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ScorecardDarren Stevens came within three runs of the fastest hundred of the season•Getty Images

Darren Stevens fell three runs short of the fastest hundred of the season to provide some entertainment on the final day at Tunbridge Wells as Kent were held to a draw by fellow strugglers LeicestershireStevens’ cameo of 97 in 58-balls followed centuries for Rob Key and Brendan Nash as Kent declared 15 minutes before lunch on 353 for 3, with a first-innings lead of 167 and then claimed the early scalp of Niall O’Brien to give themselves hope of victory in a match where almost a day and a half had been lost lost to rain at Tunbridge WellsBut Leicestershire suffered no further alarms as second-wicket pair Greg Smith and Ned Eckersley made the game safe with an unbroken stand of 128 in the remaining 46.4 overs, both players contributing 65. The players shook hands on a draw at 5pm with 14.2 overs of the game remaining, leaving Kent with 10 points to Leicestershire’s four.Hosts Kent had galloped along at almost 10-an-over in the morning session in a bid to secure a reasonable first-innings advantage, while leaving themselves sufficient time to potentially dismiss the visitors for a second time.As it was, a flat pitch at The Nevill Ground had the final say as Leicestershire had few problems in batting out the final afternoon in order to secure their sixth draw of the season. For winless Kent, it was a fourth stalemate of a campaign that keeps then rooted to the foot of the Division Two table.Resuming on their Friday night total of 159 for 1, Kent took the game by its horns in the morning session as Key and Nash extended their second wicket stand to 190 from 55.1 overs.Key was first to three figures from 181 balls, with six fours, for the 48th hundred of his first-class career. It was his 43rd ton for Kent. He fell soon after, caught at long on off a skier by Ollie Freckingham for 106, after attempting a leg-side clip against offspinner Jigar Naik.In the pursuit of quick runs, the hosts promoted former Leicestershire allrounder Stevens up to No. 3 and it was a move that reaped rich and attracted rewards as he went within three runs of posting the fastest hundred of the season.Stevens, who spent the winter playing Twenty20 in the Bangladesh Premier League for Dhaka Gladiators, blasted seven sixes and eight fours for his part in a spectacular stand of 149 in 16.2 overs with Nash.Nash chipped in with his 186-ball century with 14 boundaries and went on to contribute a couple more sixes in an over by Shiv Thakor that went for 27.Stevens was on the cusp of hitting a rare hundred before lunch when, in attempting a paddle sweep to fine leg, he was bowled around his legs by Naik prompting Kent’s declaration.Leicestershire lost opener O’Brien to a catch in the slip cordon when on six but Smith and Eckersley dominated centre stage thereafter to leave Kent still in search of their maiden four-day win for 2013.

Martin Guptill was savouring the “special” feeling of becoming New Zealand’s highest scorer in a one-day international after scorching his way to an unbeaten 189 at the Ageas Bowl – his second hundred in three days – and is looking forward to getting in touch with the man whose record he broke.Guptill often played alongside Lou Vincent, who scored 172 against Zimbabwe in 2005, and is planning on contacting his former team-mate to talk him through how his landmark was taken.”It’s a pretty special feeling,” Guptill said. “I played a lot of cricket with Lou so I’ll have to give him a bit of stick later on tonight. It’s not been the worst few days. I’m pretty happy with the way I’m batting and long may it continue.”His back-to-back hundreds mark a triumphant return to the one-day side following the hamstring injury which curtailed his series against England in New Zealand, although he still managed to produce a matchwinning performance in Hamilton to steer his team to victory. “I’d had a bit of a lean patch before I got injured so to be able to come back and score back-to-back hundreds is pretty special,” he said.”I think it was the batsmanship through the middle stages I found the most impressive,” he said. “Martin’s batsmanship the other day at Lord’s was great but I think today it went up a notch. We all know about his striking ability so when you put the two aspects together it’s probably as a good an innings as you’ll see for New Zealand.”Alastair Cook was also gracious in his assessment of the display that condemned his team to their first home one-day series loss under his captaincy. “It was a very special innings. He made us pay,” Cook said. “What was impressive is that he always managed to find the right option at the right time so if we did build a couple of dots he’d always get the release with a four without taking too big a risk.”Despite wrapping up the series with a game to spare, McCullum was not giving any thoughts to using the final match, at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, as a glorified net session ahead of the Champions Trophy. New Zealand were 2-0 up in South Africa earlier this before seeing the home side steal a one-wicket in the final game and does not want a repeat. “Three-nil would be as good as it gets,” he said. “So we’ll be doing whatever we can to continue the momentum we have.”

