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India’s Supreme Court has asked the BCCI and Lalit Modi to reach a compromise over the composition of the disciplinary committee investigating charges levied against the former IPL chairman. In a surprising turn of events, which was sparked by a plea from Modi’s lawyer, the court said it would resume hearing the case if the parties could reach no agreement by October 27.The court also offered two suggestions for the compromise: to increase the size of the existing committee or have its three members stay away from the league’s governing council, which is authorised to look into the disciplinary committee’s report on Modi. The disciplinary committee currently comprises IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, BCCI vice-president Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the president of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.”I am hoping good sense will prevail on the BCCI and they will accept this suggestion,” Modi’s lawyer, Mehmood Abdi, told CNN-IBN.Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, however said the board had neither been asked nor ordered to reach any settlement in the matter within a deadline. He said, “At about 10.30 in the morning Mr Ram Jethmalani (Modi’s lawyer) stood up and asked to use his ‘good offices’ to settle the issue.” The BCCI’s lawyers, Manohar said, responded by saying they had no such instructions on this. The court then asked Jethmalani to use those good offices and come to an agreement by October 27. Asked whether the BCCI would enter into a discussion with Jethmalani, Manohar said, “We are always ready to listen to anyone.”Modi had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the removal of Amin and Jaitley from the disciplinary committee. Modi’s plea for the recusal of these two members, on grounds of bias against him, had been rejected by the Bombay high court in September.The BCCI’s lawyer CA Sundaram told the court that it was not feasible to reconstitute the committee. “It is not possible,” he said. “The inquiry is at an advanced stage. Many witnesses from abroad have already been examined.”The BCCI had suspended Modi immediately following the conclusion of IPL 3 in April and charged him with financial irregularities relating to the bidding process for IPL franchises, the mid-over ad sales and the sale of theatrical rights. He was also charged with colluding to set up a rebel league in England. Modi has denied all the charges and repeatedly accused BCCI president Shashank Manohar and the president-elect N Srinivasan of harbouring personal grudges against him.

Jimmy Adams, the Hampshire opener, has agreed a new three-year contract with the county that will see him remain at the Rose Bowl until 2013.Last season Adams, 29, led Hampshire’s charge to the Friends Provident t20, becoming the first batsman to score 600 runs in a domestic Twenty20 season and finished as the competition’s highest run-scorer. In addition to his prolific Twenty20 form he scored 1351 runs at 48.25 in the Championship.It was enough to earn him selection for England’s performance squad that heads out to Australia next month as well as a deal to play in New Zealand’s domestic T20 competition with Auckland Aces.”Hampshire is my home so I’m very happy to be signing a new deal at The Rose Bowl,” he told the club website. Hampshire coach Giles White echoed the sentiment saying: “Jimmy has been such a big part of the team’s success in 2010, so I couldn’t be happier that he has pledged his long-term future to Hampshire.”

Garry Sobers has declared that Shane Warne was overrated and he believes Subhash Gupte, who played for India during the 1950s, was a better legspinner than Warne. Sobers made the assessment in a new book titled , where he also delivered a jab at Geoff Boycott’s batting style.”Someone who is called great from today’s game is Shane Warne, but I have got my reservations about Shane,” Sobers wrote in the book’s foreword. “I think he is a great bowler, but I’m not sure how well he compares with spinners overall. I think people get carried away with this man’s ability as he hardly ever bowled a good googly.”To me, Shane Warne is a great turner of the ball. I like his aggressive attitude, I love the way he attacks batsmen and I give him 100% for that as not enough spinners bowl with that approach, but in my estimation Subhash Gupte was a better legspinner.”Sobers and Warne were both selected among the five cricketers of the century in 2000, along with Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs and Viv Richards. Gupte played 36 Tests from 1951 to 1961 and finished with 149 wickets at 29.55; he only once dismissed Sobers in the five Tests in which they met.Sobers also aired his thoughts on the batting of Boycott, who along with Ken Barrington was the batsman Sobers dismissed the most times in Test cricket. Boycott only ever made ten ducks in Test cricket and three of those came against the bowling of Sobers.”Geoffrey was a great player in his own style,” Sobers wrote. “He played within his limitations and didn’t take too many chances with good balls or even half-good balls. Great players have to take good balls and turn them in to bad balls, but Geoff never seemed to be able to do that.”

