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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMarlon Samuels made 260, his highest Test score•Associated Press

Marlon Samuels shredded the Bangladesh attack in the morning, reached his maiden Test double hundred and then sat back to watch Shivnarine Chanderpaul breeze to his 27th century, which followed his unbeaten 203 in the Mirpur Test. The Khulna pitch refused to stand up for the third day running and apart from ruing their lack of luck, Bangladesh could do little else as West Indies piled on the lead. They did take two wickets, as they had on day two, but at the cost of 323 runs.Almost unobtrusively, Darren Bravo reached his fourth Test hundred, all of which have come in the subcontinent. His partnership with Samuels swelled to 326, West Indies’ sixth-highest ever, before Sohag Gazi ended it by trapping Bravo in front. The one between Samuels and Chanderpaul added 177.Samuels switched gears each session from spectacular to sedate to smooth, with Chanderpaul outscoring him comfortably after lunch. Samuels had taken 82 off 81 deliveries in the morning; he took 86 to make 29 after lunch. He did accelerate to score 40 off 57 in the final session before falling to the third new ball off Rubel Hossain.Samuels had an extremely edgy start to the day for a man resuming on 109, but he recovered to slam 14 boundaries till lunch as Bangladesh wilted after the initial burst from their quick bowlers. He was to hit just two edged fours in the second session.The second new ball was two overs old at the start, and Bangladesh could have had a wicket in each of the first four overs. Bravo edged Rubel Hossain’s second delivery of the day and it nearly carried to the lone slip. Nearly. The word was to define Bangladesh’s morning.Samuels was dropped once and survived several times in the next three overs. He was beaten by both Rubel and Abul Hasan and edged both through the slips for fours. In the day’s fourth over, an edge off Abul even carried low to first slip, but Naeem Islam was late to react. By now, Samuels must have realised it was his day, and three balls later, he thumped Abul through covers for four.

Smart stats

• Marlon Samuels’ 260 is his highest Test score and the second-highest by a West Indies batsman in the subcontinent. It is also the second-highest score in Tests against Bangladesh falling just short of Ramnaresh Sarwan’s 261 in 2004.

• Abul Hasan became the only player to score a century and concede over 100 runs in his debut Test. His economy rate (4.70) is the highest in an innings on debut for a Bangladesh player (min 20 overs bowled).

• The number of balls faced by Samuels (455) is the highest by any batsman in an innings against Bangladesh. The previous highest was 425 balls faced by Jason Gillespie during his 201 in 2006.

• Darren Bravo’s century is his fourth in 21 matches. All four of them (two against Bangladesh) have come in the subcontinent.

• The 326-run stand between Bravo and Samuels is the sixth-highest partnership for West Indies in Tests and their highest in away games. It is also the fourth-highest stand against Bangladesh.

• Shivnarine Chanerpaul’s century is his 27th in Tests and his second in consecutive games. It is also his third century in eight Tests against Bangladesh.

• The 177-run stand between Samuels and Chanderpaul is the highest fourth-wicket stand for West Indies against Bangladesh and their fourth-highest stand for the fourth wicket in the subcontinent.

• West Indies registered their second 500-plus total of the series. For the fourth time (first outside West Indies) since 2000, West Indies have made two 500-plus scores in the first innings in a series.

