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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSreesanth celebrates one of his three wickets, that of Matt Prior•AFP

For the first two sessions of an overcast day in Nottingham, India’s fast bowlers dominated England’s batsmen with swing and seam movement to have them on 124 for 8. The end of England’s innings, however, came later than India wanted it to. Stuart Broad led a stirring counterattack after tea, and confronted by his aggression, India went to pieces. Their bowlers lost their successful lines and lengths, MS Dhoni deployed defensive fields, and the lethargic fielders were exploited. Broad and Graeme Swann had a 73-run partnership for the ninth wicket at 6.25 per over, which propped England up to 221.The injection of adrenaline Broad had given England was continued by James Anderson, who struck with the first delivery of the Indian innings. Abhinav Mukund, having seen the ball jag around for nearly 69 overs, played a push-drive to one that swung away and watched Kevin Pietersen catch the outside edge at gully. It was left to Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, opening and batting at No. 3 because of Gautam Gambhir’s absence, to show how it’s done. They played late and with soft hands. Their bats were beaten and their bodies hit. They survived appeals and a review but, with a little luck, ensured India’s advantage was not entirely lost. Broad bowled a menacing spell – 7-3-5-0 – but India ended the day with nine wickets intact, trailing by 197 runs.On the day, India did not suffer from Zaheer Khan’s unavailability as much as many thought they would. Zaheer’s replacement, Sreesanth, bowled spells of perfectly pitched outswing, and he forged a formidable alliance with Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma, reducing England from 73 for 2 to 124 for 8.England had been satisfactorily placed at lunch after MS Dhoni put them in. They had lost their marathon men – Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott – early but Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen, batting together in a Test for the first time since Perth in December, survived a testing second hour. Cook was lbw to Ishant an over after he survived a close shout against Praveen. Replays of the not-out decision indicated the ball would have hit the stumps, though a fraction of it pitched outside leg, while those of the out decision indicated it would have bounced over.There was more lbw drama. Praveen hit Pietersen below the knee roll and appealed vociferously. Despite Pietersen’s giant stride forward, replays indicated the bails would have fallen. Praveen argued with umpire Marais Erasmus and had to be ushered away by Harbhajan Singh.

Smart Stats

• England’s 221 is their third-lowest total in the first innings at Trent Bridge since 1990. Of the 11 times they have batted first, they have scored less than 300 only thrice.

• Stuart Broad’s 64 is his eighth half-century in Tests and the second of the series. He has now scored 1291 runs at an average of 28.68.

• The 73-run stand between Broad and Graeme Swann is England’s fourth-highest for the ninth wicket in Tests against India. The highest is 102 between Matthew Hoggard and Craig White in 2002.

• Alastair Cook averages 15.37 in eight innings at Trent Bridge – it’s his lowest at a ground where he has played more than one Test.

• Sreesanth has taken 59 Test wickets against right-handers, at an average of 29.28. Against left-handers, he’s taken 23 wickets at 43.52.

• The Indian fast bowlers picked up 9 for 188 in the England innings, which is the 11th occasion since 2000 that they’ve picked up nine or more wickets in an innings.

• Abhinav Mukund’s first-ball duck was his second in Tests and the 16th such instance for an Indian opener. Sunil Gavaskar has suffered the fate five times.