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Cameron Borgas and Tom Cooper were part of an amazing heist•Getty Images

South Australia pushed the much-fancied Mumbai Indians to the brink of elimination after a pulsating match in Durban, pulling off a massive chase to make it two wins in two and get a toehold on a place in the final four. In a game filled with frenetic scoring, Mumbai’s abysmal fielding gifted the opposition plenty of lives and free runs, which proved to be the major difference between the two sides.Mumbai seemed overwhelming favourites when Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo were dancing to the music after Pollard mowed Shaun Tait for the biggest six of the tournament in the penultimate over. However, there were cameos to outshine the Trinidad duo, as a nerveless South Australia plundered 69 off the final 5.3 overs to snatch victory. The late fireworks would have been to no avail had it not been for the solid 112-run opening stand between Daniel Harris and captain Michael Klinger.With 41 needed off 18 deliveries, and with two new batsman at the crease, South Australia seemed headed for defeat. The choice for Mumbai was to go with either Bravo or the spinner Ali Murtaza. Sachin Tendulkar opted for Bravo, who was carted for three fours in his over by Dan Christian and Cameron Borgas. Still, Zaheer Khan removed Christian in the next over. Borgas was on 9 off 3 at that stage, and after a sliced four over point handed strike to the new man, Tom Cooper, formerly of the Netherlands.Cooper faced the next five deliveries, which was all he needed to wrap up the game. The first was a full toss on the pads nonchalantly flicked over fine leg for six, before a yorker was kept out for a single to retain strike. Eleven off the final over from Harbhajan Singh. The third delivery was whipped to deep midwicket where JP Duminy dived to keep it to two. The next was swiped way over the stands to make the equation three off four. A full toss was offered, duly thumped past mid-on for four leaving Cooper in dreamland. He finished with 19 off 5, making Borgas’ 14 off 5 seem a little bit pedestrian.Before the manic finish, Harris and Klinger got over a rough beginning full of swings and misses. They also capitalised on the many chances Mumbai offered – Tendulkar and Tiwary dropping catches, and Duminy missing a run-out – and started to hit out once the main bowlers, Zaheer and Lasith Malinga, were taken off. Murtaza was welcomed with a couple of sixes, Bravo taken for 18 in the 11th and Pollard slapped around for 16 two overs later.Mumbai hit back, taking a wicket in each of the next four overs to reduce South Australia to 140 for 4, but the tenacity and brilliance of Borgas and Cooper proved too much in the end.Mumbai had earlier showed their batting wasn’t overly reliant on their captain, Tendulkar, by fighting back from 59 for 3 at the halfway stage to finish at a strong 180. After South Australia’s unheralded spinners stifled the scoring in the middle overs, Saurabh Tiwary and Pollard clobbered 58 from four overs to transform the match.Mumbai were at an unsatisfactory 79 for 3 after 12.1 overs when Pollard walked in. Tiwary and Pollard smashed sixes over long-off in the rest of the over to kick start the innings. Pollard blasted another over long-on in the next before showing off his touch, paddling a full ball wide of fine leg for four to move to 18 off 8.It was then time for Tiwary to take over. He mauled left-arm spinner Aaron O’Brien for 25 in the 16th, belting two sixes over midwicket and another over wide long-on off consecutive deliveries. In four overs, the Mumbai run-rate sprang from 6.5 to 8.5Pollard and Tiwary provided most of the pyrotechnics, but contrasting efforts from Ambati Rayudu early on and Dwayne Bravo at the end were also important contributions.Rayudu had scratched around early on when Mumbai was in trouble. He was just opening out by cracking the left-arm spinner O’Brien for a four and an effortless six over extra cover when he mishit Cullen Bailey to hand him his first Twenty20 wicket. Bravo came in with Mumbai on top and pushed them into a position of command with a four-filled cameo, looting 22 off 12 deliveries.The tall total that Mumbai finished with hardly looked possible given their insipid start. Shikhar Dhawan didn’t bother with footwork and was caught out by the away swing of Gary Putland in the second over. Tendulkar was also not at his fluent best, swinging and missing several wide deliveries. He handed Dan Christian a pasting in the fifth over, but struggled otherwise, nearly stumped in the sixth before being cleaned up by O’Brien, charging down the track and attempting a swing towards long-on but beaten by the lack of turn.South Australia celebrated the dismissal wildly, but the celebrations weren’t as big as when Borgas and Cooper turned it on at the death.