Mushfiqur Rahim has said he regrets his hasty resignation from the Bangladesh captaincy, although he is effectively out of the job until the BCB decides whether to reappoint him.After the third ODI on May 8, which Bangladesh lost, Mushfiqur told his team-mates and announced to the media that he would quit after the Zimbabwe tour. But following Sunday’s 34-run win over the home side in Bulawayo, Mushfiqur admitted that it was a mistake on his part to have announced his resignation with two matches still remaining in the tour. He has also denied that he quit because he felt there was a lack of teamwork, as widely reported in Bangladesh.”After resigning I have realised that I should have discussed the matter with the BCB, who have made me the captain,” Mushfiqur said. “It was my mistake. People from the BCB have told me that we will hold discussions when I am back. I have let them know my decision, now it’s for them to decide.”It is not about teamwork. I have taken the decision emotionally. It was a wrong decision on my part. No player should back out in such a time. I should have been encouraging everyone, but I ended up doing just the opposite. I have now realised my mistake. Losing to them didn’t go down well with me. My team-mates have backed me, and I hope this is how it remains in the future.”Bangladesh lost the first Test by 335 runs, their biggest defeat to Zimbabwe by margin of runs, and later lost the ODI series after taking a 1-0 lead. The win in the second T20 helped them draw the series. Overall they lost four games and won three across the three formats, which wasn’t the result they would have expected coming to Zimbabwe four weeks ago.”We are upset, because we had expected a much better result,” Mushfiqur said. “A few things didn’t go our way, plus we made some mistakes. We should have won the last [ODI], which was disappointing. We should have conducted ourselves better in the field, cooler heads were missing. There’s a lot to learn from tours like this.”Bangladesh’s next international assignment is in October but the BCB is likely to hold talks with Mushfiqur soon to resolve the controversy surrounding his swift resignation and even swifter repentance.

Shane Watson has stood down as Australia’s vice-captain across all formats three months out from the Ashes, declaring that he wants to focus his attention on his own performance. Watson’s role as Michael Clarke’s deputy was the subject of significant public debate during the recent Test tour to India when he was one of four players suspended for a match for failing to complete a task set by the coach Mickey Arthur.Later the same day, Watson flew to Sydney for the birth of his first child and while checking out of the team hotel said he would use his time at home to weigh up his cricketing future. However, a few days later Watson committed himself to the team in the long term and rejoined the squad in Delhi, where he captained Australia in the fourth Test when Clarke was unavailable due to his back injury.But during that match, Watson’s disappointing run of batting form continued and he finished the tour with 99 runs at an average of 16.50, a miserable return given that he had chosen to embark on the trip as a batsman only. Watson has not scored a Test century since October 2010 and since becoming vice-captain in 2011 he has managed only 627 Test runs at 24.11.”Making the decision to step down wasn’t easy but it’s something I’ve been thinking about since the Test series against India ended,” Watson said. “I think it’s the right time for a change for both the team and me. I’ll be honest and admit I wrestled with the decision for some time, however once I made up my mind, I informed Cricket Australia so the selectors could consider their options for the Ashes given the squads will be announced soon.”I want to be the best Test player I can be for Australia and think I can do that by stepping down from the vice-captaincy to focus my attention on scoring runs, taking wickets and doing whatever is necessary to help the team achieve success. I won’t be the vice-captain in title but I think I can still be a leader and strong contributor around the group.”Yesterday I rang John Inverarity, Mickey Arthur and Michael Clarke to advise them of my decision and they respect that decision and agree with me that this is the best outcome for me and the team. I thank Cricket Australia for the leadership opportunity over the past two years and I’m really looking forward to this next phase. In my conversations with Mickey and Michael I reaffirmed my commitment to the team and support for them as we fight to win back the Ashes and get back to being ranked number one in the world.”John Inverarity, the national selector, said: “Shane Watson should be commended for making the tough call to step down from the vice-captaincy to focus on playing. Regardless, he will still be an important senior leader within the team. The national selection panel will now consider and then put a vice-captaincy recommendation to the Cricket Australia Board for its approval.”Watson was named vice-captain to Clarke in March 2011 after Ricky Ponting stood down as the team’s leader. He filled in as Australia’s captain in nine one-day internationals for five victories as well as leading in the Delhi Test.