It was between Cook’s dismissal and the Pietersen appeal that Sreesanth made his entrance. Sreesanth doesn’t enjoy bowling to left-handers – Strauss clipped his first ball for four – as much as he does to right-handers, and as soon as he had Jonathan Trott on strike, he found the edge to slip with an outswinger. England were 23 for 2 and Strauss and Pietersen performed a steadying act until lunch.They couldn’t continue after lunch, though. In the first over after the break, Sreesanth shortened his length to counter Pietersen’s forward stride. Pietersen poked before trying to pull the bat away from the seaming ball and Raina, standing close at third slip, took the catch. Sreesanth’s spell after lunch was 7-1-14-2.While all the wickets so far had fallen to testing deliveries, Strauss went to one he should have left from Praveen. He drove away from his body and was caught at third slip for 32. Strauss’s departure exposed England’s weakest link, Eoin Morgan, who failed once again by falling lbw to Praveen for a duck. And when Matt Prior, India’s tormentor at Lord’s, edged the perfect outswinger to be caught at slip for 1, England were 88 for 6.Ian Bell and Tim Bresnan, who replaced the injured Chris Tremlett, put on 29 for the seventh wicket. Dravid dropped Bell on 22 but he eventually went for 31, under-edging a cut off Ishant to Dhoni, after Bresnan had fallen for 11.Resuming on 124 for 8 after tea, India’s bowlers inexplicably abandoned the plans they used to dismiss England’s top order. Instead of pitching full and seaming it away, they bowled a shorter length with wider lines, giving Broad and Swann space to play shots. Broad swung hard and connected cleanly. Some shots fell tantalisingly over fielders’ heads. Others landed short. Swann too used a fearless approach to ambush India.Abhinav had the opportunity to catch Swann at mid-off but he was slow in moving forward, perhaps because he was wearing shin pads in the outfield. The Indians scattered, leaving vast expanses unmanned, allowing runs if the ball touched bat or body. Suddenly, the old men were exposed. There was a single taken just wide of slip because Laxman was moving like a snail. It was an astounding turnaround.The 50 partnership came in seven overs and the resistance had reached 73 in the 12th over when Praveen got a length ball to kick sharply at Swann, who gloved it to gully and was later taken for an x-ray. There was only angry relief in the Indian camp. Their outstanding work in two sessions had unraveled spectacularly in an hour.Broad steered England past 200 and reached his half-century off 56 balls. He was eventually caught on the deep midwicket boundary but his 64 had given England a fighting total in difficult batting conditions.

ScorecardSouth Africa A’s late strikes helped them to a 17-run win against Zimbabwe XI in Harare, and put them in the final of the tri-series, where they will face Australia A on July 8.Asked to bat, South Africa built their total around a fluent 92 by Rilee Rossouw. The rest of the top order got starts, but none of them carried on to produce big runs. The best partnership of the innings involved Rossouw and Vaughn van Jaarsveld – 77 for the fifth-wicket – as South Africa pushed on to a competitive 244 for 8 in their 50 overs. Left-armer Brian Vitori and medium-pacer Elton Chigumbura were the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe, claiming five wickets between them at less than four runs an over.Zimbabwe’s chase was on course for more than half their innings, as solid cameos from the top order pushed them to 145 for 2 in the 28th over and then 178 for 3 in the 33rd. But late bursts from quicks Rusty Theron and Craig Alexander caused a mini-collapse that reduced Zimbabwe to 210 for 9. That left the last pair of Chris Mpofu and Vitori, with 35 to get from 73 balls; they got halfway there, before Alexander had Vitori edging to the keeper to end the innings on 227 in 43 overs.

Captains rarely evoke sympathy. Darren Sammy does, because of the context of West Indies cricket. If he were captain of any other “weaker” side, it wouldn’t be this bad. It’s the burden of West Indies cricket, with its glorious past and strong leaders, which puts him under pressure. He almost doesn’t fit. It’s our fault really, for judging him based on nostalgia of West Indian glory, but it is he who bleeds.Apply salve on the wound and carry on with his chin up is all that Sammy can do. “My family sends up prayers and the blessings come down,” he says. “The almighty looks out.” When humans are criticising, he has no choice but to dive into his faith to look after himself. Before the series began, Sammy was asked about his place in the Test side. “I go out and do what I have to do. Check the stats and stuff, I have done quite well as a Test cricketer. Whenever I step on to the field, I have West Indian cricket at the heart.”He is not West Indies’ best bowler, he is not their best batsman but Sammy is their captain. It’s his cross to carry and Sammy has decided to simply focus on his game. He says all the right things. Yet cracks show in his visage. There’s a gaping Chris-Gayle sized hole to fill. Through the World Cup, Sammy often mentioned how Gayle was a motivational figure and how he sought his advice.Darren Sammy: “Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I have the support of my team”•Associated Press