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South Africa A surged ahead on the third day in Pallekele, bowling out Sri Lanka A for 326 and extending their lead to 280 with eight wickets still in hand.Sri Lanka began the day on 253 for 4 but collapsed to lose their last six wickets for 63 runs. Fast bowler Quinton Friend finished with four wickets and was supported by Vernon Philander and Rory Kleinveldt, who grabbed two wickets each. Sri Lanka’s overnight batsmen Kaushal Silva and Janaka Gunaratne looked good to take them close to the South African first-innings score but their dismissals put the visitors in control. Silva was run out for 84, while Gunaratne, who reached his century, fell for 122, bowled by Philander.South Africa ensured they didn’t squander their advantage. Dean Elgar Stiaan van Zyl struck half-centuries to add an unbeaten 110 and set the foundation for an imposing fourth-innings target for the hosts.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Bernard performed with the bat after his impressive spell•Nicholas Reid/West Indies Cricket Board

Jamaica stormed to their second-consecutive nine-wicket win after drubbing Canada at the Kensington Oval to give themselves a good shot at the semi-finals. David Bernard starred with the ball to pick up three wickets to restrict Canada to an inadequate 101, and later combined with Xavier Marshall, who smashed another sparkling fifty, to make light work of the target with seven overs to spare.It was a good toss to win for Tamar Lambert, who unleashed his seamers on a pitch which had generous bounce and seam movement early on. The Canada top order were found woefully short in technique, often playing and missing with little or no foot movement.Their captain, Rizwan Cheema, set a poor example with the bat as he regularly swished his bat at thin air without really watching the ball. Andre Russell troubled the top order with his pace and bounce while Bernard managed to extract swing. Bernard wasn’t afraid to pitch the ball up, and he got the first breakthrough when Hiral Patel chased a wide delivery and top edged to Odean Brown who took a fine running catch at third man. Brown’s anticipation set a fine example for the rest as the Jamaicans gave a sharp account of themselves in the field, effecting athletic saves at the boundary.Bernard then got rid of Geoff Barnett with an away swinger, before sending back the struggling Cheema, caught at deep square leg with one that came back in. Canada’s struggles were emphasised by the number of dot balls, which totalled 48 by the end of the 12th over. Zubin Surkari and the Jamaican-born Tyson Gordon tried to lend some stability to the innings but the spinners didn’t let them snatch the initiative.Canada were further hampered by an injury to Surkari, who pulled a muscle while taking a quick single. The pair had added 43 for the fourth wicket before Tamar Lambert, bowling offbreaks, trapped Gordon plumb lbw with a quicker delivery. There was further embarrassment for Canada when Surkari was dismissed in comical manner, though not entirely due to a fault of his own. Surkari failed to connect a reverse sweep off Brown, but his runner Patel blundered by ambling out of the crease, before which an alert Carlton Baugh whipped off the bails. He went on to effect two more stumpings, another off Brown and one off Lambert.The spinners varied their lengths and even managed to beat the bat on a few occasions. The batsmen tried advancing down the pitch to get a move on, but were beaten in flight, thereby keeping Baugh busy behind the stumps. There was a boundary drought for 41 balls before Tervin Bastiampillai finally managed to get one past the ropes, in the final over. That over cost 14, but it came too late for Canada as their total of 101 hardly looked intimidating enough for the Jamaicans.Jamaica were missing their star player Chris Gayle who was down with a groin strain, but Bernard had no trouble warming the seat at the top. Canada opened with the spinners but it was more a defensive move, to check the scoring. Marshall was harsh on anything dropped short as he swivelled and pulled the left-armer Patel, against the spin. The openers ripped Patel for 24 off a single over, with Bernard making room to scoop over extra cover before muscling a full toss over the deep square leg fence. Marshall swung the seamer Usman Bhatti over midwicket to bring up his fifty but couldn’t complete the job as he mishit Bastiampillai to mid-off shortly before Jamaica sealed the game.