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsCanada scraped to a five-wicket win over Kenya in the first Twenty20 match between the two sides in Dubai.Set a target of 127, Canada’s chase was guided by Hiral Patel’s assured knock, before three quick wickets left them struggling at 97 for 5, needing 30 off 29 balls. Jimmy Hansra and Usman Lambada ensured there was no further stutter and Canada achieved the target with nine balls to spare.Earlier, Junaid Siddiqui and Henry Osinde bowled effective opening spells to leave Kenya reeling at 45 for 6. Siddiqui was particularly impressive, returning with figures of 4-0-10-3. A 50-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Rakep Patel and Nelson Odhiambo helped Kenya recover. Patel’s unbeaten 48 off 35 balls helped the side reach 126 for 9 in their 20 overs.

David Warner faced pace bowling in the nets for the first time on Australia’s tour of India on Tuesday as he aims to prove his fitness ahead of the first Test in Chennai, starting on Friday. Warner’s recovery from a fractured thumb is the real injury concern for the Australians in the lead-up to the Test and his availability will also have a knock-on effect on the rest of the batting order.If Warner does not play, Shane Watson will return to the Test team as an opener alongside Ed Cowan but if Warner is fit, as expected, the likely scenario will involve the continuation of the Cowan-Warner opening combination with Watson to bat at No.4. Watson has made no secret of his desire to face the new ball in Test cricket and his innings of 84 and 60 opening in tour match against India A strengthened his case.But Cowan has also batted well so far on this trip, scoring 58, 40 and 53 in the two tour games, and Australia would be reluctant to split up an opening pair that has been the best performing in world cricket for the past 14 months. Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur said it was too early to determine whether Warner would be fit for the Chennai Test, but he said he had been impressed by the way Cowan handled spin during the warm-up outings.”We just want to see how Davey Warner comes up over the next day or two,” Arthur said in Chennai ahead of Australia’s training session on Tuesday. “It’s critical that he trains well over the next day or two to play. I’m pretty sure and confident he’ll come through but he hasn’t faced any quicks yet. He’s been doing a lot of batting against spin which has been fantastic. He hasn’t faced pace bowling – that’s the only concern – but he ticks that box today.”Ed has come out of these practice games with his head held high. He’s had a good method against the spin and he’s played exceptionally well. [Opening with Watson and Warner] would be a tough call but that’s something we have to only weigh up once Davey Warner is fit or not fit.”Watson’s strength against the fast bowlers is often cited as a reason for him to move back to the top of the order but he is also one of Australia’s most experienced campaigners in India. In 14 Test and ODI appearances against India in India, he has averaged 40.63 with the bat and Arthur said with the Chennai pitch expected to offer significant turn, selecting a largely untried middle order in such conditions would be risky.”I think Watto’s a class player so wherever Watto fits in I think he adds value,” Arthur said. “Potentially through the middle is going to be a real tough time to bat, so you want your most seasoned campaigners in that area.”We’ve got to look again and see what we think is going to be the best possible way of winning. That’s the primary focus for us, how are we going to beat India in India. We’ve got to look at our best possible combination to do that. I do think though that we’ve just come off a series where we’ve been Sri Lanka 3-0 – do those players get first opportunity? I don’t know. That’s something that we’ll have sorted out by the end of today.”The other major question surrounds the make-up of Australia’s attack and the likely inclusion of an allrounder to offer a fifth bowling option. The seamer Moises Henriques strengthened his case with 4 for 12, including three top-order wickets, in the first of the two warm-up games. He found some reverse swing, which will be key if the pitch deteriorates, and also made a useful 33 in the second game.Henriques appears to have the edge over the offspinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell, who took 1 for 20 from four overs in the first warm-up match, in which he also scored a first-innings duck, and did not play the second game. Arthur said Australia would not be tempted to name a spin-heavy team if they felt their pace options provided them