And they stumble in matches that are there for the taking – a knockout spot scuppered in 2012 after failing in a 133 chase against Deccan Chargers, who had lost 11 out of 14 matches. RP Singh no-ball to Ravindra Jadeja in 2013. Last year, they were 3-4 at the halfway stage before losing the next two. One of those after Yuvraj Singh had muscled 83 off 38 balls and then snagged 4 for 35.So this year, they’ve gone for depth. They are one of two squads with 26 players, which is handy since Mitchell Starc will miss three weeks to a knee problem and Adam Milne is recovering from a heel injury. India quick Varun Aaron becomes the attack leader. “You get on to the field knowing that a lot rests on your shoulders to do well, which I feel is a good motivating factor,” he told .Last season, Royal Challengers were thin on local batsmen as well, so Rs 10.5 crores was shelled on Dinesh Karthik. S Badrinath is the failsafe and Mandeep Singh, rookie Sarfaraz Khan and Manvinder Bisla are solid back-ups. They’ve even addressed fans’ clamour for a local player by including uncapped Karnataka batsman Shishir Bhavane.Royal Challengers are planet IPL-wood’s A-Listers and the imminent cause for M Chinnaswamy stadium to turn into pure sound. They couldn’t make the Champions League Twenty20 last October, but chants of “R-C-B! R-C-B!” did. Virat Kohli’s men thrive from that rumble, but if they want to hear it beyond the group stage, they need to at least be as good as the sum of their parts.

Big Players

If you’re taking a trip down the Royal Challengers line-up, don’t tell Michael Bay. It’s potential to go boom will even leave the director of the Transformers franchise with a complex. If Virat Kohli is the leading man and AB de Villiers is the show stopper, then Chris Gayle is the crowd puller. The bandanna is there, bright red shades may come in tow, but is he still the bully of the yard? Plagued by a back injury, he doesn’t run – which impacts his partner worse – and can consume too many balls when he doesn’t pay off. Both those limitations were on display in 2014 when he made only 196 runs in nine matches at a strike-rate of 106.52.They said T20s would kill spinners off, but the 10 best economy rates in the format all belong to spinners. The ones under Daniel Vettori’s charge – Yuzvendra Chahal and Iqbal Abdulla – are quite similar to him; they rely on accuracy more than turn for their wickets as well. A small home ground is the likely reason for their limited investment in spin, but pace off the ball has been known to cause momentum shifts in T20 as Chahal proved last year with 12 wickets at an economy of 7.01.

Bargain buy

Gone are the years when fast bowlers take a couple of balls to warm up. Ask Brendon McCullum. Adam Milne is part of that breed and his extreme pace can render the nature of the pitch null and void, as an economy of 4.84 in nine matches played in the subcontinent and UAE suggests. Seventy lakh barely makes a dent in terms of IPL money, but can Royal Challengers accommodate him among the four overseas players?

Availability

Everyone fit, except Mitchell Starc and Adam Milne.

Support staff

Head coach – Daniel Vettori, Assistant coach – B Arun, Bowling coach – Allan Donald, Batting and fielding coach – Trent Woodhill