This is when Sammy’s sympathetic figure helps. Not many in the Caribbean blame him for the Gayle fiasco. The heat has been turned on the board, the coach Ottis Gibson, and Gayle himself. “What can poor Sammy do? He is just doing a job that he has been asked to do, and he is doing it to the best of his ability,” says a fan. “It’s not his fault that he became the captain but he is trying his best to do justice.”It’s that sentiment that evokes sympathy. Sammy didn’t become captain because of his ambition. He became captain because the WICB was wary of the ambitions of other men, who have fallen out of favour. It’s a situation similar to when Raj Singh Dungarpur, then the BCCI president, caught Mohammad Azharuddin, shy and unambitious at the time, unawares with an often quoted line from cricket lore: “” (Do you want to be the captain?). Azharuddin, though, was in a different league as far as cricketing skills go compared to Sammy.Sammy knows all he can do is to keep doing his stuff. Shut out the world. Pull down the blinds. And keep improving his game. “I have enjoyed the captaincy. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I have the support of my team,” he says. “I believe in my ability and try my best. I can be more consistent with my performances and I am striving to do that.”The question, though, is still resonating in the Caribbean. Is the team more united under Sammy? Is he being the captain best for West Indies cricket? Or is he just a stopgap solution?

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Sunny Sohal put on 67 for the opening wicket with Shikhar Dhawan•AFP

A bowling attack having four Test bowlers bowled to its world-class potential for once and Deccan Chargers’ batting did not stumble chasing a middling total to end Pune Warriors’ slim hopes of making the play-offs.Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma gave the Pune top- and middle-order a complete working over, each posing various problems of flight, turn, pace and bounce. For once, Daniel Christian was much more than just the supporting cast, and the result was that apart from the opening over, there was only one team that dominated most of the match, and it wasn’t Pune. Had it not been for Mitchell Marsh’s counterattacking innings, Pune would have struggled even more.After Kumar Sangakkara began with JP Duminy in his last IPL game, the introduction of Steyn and Ishant was the start of Pune’s woes. Manish Pandey looked as out of place as a bargain hunter in a fixed-price store, top-edging half-hearted pulls and slashing wildly over slip.Jesse Ryder looked much more comfortable, but he fell to a blinder from Ravi Teja at cover, who dived to his left to pouch a powerful drive. Sourav Ganguly did not last long. His first attempt to carve Christian over extra cover resulted in a swing-and-miss. The next one resulted in a simple chance to Ojha at mid-off. Ojha foxed Pandey with one that came in to uproot middle stump.Pune were already in trouble at 45 for 3 when they ran in to Mishra, Deccan’s most successful bowler this season, and the architect of their surprise win over Mumbai Indians. The first delivery struck Robin Uthappa on the pads as he missed the flick, the fourth was a loopy legbreak that dipped on him and produced a fatal leading edge that popped to Mishra. The fifth was even better. It was tossed up outside off stump and Mithun Manhas set himself up for the cut, expecting it to turn away. To his horror, it was the googly that turned in and bowled him off the inside edge as Pune slipped to 45 for 5.Once again, it was down to Yuvraj Singh to lift Pune out of the hole the other batsmen had dug. Yuvraj looked the part, slamming Ojha for consecutive boundaries in the tenth over, but he could not hang around for long, top-edging a wild pull off Christian to Sangakkara.Marsh showed glimpses of why he is talked about so much, smacking the spinners for sixes after having taken his time to settle. Deccan managed 34 runs off the last three overs, courtesy Marsh and Wayne Parnell, and that lifted them to a fighting total which they would have gladly taken at 45 for 5. Deccan hadn’t won a match chasing this season, and Pune hadn’t won while setting a target. The latter trend was to continue.Pune’s only hope was to rattle Deccan’s brittle batting line-up early but with both Shikhar Dhawan and Sunny Sohal managing to perform to expectation, their slender hopes of making the play-offs started to disappear. The Deccan openers stuck to their usual selves; Dhawan chugged smoothly to 28 before throwing it away, Sohal threatened to do so throughout his 34 before Rahul Sharma trapped him leg-before.While Dhawan drove and punched for delightful boundaries through extra cover, Sohal did what he does best, swing at everything, hit some and miss some. There were sixes over extra cover and long-on; he also earned a wide for height as he fell away trying to flail at a short ball from two feet outside leg stump. An opening stand of 67 in 49 deliveries meant Pune needed Deccan to fall apart like they themselves had earlier, but Sangakkara and Duminy ensured Pune were firmly shut out of the game, and knocked out of the race for the play-offs. The only thing Deccan were left wondering was how their season could have gone if their potential had been realised earlier.