with greater wicket-taking potential.”Moises has done everything right to possibly get a Test match here,” Arthur said. “We’ve chatted at length about it. We’ll consider everything before we get the team out. But Moises has certainly done very well in these games. He’s bowled exceptionally well I thought. The way he batted the other day was exactly as we want our batters to play. You’ve got to play with that intent here.”We’ve got to look at what our best opportunity is to take 20 wickets. Maxie has worked extremely hard. I think Maxie has got a huge future. We have to weigh that up. There’s probably one allrounder position in our team that’s up for grabs. We’ve got to then determine is it the allrounder that can give us reverse swing or is it the allrounder that can give us a little bit of handy offspin?”The frontline spinners Nathan Lyon and Xavier Doherty, and the part-timer Steven Smith were bowling in the nets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday but the young left-armer Ashton Agar was not with the group. Although there was a chance Agar, who was with the group to gain experience by playing in the tour games, would be kept on for the Tests, he has been released from the touring party and has flown home to Perth.

The rise and rise of captain Michael Clarke continued in Melbourne on Monday night when he won his fourth Allan Border Medal and was named Australia’s Test Player of the Year. Clarke also won the double last year, capping off his first 12 months as Australia’s leader in all formats, and his second year in charge was just as impressive. The other major winners from the evening were Clint McKay, who won his first One-Day International Player of the Year title, and Shane Watson, the Twenty20 International Player of the Year.In the Allan Border Medal count, Clarke finished on 198 votes, well clear of Watson and the retiring Michael Hussey, who were in joint second place with 165 votes each. David Warner was fourth with 148 votes, Mitchell Starc fifth with 122 votes and Australia’s Twenty20 captain George Bailey sixth with 116 votes, despite only playing the short formats. The win added to Clarke’s previous triumphs in 2005, 2009 and 2012 and he joined Ricky Ponting as the only men to have taken home four Allan Border Medals.Clarke had another remarkable year in Test cricket, scoring 1080 runs at an average of 77.14 during the voting period, which ran from February 25 last year to January 28 this year. His high point was when he scored consecutive double-centuries against South Africa, with 259 not out at the Gabba followed by 230 in Adelaide. The third of his hundreds during the voting period was 106 against Sri Lanka during the Boxing Day Test. It continued his incredible form since taking over the leadership from Ponting: as full-time captain Clarke has averaged 72.48.Despite the fact that the year brought Clarke’s first series defeat as captain, the 1-0 loss to South Africa, his team still won more than they lost during the voting period. They beat West Indies 2-0 in the Caribbean and enjoyed a 3-0 clean-sweep against Sri Lanka, but Clarke knows that such wins will be quickly forgotten if the coming year, which features a tour of India and back-to-back Ashes contests, does not bring success.The runner-up in the Test Player of the Year category was Hussey, who scored 746 runs at an average of 57.38 and was second on the run tally behind Clarke, while Matthew Wade, who at the start of the voting period had not even played Test cricket, was third. Clarke finished on 22 votes, with Hussey on 15 and Wade on 12. Surprisingly given he spent most of the year out of the Test side and played only three Tests during the home summer, Mitchell Johnson came fourth with 11 votes.In another surprise, the under-rated seamer McKay was named One-Day International Player of the Year, narrowly beating Bailey and Warner. McKay finished with 30 votes, Bailey and Warner were equal second with 28 votes and David Hussey finished in fourth place with 27 votes. Watson was fifth with 23 votes.During the voting period, McKay was Australia’s leading ODI wicket taker with 26 victims at 25.76. He was Man of the Match in the deciding third final of the Commonwealth Bank Series last summer, when he collected 5 for 28 against Sri Lanka at Adelaide Oval, and he was also Australia’s best bowler during their disappointing series in England in June and July.”Clint certainly knows how important he is to me and the team. I’ve made that very clear to him,” Clarke said of McKay. “He has become one of our top one-day bowlers in the Australian team, no matter who’s available to play. Clint in the past 12 months has been our first-picked one-day bowler.”I think his execution, not only with the new ball but at the death, is something that not many bowlers can do. His consistency day in day out, into the breeze, down breeze, open the bowling, bowl second change, it doesn’t bother him. Clint is a great example of one of the players