Bravo did the same to the next two deliveries, off Rubel, and West Indies were now galloping. Bravo was to add 42 to his overnight 85, but he might as well have been invisible, such was Samuels’ assault.Yet again, Shakib Al Hasan, who had troubled him on day two, almost dismissed Samuels today. Samuels had been exploiting the slowness of the Khulna pitch, which gave him ample time to stand front-on against the spinners and swing length deliveries over square leg. After doing the same to Shakib in the 102nd over, he tried repeating the stroke next delivery. The ball took the inside edge, hit the pad and rolled onto leg stump, but to Mushfiqur Rahim’s utter disbelief, did not dislodge the bails. Samuels gleefully charged out and hit the last ball of that over for six down the ground.Had Bravo not gone back to cut a quick and straight Gazi delivery and been hit on pad first, Bangladesh could have spent the break cursing their luck, which did not change in the afternoon. Rubel struck Samuels on the pad first ball on resumption, but a close shout was turned down. First ball of Rubel’s next over, Samuels slashed and the edge flew over slip. He had further issues against Rubel, whose short deliveries did not rise enough to be ducked under, and did not come quickly enough to be pulled with timing. A tuck to leg off his 329th delivery brought up Samuels’ first Test double century in what has easily been his most productive year.Chanderpaul did not need the kind of fortune Samuels had. His pace of scoring was also more consistent across sessions. He made 52 off 96 in the second, and added 57 off 110 in the third. As he so often does, Chanderpaul began quietly. He opened up an hour after lunch to play several cuts, steers, and sweeps, and stepped out to lift Shakib for a straight six. Chanderpaul hit fewer boundaries after tea, but that made little difference to his strike-rate.With the old ball difficult to time on the slow wicket, both Samuels and Chanderpaul went after the third new ball. The Bangladesh quicks were largely wayward with it, with Abul being taken for three fours in the 164th over. Previous edges had hardly carried, but Rubel finally got one to rear enough to take the shoulder of Samuels’ bat and carry to gully.Abul was taken off after that over, only his second with the third new ball. Gazi came on, and Chanderpaul lifted his first ball over mid-off to move to 99, and reached his hundred in the same over. Like Samuels had on day two, Chanderpaul also ended day three unbeaten on 109. Bangladesh would be hoping for the small mercy that Chanderpaul does not cut loose on Saturday morning, like Samuels did today.

Nathan Lyon enjoyed bowling on the Gabba pitch against New Zealand last year and he should again find some turn and bounce, according to the curator Kevin Mitchell Jr. Australia have not yet decided on the make-up of their attack for the first Test against South Africa, which begins in Brisbane on Friday, but over the past few days all the murmurs from the camp have been that a four-man pace attack is unlikely.The stereotype of the Gabba being a green-top has not held true in Test cricket for many years, although there is always some assistance for the fast men on the first morning. Mitchell said there was unlikely to be as much seam movement as there was for last year’s Test – the preparation 12 months ago was interrupted by too much rain – and there would be plenty of runs available for the batsmen.”It’ll probably be similar to last year’s wicket, maybe not as much sideways movement,” Mitchell said. “We had a little bit of interrupted weather last year leading-up [to the match]. We’re hoping it’s going to be fast, good bounce and carry, and then wears on as the game goes on.”There’s always going to be that nip around for the first couple of hours and then it tends to flatten out and the moisture goes out of it. Then it’s a pretty good batting wicket, but a new-ball deck. Given a nice day you’d tend to want to have a bat [first]. But sometimes we get humid weather in Brisbane and as you know the ball swings around a bit.”The strong pace attacks of both teams will enjoy some pace and bounce but as the match goes on, Lyon and his South Africa counterpart, Imran Tahir, will be expected to play more of a role. Shane Warne always said the Gabba was one of his favourite venues at which to bowl – he took more wickets there than at any other venue – and Mitchell expects there will again be something for the spinners.”If the weather dries it out there certainly will be,” he said. “We’ll probably get a bit of deterioration with some cracking and then the footmarks will dust up for the spinners.”That is good news for Lyon, who took seven wickets against New Zealand last year in what was not only his first Gabba Test, but also the first time he had so much as visited the ground. Since then, he has been back for one Sheffield Shield match and he is looking forward to the chance of sending down some more overs over the next week.”It was great to bowl out here,” Lyon said. “I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I get my chance on Friday morning and we’ll see where we get to. I love it because you get great bounce and if it’s a bit tacky early in the game, it spins a bit. Then later on it spins even more. I’m just really looking forward to the opportunity of getting out there on Friday.”On Wednesday, Lyon was bowling in the nets under the watchful eye of John Davison, the spin mentor at the Centre of Excellence, and one of a select group of coaches to whom Lyon now turns. A left-field addition to that group is Steve Rixon, officially Australia’s fielding coach, who has also been assigned a role with Lyon to allow the bowling coach Ali de Winter to focus on the fast men.”Stumper [Rixon] is just going to be around at training as someone I can talk to, more so that Ali de Winter can just concentrate on his quicks and they can work together,” Lyon said. “I’m pretty excited, Stumper has kept to some great spinners in his career and has worked with some. I’m really excited and it’s going to be a great thing.”