Colts Cricket Club Ground is an idyllic, old-fashioned cricket ground, surrounded by trees, in Havelock Town in Colombo 5. A late replacement for the Nondescripts Cricket Club, the Colts Ground was slated to host what is usually a quaint tour game to kick off India’s tour, but the game has now become almost a Test trial for both sides.India have run into fitness issues, with Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth injured and Harbhajan Singh down with fever. Sri Lanka have chosen a strong Board President’s XI side, with six members from the Test squad looking to impress the team management. Ajantha Mendis, not in the squad for the first Test, has been given an opportunity too.The Indian XI is now wide open. If Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and M Vijay get picked for the tour game, a really impressive show from any one of them against an attack featuring Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara and Mendis could seal him the No. 6 spot for the Galle Test.More interesting and desperate is the bowling department. With Zaheer and Sreesanth now out, Abhimanyu Mithun will be backing himself for the Test pace attack along with Ishant Sharma. Mithun, though, will look for a solid performance against the likes of Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Tharanga and Lahiru Thirimanne to make sure that Munaf Patel, named as Sreesanth’s replacement, doesn’t overtake him in the preference for the Test slot.Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha have for long been taking turns to assist Harbhajan in the spin department, but neither of them has impressed the selectors enough to become a definite starter. With Harbhajan still recovering from the fever and yet to attend a training session, both of them are likely to get a chance to stake claims for the Test spot.Sri Lanka, too, have an uncertain bowling line-up, especially the pace department. While Muttiah Muralitharan is a definite starter, Galle being his last Test, either of Rangana Herath or Suraj Randiv will form the spin duo. Among the fast bowlers, though, any two of Lasith Malinga, Dammika Prasad, Fernando and Welegedara can be picked in the XI.Two of them, Fernando and Welegedara, will get a chance in Colombo to send notice to the captain and the coach. That two of them have been asked to show their form in the tour game could suggest that Malinga and Prasad have a lead over them, but a five-for against a near-Test side never hurt anybody.Most interesting, though, will be how Mendis bowls. He will be up against the same batting line-up that he tortured two years ago; the same batsmen have been torturing him since. He knows there will be a vacancy with Murali retiring after the first Test. He also knows he needs to convince them that he is the man to fill it. Mendis will be bowling to get his Test career back on track, to the same set of blokes he launched it against in the first place.

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Murray Goodwin made Derbyshire pay a high price for dropping him as he and Robin Martin-Jenkins scored centuries to rescue Sussex at Derby. Goodwin was missed at slip on 15 and went on to his 43rd first-class hundred for the county while Martin-Jenkins made the fifth of his career.The pair shared a stand of 225, Sussex’s highest ever against Derbyshire, after the home side had reduced them to 126 for 6 with Tom Lungley taking three early wickets. But Goodwin’s escape and some indisciplined bowling allowed Sussex to mount a recovery that took them to 371 for 8 at the close.It was a score that looked a long way off when Lungley sliced through the top order after Sussex had elected to bat on a sultry day when there was movement and bounce for the bowlers. Michael Yardy drove too soon at Lungley to be caught at mid-off for eight in the third over, Chris Nash played on and Ed Joyce was smartly taken at second slip by Chesney Hughes to leave the visitors in trouble at 30 for 3.They should have lost a fourth wicket on 43 when Goodwin edged Lungley to first slip, but the ball hit Wayne Madsen in the chest. Derbyshire were still well on top when Michael Thornely edged a drive at Mark Footitt and Sussex lost two more wickets after lunch. Luke Wright was bowled for 20 leaving a ball from Robin Peterson and when Ben Brown bottom edged a pull into his stumps, Sussex were still well short of a batting point.But that proved to be Derbyshire’s last success until deep into the last session as Goodwin and Martin-Jenkins played with increasing freedom against bowling that strayed too often in line and length.Martin-Jenkins is retiring after 15 years to take up teaching later this summer and will leave a big hole in a Sussex side bidding to regain their Division One status at the first attempt.They are now in a handy position in this game thanks to the tall allrounder and Goodwin, who celebrated their hundreds in quick succession after tea. Goodwin’s 15th four took him to three figures and a 16th four from Martin-Jenkins brought him his hundred off only 124 balls.Steffan Jones finally broke through three overs later when Goodwin edged a drive into his leg stump after batting a minute short of five hours for 121. Martin-Jenkins was dropped at backward point off Jones on 128 but added only two more before he was caught in the same position off the Welsh paceman.