I always want in this Australian team because he’ll do whatever it takes for the team first and himself second.”McKay broke the winning streak of Watson, who had taken out the past three ODI Player of the Year awards, and it was a good reward for a sometimes under-valued member of the side. Since his one-day international debut in 2009, McKay has collected 68 wickets at 21.91; only Mitchell Johnson with 73 has claimed more one-day victims for Australia during that time.In the T20 category, Watson was a clear winner with 42 votes, ahead of Warner on 29 and the captain Bailey on 16. Watson’s award was not surprising given his remarkable performances at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka last year. He was not only the leading run scorer during the tournament, with 249 at an average of 49.80, he was also second on the competition wicket tally with 11 victims at an average of 16, behind only Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis.During the voting period, Watson was Australia’s leading T20 run scorer with 406 at an average of 40.60 and the leading wicket taker with 17 at 15.82. The T20 award was first handed out in 2011, when David Hussey was the recipient, and Watson picked up the prize in 2012.

Neil Adcock, the former South Africa fast bowler, has died at the age of 81 in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal. He had pneumonia and was also suffering from cancer for a long period of time.Adcock played 26 Tests for South Africa between 1953 and 1962, and took 104 wickets at an average of 21.10. After he took 26 wickets in a Test series in England in 1960, Wisden honoured him as one of their five Cricketers of the Year in 1961. He played 99 first-class games, taking 405 wickets at 17.25 apiece. After retiring, Adcock became part of SABC’s radio commentary team.”Neil was one of the great fast bowlers during what was truly a golden era of fast bowling,” Cricket South Africa’s acting chief executive Jacques Faul said. “At that time England had Trueman, Statham and Tyson; Australia had Lindwall, Miller and Davidson; and the West Indies had Hall and Gilchrist. Neil was right up with the best of them.”On behalf of the CSA family and fans around the country I extend our condolences to his wife, Maureen, his family and friends.”

Brett Lee walked into the Cricket New South Wales office on Wednesday charged with bringing the game into disrepute. He walked out of it a few hours later with a place at the table of a board sub-committee devised to address problems in the game in the state.In a result he called a “great win”, Lee escaped punishment over his criticism of Cricket New South Wales and its chief executive David Gilbert. Lee was reported by CNSW over the comments he made in an interview with Fairfax Media and was due to face a Cricket Australia disciplinary hearing, but on Wednesday Cricket New South Wales announced the charges had been withdrawn.Instead, Lee was invited to contribute to a sub-committee of the state board, which will be set up immediately “to address issues as to the future direction of cricket in New South Wales”. Lee, who in his original interview said he believed Gilbert should be sacked and that the head coach Anthony Stuart had been made a scapegoat for the team’s struggles, said the result was a victory for common sense.”For them to drop all charges in regards to bringing the game into disrepute, I’m really happy about,” Lee said after the hearing. “On a pleasing note also, it’s my chance now to meet with the sub-committee of the board, which they actually invited me to do so, to have a chat with them and improve what’s happening with NSW cricket and moving forward.”I can’t say much more on what happened, but I’m really pleased with the outcome, really pleased we’ve come to an agreement, that all charges were dropped, and looking forward in the next seven to 12 days to meet with the sub-committee of the board to move forward and get this state back to where it used to be.”The last 10 years it’s been going through some tough times. I’m looking forward to hopefully improving that and getting NSW back to where it was. I bleed blue, and it’s a huge part of me.”It is believed that the charge brought by CNSW against Lee would have had trouble sticking on a technical level because the association missed the code of conduct deadline for filing a report to Cricket Australia.When queried about how he now viewed Gilbert and his role in NSW, Lee declined to comment. “We’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “I’m not in the position to comment on that. Coming here this morning I didn’t know what to expect, but common sense has prevailed here, and everyone is happy with the outcome.”Cricket New South Wales said in a statement: “Both parties are very pleased to have found a way forward and at having arrived at a very positive mutual outcome. Brett Lee looks forward very much to working constructively with Cricket New South Wales into the future.”