The Bombay High Court has appointed a court officer, MD Narvekar, to supervise the auction of the IPL franchise Deccan Chargers on September 13 in Chennai. The franchise is up for sale after its owner Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL) suffered financial losses.The ruling was made after Tata Capital Financial Services, to which DCHL owed Rs.101 crore ($18 million approximately), had filed a petition with the High Court to protect its interests in view of the dues. The High Court also stated the sale proceeds from the auction would have to be deposited in ICICI bank and that the money once deposited couldn’t be disbursed or appropriated by the company without its permission. Five per cent of the winning amount would also have to be paid to the BCCI.The winning bid, worth between Rs. 800 crore ($144 million approximately) to Rs.1000 crore ($180 million approximately), could go towards paying back the debt.A few companies have shown interest in the Hyderabad-based team, with Indian conglomerate, the Videocon group, being one of them.

J Arunkumar, the former Karnataka batsman, has taken over as the state team’s batting coach, while fast bowler Mansur Ali Khan will mentor the bowlers. The pair replaces K Jeshwanth, who coached the Karnataka Ranji team over the previous season.The careers of both overlapped with those of some of the senior members of the current Karnataka State Cricket Association administration, Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble. Arunkumar has played 109 first-class matches and was a stalwart of the state Ranji team for more than a decade starting in the mid-90s. Khan played 24 first-class matches in an eight-year career starting in 1995.Srinath, the KSCA secretary, said the coaches were selected after the state association’s cricket committee interviewed several candidates. “A lot of people think we just picked people who we wanted, but that is not the case,” Srinath said in Bangalore. “We invited coaches to appear before the committee, quizzed them on their views about coaching, how they intended to go about their jobs and so on, before we narrowed down our choice to these two.”Karnataka were knocked out at the quarter-final stage in the Ranji Trophy last season, after an impressive league showing. They are in Group B this season, with the likes of Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

ScorecardNottinghamshire ripped through Surrey’s top order to leave them 8 for 5•PA Photos

Nottinghamshire ended Surrey’s unbeaten run in the Clydesdale Bank 40 by winning a one-sided contest at Guildford with 57 balls and five wickets to spare.With Harry Gurney taking 4 for 22 and Darren Pattinson 3 for 27, the Nottinghamshire required just 124 for victory, which was never seriously in doubt after James Taylor – who made an unbeaten 41 off 57 balls – and Samit Patel had seized the initiative with a third-wicket stand of 57 in 14 overs.Having elected to bat on the same pitch as the one that yielded over 900 runs for the loss of 12 wickets in the County Championship, Surrey slumped to 8 for 5 before recovering to make 123, their lowest total in one-day cricket for seven years.The hosts lost Jason Roy to the third ball of the match, leg before to Patel, Steven Davies to the ninth, caught at first slip off Pattinson, and Gary Wilson to the 10th, caught behind. With Zander de Bruyn falling to an excellent head-high catch at second slip by Adam Voges and Rory Burns toe-ending a drive off Pattinson to mid-on, the home side were in deep trouble.But thanks to Matthew Spriegel, who countered with 39 off 76 balls, Surrey eventually found their feet. Spriegel steered Harry Gurney down to the third-man boundary to ironic cheers, before clipping Pattinson through square leg for four.But 10 overs later, Zafar Ansari lofted Jake Ball to Riki Wessels, who held on to a tumbling catch running back from mid-off to make it 46 for 6. Spriegel was joined by Gareth Batty and together they added 43 in 11 overs. Batty despatched Patel to the rope at long-on and cover drove Steven Mullaney for four.But Surrey were pegged back further when Gurney picked up three wickets in eight deliveries. Batty, attempting to force the former Leicestershire man off the back foot, was caught behind for 24.Spriegel, shaping to cut, had his off stump pushed back. Lewis edged behind and Michael Lumb drew a line under the Surrey innings when held on to a sharp chance at short fine leg off Ball.In reply, Nottinghamshire lost Lumb to a run out, when Lewis pounced on Hales’s defensive push to backward point off Spriegel. Three overs later, Alex Hales collected two successive fours off Stuart Meaker, only to depart a couple of balls later to a lofted catch at deep square leg.Taylor cut a no-ball from Meaker for four before lifting the free hit back over the bowler’s head. But shortly after despatching Batty to the rope at extra cover, Patel was caught at slip off Kartik.With just 29 needed off 100 balls the writing was on the wall, notwithstanding the loss of Voges, who was caught behind looking to launch Kartik into the car park at the Railway End. Having just been dropped at short mid-off, the gloss was taken off the Nottinghamshire’s victory when Wessels then fell to a leading edge off Batty.