Durham 218 v Nottinghamshire 191 for 3
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Steve Harmison looked much more his old self in his second spell, but still went wicketless•Getty Images

After a season so-far bedevilled by one injury after another, with their bowling resources under particular strain, the sight of Steve Harmison with ball in hand must have been cheering indeed for Durham as they seek to stay in touch with the early-season front-runners in the Championship.No one is threatening their grip on the title more impressively than their opponents here. With a 100 per cent record from three matches, Chris Read’s squad looks well equipped for a sustained challenge. Durham, though unbeaten, are not yet firing fluently and there is an opportunity here for Nottinghamshire to place a sizeable distance between them.In the circumstances, what would be handy indeed for Durham is for Harmison somehow to conjure a repeat of his performance on this ground last July, when he rushed up the motorway after England released him from their second Ashes Test squad at Lord’s and bowled like a dream.Finding the pace and hostility that was to serve Durham well in the second half of the season, he took 6 for 20 in the second innings and Durham won by an innings.This time, after Durham were bowled out for 218 on what looked a lively enough pitch, there was every reason to suppose that Harmison might do something similar. He might yet, although much will depend on how his body reacts to his first attempt to bowl close to flat out since the end of last season.Niggled by what has been described as “frayed nerves” in his back, Harmison could bowl very little in a weather-hit comeback against Durham UCCE last week and the overs he bowled in last Sunday’s Clydesdale Bank 40 were fairly low key.He looked noticeably rusty in a short initial spell yesterday, taking stock after only five overs. Earlier, while batting, he looked still to be in discomfort and appeared to be calling for the physio moments before Durham’s last wicket fell.With his second spell with the ball, however, it appeared any stiffness he might have been feeling had worn off. Running in from the pavilion end, from which he did all the damage last year, he certainly looked more potent, giving Mark Wagh and Hashim Amla plenty to think about. He might have had Amla on 20, when the South African gave a chance to Liam Plunkett at gully, although it would have been a magnificent catch had he held it.As it happened, Amla did lose his wicket to Harmison – Ben, that is. Amla has been impressive in his short stint as overseas player here, scoring at least a half century in six of his seven innings so far. This is his last match before making way for David Hussey, and it was little wonder he felt he had missed an opportunity when an uncharacteristically loose swish outside off stump cost him his wicket, for 52.Earlier, Bilal Shafayat had been leg before offering no stroke and Neil Edwards dragged a wide delivery on to his stumps, giving Plunkett a double success. Mark Wagh remains and with plenty of batting to come Nottinghamshire look well placed at 191 for 3, assuming of course they can survive anything Harmison might come up with in the first session on day three.Durham, who had Dale Benkenstein and Ian Blackwell together overnight, faded away somewhat disappointingly in the end, sliding from 117 for 3 to 191 for 8 before lunch.Blackwell, who never looked in the mood to do anything but attack the bowling, did not profit from it, falling to Darren Pattinson with a loose drive taken at gully. Benkenstein, for his part, had no answer to a perfect inswinger from Charlie Shreck that splayed his stumps rather dramatically.Samit Patel’s left-arm spin undid Ben Stokes with his first ball, which turned past the bat as the teenager stepped down the track, allowing Read to pull off a meat-and-drink stumping.Patel followed up by having Plunkett caught at short leg after Mustard had edged Paul Franks, who helped wicketkeeper Chris Read claim his 700th first-class victim when Ben Harmison was caught off a thin edge after lunch. Franks, who is looking a very useful allrounder again after seemingly putting his fitness problems behind him, picked up his third wicket when Edwards took a routine slip catch to remove Chris Rushworth.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
S Badrinath’s partnership with MS Dhoni proved crucial in the outcome•Indian Premier League