Saeed Ajmal, the Pakistan offspinner, has had his bowling action called into question by Viv Richards. Ajmal was the Man of the Series for his 17 wickets in two Tests against West Indies, but concerns have been raised over the legality of his action.”Let me put it as mildly and as diplomatically as it can be put,” Richards told ESPNcricinfo. “When you look at bowling actions for offspinners in the world at present, the [15 degree] rule made by the ICC has bred what we’ve seen this series. I wouldn’t be blatant as some others, but the rules have helped the freaky stuff we have at present. It accommodates doosras and things we see like that.”The decision to allow a bend in the arm up to 15 degrees was introduced after biomechanical experts found the majority of bowlers had a minor flex in their actions. It is felt, however, that some offspinners struggle to deliver the doosra within those limits. Richards is the latest to voice concern over Ajmal’s action, with former fast-bowler Michael Holding and veteran West Indian journalist Tony Cozier having spoken out on the doosra during the course of the series.Though West Indies may feel uneasy about Ajmal, they also batted woefully against Pakistan’s other spinners. During the 196-run defeat at St Kitts, 15 of the 20 wickets fell to spin, with Ajmal taking three in each innings. The batsmen were not much better in the first Test in Guyana, which West Indies won, losing all but three wickets to Pakistan’s trio of spinners.”The problem is that whenever they [West Indies] are confronted by top-class spinners they freeze,” Richards said. “It’s creating a paranoia and someone needs to ask the batsmen what’s needed. I think they need to prepare for the bowlers they are going to face better and watch them more regularly. [At the moment] they just go out and rely on guesswork.”Despite the lost opportunity to win the series, Richards backed the management of the captain Darren Sammy and coach Ottis Gibson. Both had been under intense scrutiny after a poor World Cup and the shambles over Chris Gayle’s exclusion and his decision to play in the IPL.Sammy answered many of his critics with a match haul of seven wickets to deliver victory in Guyana, and Richards felt that performance was crucial to his survival as captain. “What’s been on peoples’ minds is his contribution to the team as a player,” Richards said. “The match in Guyana helped to eradicate some of that stuff. When he was first touted as captain I backed him because I thought he would bring a bit more thought to the role.”He said the right things about moving the team forward and I backed him to bring camaraderie and togetherness as a leader. Recently his lack of form was concerning people but he silenced that.”His support of Gibson was more reserved but he was happy with the appointment of former opener Desmond Haynes as batting consultant for the series. “I don’t doubt [Gibson’s] ability as a coach but Ottis needed some help when he started. I felt he needed assistance, as they have done with Desmond Haynes leading on the batting side of things. Ottis can add something to the bowlers, who are in need of help.”Viv Richards was speaking to ESPNcricinfo to promote Fire in Babylon which was released in UK cinemas last Friday but will be out on DVD on June 6.