Match facts

Wednesday, July 11
Start time 0930 (1330 GMT)
New Zealand have managed to do this just twice in four games, at the cost of 326 runs•AFP

Big Picture

Much has been said about New Zealand’s preparation for their tour of the West Indies not being ideal. What could have gone wrong for them, has. They were already missing a key player or two; they went ahead and had injuries galore. They were expected to be hammered. They have been so far.But New Zealand have always fought their way through constraints of all kinds throughout their cricketing history. A wafer-thin player base, lack of funds, not many prodigious talents, you name it. ‘Punching above their weight’ has become second nature to them. Which is why it was even more disappointing to see them not show much fight so far on this tour.Can they show some of that fight tomorrow? Can they play like the New Zealand we have come to know? It takes only one delivery to get even Chris Gayle out. Who knows how the West Indies middle order, full of hard-hitting allrounders, will tackle that situation, something they haven’t faced in the past four games?You would think that is the only factor West Indies have to manage. They seem to have pretty much everything else under control, and have their first ODI series win against top Test-level opposition in more than four years within sight.

Form guide

West Indies WWLLL (completed games, most recent first)
New Zealand LLLLL

Watch out for…

Nathan McCullum has said the New Zealand bowlers have made some plans for Chris Gayle that they “are pretty sure are going to work”. That looks like asking a lot of an attack that has managed to take just six wickets in two games. But that could also be New Zealand’s only chance. A batting line-up that relies on an international rookie like BJ Watling to be its top-scorer for two games running does not inspire any confidence at all.The West Indies batting, barring Gayle, hasn’t been tested all that much. While there have been creditable supporting acts from Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Smith, it has been Gayle who has been the driving force of the line-up. He now has five scores of fifty-plus from six innings since making his international comeback. He can’t go on like this. The early dismissal will happen, maybe tomorrow, and it will be interesting to watch the approach of the other batsmen then.

Team news

Again, barring injuries, there seems to be no reason why West Indies would want to change a winning XI. Unless they want to replace the struggling Lendl Simmons and bring Johnson Charles in at the top. Darren Sammy did mention after the second ODI that he could be the one to be rested later in the series, but it probably will not be for a potential series-decider.West Indies: (possible) 1 Lendl Simmons/Johnson Charles, 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Dwayne Smith, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Sunil NarineBrendon McCullum was expected to join the squad less than 24 hours before the start of Wednesday’s game, and it will be asking too much to expect him to play. “We’ll see how he feels,” the coach John Wright told New Zealand reporters earlier. “It’s a long journey [from New Zealand], that may be a little bit tight.” New Zealand have the option of handing an ODI debut to left-arm fast bowler Trent Boult to beef up the attack, something Wright hinted they could go in for. Unfortunately, there are no options left to beef up the batting.New Zealand: (possible) 1 Rob Nicol, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Daniel Flynn, 4 Kane Williamson (capt), 5 Dean Brownlie/Tom Latham, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Tim Southee, 9 & 10 Nathan McCullum/Tarun Nethula/Trent Boult, 11 Kyle Mills

Stats and trivia

• Lendl Simmons averages 9.00 this year from four ODIs and two Twenty20s
• Kyle Mills needs two more wickets to overtake Chris Harris as the second-highest wicket-taker in ODIs for New Zealand, behind Daniel Vettori
  

  Quotes

  “At the end of the day we’ve just got to get him out.”