Chennai Super Kings, boosted by a determined display from their bowlers led by Doug Bollinger, put an end to Deccan Chargers’ run of five consecutive wins to qualify for the IPL final for the second time and confirm their place in the Champions League Twenty20. They overcame a poor start, aided by a measured partnership from MS Dhoni and S Badrinath, and a late surge from S Anirudha helped post 142 in tricky conditions. Bollinger and R Ashwin then crippled Deccan in their chase, and the rest contributed to chip away at the middle order, to seal a hard-fought win.Deccan, given their successful run, would have backed themselves to overhaul Chennai’s score comfortably. The conditions were aiding swing and movement, and the pitch was taking turn, but that had little to do with their slow start to the chase. Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs, both searching for form, batted in a manner contrary to their reputation, preferring caution over attack in the Powerplay. Bollinger varied his lengths and Ashwin, like he has for much of the tournament, altered his pace and flight to again prove economical. While Deccan’s approach, for the most part, remained restrained, a significant number of dot balls in the first six overs were failed attempts at the big shots.The only convincing shot to the boundary was a straight six from Gilchrist off Ashwin, but Bollinger ended the misery with a double-strike in the sixth over. Gilchrist flicked straight to midwicket and T Suman, whose promotion to No.3 had triggered a turnaround in Deccan’s fortunes this IPL, cut straight to point. The Powerplay yielded just 23, the second-lowest in the tournament, and it was only a matter of time before the frustration set in.Rohit Sharma has often had to rescue Deccan from trouble, but he added to their woes by lofting Albie Morkel to long on with the field spread out. Equally dispiriting for Deccan was Gibbs’ lack of conviction. Dropped from the team for his problems at the top, Gibbs had been recalled at the expense of an allrounder for his experience and game-changing ability. But the shortage in confidence was evident, for, in the wake of an escalating required-rate and the attacking field with a slip and leg slip in place, he struggled to pierce the in-field, particularly against spin. Several deliveries were defended either side of the pitch, interspersed with a streaky boundary, and his downfall came in the 11th over when he played on to Shadab Jakati.The match was not over, with Andrew Symonds striking Jakati for consecutive fours in an over which fetched 17. But when he, in an act of desperation in the 16th over, slogged Ashwin to deep midwicket, Chennai were virtually through. Bollinger returned to nip out two more in his next spell and sealed Deccan’s fate.Dhoni’s decision to bat on a testing pitch was prompted by his faith in the top order to handle the conditions, but it let him down despite being given chances. Matthew Hayden was dropped twice, Suresh Raina once, but those reprieves amounted for little as both fell in tame fashion to give Deccan the early edge. In between, M Vijay had played back to a full delivery to be caught plumb, and Chennai limped to 29 for 3.Dhoni and Badrinath were cautious in their approach, but ensured the run-rate didn’t slip. Badrinath dropped anchor and Dhoni, amid the spate of cuts, dabs and nudges, stepped up to find the boundary. Their partnership of 52 comprised just four boundaries, three of which were from Dhoni’s bat. He smashed Harmeet Singh and RP Singh through the off side and charged to drive Pragyan Ojha down the ground. But another aggressive maneuver from Deccan, who fielded a slip for Harmeet’s legcutters, earned them their fourth wicket as Dhoni slashed one straight to Rohit.Badrinath did his best to prevent the innings from stagnating. He launched Ojha for a straight six and slugged Symonds over mid-on for a boundary before being stumped in the penultimate over.Thanks to a combination of some power hitting and streaky batting, Chennai managed to score 46 off the last five overs. Anirudha, replacing Sudeep Tyagi, targeted RP and Harris to strike a couple of sixes to lift his team to 142 – a major recovery considering Deccan’s meek reply, which left them hunting for consolation in Saturday’s third-place playoff against Royal Challengers Bangalore.