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Shami Ahmed took a hat-trick in the morning to close out Madhya Pradesh’s innings at 342 though MP remained ahead as Bengal’s batsmen failed to follow up the good work. MP began on 322 for 5, and would have had at least 400 on their minds, but lasted only 13 overs as Ahmed took all five wickets to fall to finish with 7 for 79. His hat-trick accounted for the last three men in the MP line-up – Anand Rajan, Amarjeet Singh and Ishwar Pandey – in the 103rd over. Bengal also lost three quick wickets to be at 19 for 3 before Writam Porel and Wriddhiman Saha stabilised the innings with a 68-run stand. Saha went on to make 87, his fifth 50-plus score in six Ranji innings this season, and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala made an unbeaten 41 but MP were still the likelier team to take the first-innings lead.
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Saurashtra’s batsmen put on a better show in the second innings but it wasn’t enough to prise the match from Punjab’s control. After being bundled out for 90 on the first day, Saurashtra had little hope of salvaging anything from the game, but they began spiritedly, keeping down Punjab to 205 despite the prolific Uday Kaul remaining unbeaten on 41. Siddharth Trivedi, who has been a regular for Rajasthan Royals over the past few years, did the most damage, finishing with 5 for 64. Their chase was undermined by Siddarth Kaul taking four wickets by the 18th over, with Saurashtra still to wipe out the deficit. That included the dismissal of the most well-known player in the side, Ravindra Jadeja, falling lbw for a duck. After having a big impact in the past two matches – a triple-century against Gujarat, and a nine-for against Hyderabad – Jadeja has failed with the bat twice here, and hasn’t got to bowl so far. Sagar Jogiyani’s unbeaten 72 held the innings together, but India U-19 bowler Sandeep Sharma struck three times to complete his ten-for and leave Saurashtra 97 ahead with only three wickets remaining.
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After being pounded on the first day by Mumbai, Hyderabad had a much better second day but still have plenty to do to bring the match back on level terms. They started brightly by quickly dismissing the overnight batsmen, Hiken Shah and Rohit Sharma, both of whom had made centuries on Saturday. Abhishek Nayar, who has hit two unbeaten hundreds in his two Ranji innings this season, added a half-century but four of the next five batsmen made 2 or less, and Mumbai were dismissed for 443, a far lower total than they would have expected after beginning the day on 325 for 2. Mumbai were also hurt as one of their specialist batsmen, Suryakumar Yadav, couldn’t bat due to an injury. Ashish Reddy, the fast bowler who took eight wickets on debut earlier this week, was again Hyderabad’s most effective bowler, taking 4 for 77. Hyderabad’s batsmen built on the good work of their bowler, with the new captain Akshath Reddy and Under-19 batsman Hanuma Vihari hitting half-centuries.
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Railways remained in charge though they lost their final five wickets for 10 runs and Gujarat’s openers dourly batted out 35 overs. After bowling out Gujarat for 117 in the first innings, Railways posted a 300-plus score to tighten their grip on the game. Their captain Sanjay Bangar followed up his five-for with a 61, and their wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat made 66 that was enough for them to weather a lower-order collapse, which had them falling from 298 for 5 to 308 all out. Gujarat’s openers then crawled along at 1.54 runs an over to finish at 54 for 0, still needing to bat out a minimum of three sessions to stay in the game.