South Africa’s selectors have expressed confidence in the players that won the Test series in New Zealand 1-0 and named an unchanged squad for the tour of England in July and August. South Africa, the No. 2 Test side, can claim the No 1 spot from England by winning the three-match series.Graeme Smith, South Africa’s Test captain, has recovered from ankle surgery that ruled him out of the IPL, and has had throw-downs with Gary Kirsten already. Smith’s wife is due to give birth to the couple’s first-child after the first Test and he will return home, but is unlikely to miss a Test. The tour will mark significant milestones in Smith’s career with the first Test at the Oval his 100th and the second the match in which he will surpass Allan Border as the most capped captain, provided he plays in it.AB de Villiers will be the reserve wicketkeeper for the Test series, which could be Mark Boucher’s final international assignment. Thami Tsolekile, who was awarded a national contract in February, was expected to be part of the tour with Mark Boucher’s impending retirement. Instead, AB de Villiers has been named Boucher’s understudy, but Tsolekile will be close at hand, if needed.”We decided that instead of have Thami on the bench, waiting for a game, we would have him playing in the A series in Ireland instead,” Andrew Hudson, convenor of selectors told ESPNcricinfo. “We did think of having a 16-man squad with Thami in it, but decided it would be better to have him playing.”Tsolekile will play in two four-day matches against Sri Lanka A, starting at on June 30, in Durban, and will also be part of the group of players who will spend time in Ireland. South Africa are sending their A side to Ireland at the same time as the Test squad tours England, similar to England’s policy during the 2010 Ashes in Australia, to ensure they have enough reserves ready to play if needed. So Tsolekile is likely to be called on if needed.Hudson could not confirm South Africa’s long-term wicket-keeping plans and said they will be decided on “tour by tour”. As matters stand, Boucher is set to retire after the third Test at Lord’s which ends on August 20.Another player whose Test career may be over is Ashwell Prince. The middle-order batsman was left out of the squad, despite having his national contract renewed in February. Prince last played in the 2011 Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka when he was involved in a disastrous run-out with Hashim Amla, which was thought to have sealed his fate. Prince was dropped for the New Year’s Test and was also left out of the tour to New Zealand.His place, at No.6 in the batting order, was taken by Jacques Rudolph, who was moved down after four unsuccessful Test at the top of the order. Rudolph scored a century in the Dunedin Test in New Zealand to prolong his stay in the national side. As back-up to Rudolph, JP Duminy has been included in the squad. Duminy made his Test comeback in Wellington and also scored a hundred to put him higher up in the queue than Prince for a Test place.”We were delighted that JP stepped up and performed when we needed him in New Zealand. It showed us the depth we have in that position” Hudson said. “I would never write anybody off, so we are still watching Ashwell. It’s good to see that he has gone to England and is playing in those conditions. If he does amazing things at domestic level, he could fight for his place back.” Prince has spent the winter playing at Lancashire where he has scored at least 50 in each of his last four matches and 144 in one of them.Also in contention for the No.6 spot is Faf du Plessis, who will captain the A side in the upcoming fixtures against Sri Lanka. Du Plessis put in good performances on the South African first-class scene last season, where he scored 599 runs in four matches at an average of 85.57, and Hudson said du Plessis is categorised as one for the future. “He will have to bide his time but we’ve noted how well he has done,” he said. “But because of the nature of the squad we have now, he will have to knock someone off to get a look in. We have six spots and seven batsmen in good nick, so it’s very hard to find gaps.”Squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, Marchant de Lange, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Jacques Rudolph, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

ScorecardPaul Collingwood fell for 4 as Durham struggled after being put in to bat by Somerset•Getty Images

This was just the sort of pitch where one might have imagined that Durham’s know-how would have seen them through. Though bottom of the table, Durham have an average age of 31; Somerset, down to 11 fit players, average only 23. It was just the time for some gnarled old pros to provide a few home truths to the young shavers on a lively pitch that seamed throughout the day, but it did not turn out that way.Somerset, fielding what must be one of the youngest sides in their history, bowled intelligently and then turned the game in their favour with some spirited counter-attacking after tea, amassing 155 in the final session at not far short of a run a ball. Peter Trego, at 30 the oldest player in their side, set the tone as he drove pretty much everything that was pitched up to make 40 from 35 balls before he was betrayed by one that kept low from Ruel Brathwaite. That is how Trego can play, but what followed was even more striking as Craig Kieswetter and Craig Meschede took the cue with half-centuries of attacking intent.Meschede, a 20-year-old South African, twice slapped Mitchell Claydon for three boundaries in an over and included 13 fours in his 62 before Callum Thorp had him caught at first slip. Kieswetter, unbeaten on 60 at the close, has the chance to cause further damage – although judging by the weather forecast perhaps not until Friday.Meschede set new first-class bests with the bat and ball, taking three wickets earlier in the day in a Durham innings in which he was overshadowed by the youngest player of all, Craig Overton, barely 18 and playing only his second Championship match, who returned figures of 4 for 38 and reacted with a frisson of excitement every time the ball slipped past the outside edge.Overton, a gangling young Devonian with a nice high action, hit the seam regularly and as he and Meschede shared the last five wickets, delighted in high fives with smaller colleagues who could not quite reach. Somerset, short on resources, must steel themselves and use him wisely.Durham, not helped by two rain-wrecked matches in London, have been so bereft of batting form that no batsman in their top six has yet reached 50. Included in a familiar crash was Paul Collingwood, whose commitment to extending his Durham career with his England days now seemingly spent is an admirable show of loyalty to a county game that needs such gestures, but who so far is struggling to gain much reward. He got off the mark with a streaky boundary against Trego, but was out third ball and now has 37 runs in five attempts. Durham needed something better, especially after Dale Benkenstein had pulled out at the last minute after dislocating a shoulder in the warm up.Phil Mustard, coming in at 92 for 5, must suspect that he has transmuted into Chris Read, another wicketkeeper/captain who is well used to rescuing an innings on the rocks. But a spliced pull shot against Meschede ended his thoughts of a revival and Durham’s last seven wickets tumbled for 35 runs in 9.3 overs. The Eleven Fit Men of Somerset, barely more than could be squeezed on to Uncle Tom Cobley’s horse, were cock-a-hoop.Celebrations looked premature when Somerset lost four wickets for 45 in return. Graham Onions, true and straight, took wickets in his first two overs with lbw decisions against Arul Suppiah, first ball, and Alex Barrow; Lewis Gregory, who had batted soundly, pulled Callum Thorp to mid-on; and James Hildreth was late on the shot as Mitch Claydon bowled him middle-and-off. At tea, it had the makings of a 20-wicket day and equality at the end of it, but Somerset’s gusto changed all that.

