Two very different kinds of cricket on Sunday, and both of them worth your time.
In Colombo, India closed the opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka on 300 for 5 from 85 overs. That is a scoring rate a shade under three and a half, which in the modern game reads as restraint, and at the SSC it is usually the correct answer. The surface tends to reward patience early and punish everyone later. India have a platform. What they do not yet have is the total that makes the platform matter, and the first hour on day two will decide which of those it becomes.
Three matches, one afternoon in Darwin
The Top End T20 Series delivered a full day. Northern Territory Strike posted 164 for 5 and defended it, holding Hyderabad Kingsmen Academy to 152 for 6 to win by 12 runs. A defence rather than a stroll, and the kind of finish this competition produces regularly.
Bangladesh High Performance XI had the more straightforward evening. Victoria CA XI were bowled out for 131, and the Bangladesh side got there five wickets down with 16 balls to spare. For a squad built around exposure rather than results, a chase completed with that much room is exactly the sort of afternoon the tour is meant to produce.
Nepal were the most convincing of the three. They put up 154 for 8, then bowled Hyderabad Academy out for 115 to win by 39 runs. Hyderabad’s second defeat of the day, and comfortably the heavier of them.
The Top End series does not get much airtime outside Australia. It probably should. It is one of the few places where associate nations, state second XIs and touring development squads end up in the same competition, and the cricket is better than the billing suggests.
Scores via ESPNcricinfo.