Kane Williamson, the New Zealand batsman, will return to Gloucestershire for the first half of the season. Williamson will arrive in Bristol for Gloucestershire’s first home County Championship match on April 26 against Glamorgan.Williamson played in New Zealand’s Test series defeat to South Africa in March, scoring a century to save the third Test in Wellington, and will take an enforced break before returning to Nevil Road.”He proved a very good fit in our dressing room last season,” Gloucestershire director of cricket, John Bracewell, said. “Since then he has developed in all three formats of the game for New Zealand and that reflects great credit on him, as well as showing the benefit of his time with us.”Williamson, 21, scored 831 first-class runs at 36.13 for Gloucestershire last season before returning to New Zealand and making his highest first-class score of 284 not out for Northern Districts against Wellington. He was a regular in the New Zealand side in their tours to Zimbabwe and Australia and the home series against Zimbabwe and South Africa.Gloucestershire also hope to gain the services of another New Zealand cricketer in a unique deal with New Zealand Cricket. Once Williamson departs for his country’s tour of the West Indies in July another centrally-contracted player, not involved in the West Indies tour, will be sent to Gloucestershire.A spokesman for New Zealand Cricket said: “We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with Gloucestershire to develop our next generation of international cricketers. This partnership provides New Zealanders with the opportunity to play in and experience the pressures of a world class competition on a day to day basis.”Gloucestershire also signed allrounder Paul Muchall from Durham. Muchall was on trial in Bristol during the club’s pre-season matches and, having impressed, has signed a two-year contract.Muchall, the 25-year-old brother of Durham’s Gordon Muchall, spent time both at MCC Young Cricketers and in Durham’s 2nd XI with Will Gidman, who signed for Gloucestershire for the 2011 season.”John Bracewell was very specific in what he wanted from me and obviously I have impressed in the right ways,” Muchall said. “I like to hit the pitch hard and nip the ball around off the seam, with the occasional bouncer here and there when needed. I would hope to bat around six, seven or eight in the order, but it looks a strong batting line-up and I’ll happily slot in where required.”

ScorecardChris Rogers scored his third hundred of the Sheffield Shield season to give Victoria hope victory over Western Australia at the WACA. The Bushrangers must win if they are to have any chance of reaching the final and at stumps on the third day, they led by 337 runs, with Ryan Carters on 27 and William Sheridan on 21, and the total had reached 6 for 361.Rogers and Rob Quiney gave Victoria a strong start with a 142-run opening stand after the Warriors took first-innings points. Quiney, the leading run scorer this Shield season, was caught and bowled by Michael Beer for 66, and a series of other batsmen chipped in with useful scores.But it was Rogers’ 124 that anchored Victoria’s innings and gave the bowlers something to defend on the final day. Western Australia will secure a place in the Shield final if they chase down whatever target is set, and they will also have a strong chance of hosting the decider.