Scorecard

The fiery South Australia attack of Shaun Tait and Jason Gillespie loomed as the key in the Redbacks’ victory plans after their batsmen ensured a thrilling final day at Brisbane. Jason Borgas, Mark Cosgrove and Darren Lehmann helped South Australia build a lead of 185 at stumps as they searched for their first Pura Cup win of the season.Andy Bichel had the visitors in big trouble at 2 for 7 before Lehmann hammered 65 from 61 balls in his first match back from a hamstring injury. Borgas and Cosgrove each made half-centuries in a 109-run partnership but Cosgrove missed the chance for a century in each innings when he was out for 67.Borgas continued to add stability to the Redbacks’ fragile top order and batted for more than three hours to remain unbeaten on 68. The Bulls were without one of their bowlers as James Hopes had not returned to the field since straining his thigh late on the first day.Hopes did not bat as Queensland reached 409 and a 32-run advantage. Clinton Perren made 69 not out before Lehmann came on for an inspired spell. His 3 for 4 ended the home side’s chances of building a big lead and the match remained evenly poised after three days.

ScorecardVidarbha rode on a superb unbeaten 129 from Faiz Fazal, the opener, to complete a comfortable eight-wicket victory against Madhya Pradesh in Indore. Set a challenging target of 275, Vidarbha got off to a perfect start with Fazal and Harshal Shitoot putting together 99 for the opening wicket. Shitoot fell for 49, but Fazal then found an ideal foil in Owamir Afzal, who made 58 and added 150 for the second wicket to seal the game. Madhya Pradesh’s score was built around a 113-ball 110 from Monish Mishra. His partnership with Shadab Khan, who made 58, helped stabilise the innings after they had slumped to 78 for 4. Mishra hammered four sixes and six fours in his knock, and was dismissed off the last ball of the innings. Vidarbha have now lost all three matches in the tournament, while Madhya Pradesh have won one out of two.
ScorecardA strong bowling performance by Uttar Pradesh helped them to their second win in two days as they trounced Railways by 63 runs at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore. After being put in to bat, Uttar Pradesh lost three early wickets – including the crucial one of Mohammad Kaif, who followed his blistering 151 against Rajasthan with just 3 – but were propped up by Ravikant Shukla, who made 54, and other useful contributions from Suresh Raina (39 retired hurt), Ali Martaza and Parvinder Singh (30 each). Jai P Yadav was the most successful bowler for Railways, taking 4 for 28. Chasing a target of 247, Railways were never in the hunt, losing half their side with only 75 on the board. Karan Sharma made 40, while Rahul Deb, the wicketkeeper, made an unbeaten 32, but those contributions only delayed the inevitable.

Women’s cricket sides from five schools and four clubs are to take the field on Saturday (March 31) at Westridge High School, where the Harare Metropolitan Cricket Association will be holding trials.The HMCA are looking to choose a squad for the women’s inter-provincial tournament which is due to be held in Kwekwe from April 20 to 24.Eaglesvale, Girls’ High School, Hatfield, Roosevelt and hosts Westridge have already confirmed their participation in the school’s section while Glen View, Harare Royals, Kuwadzana and Takashinga will be competing in the clubs’ category.Interest in the women’s game has been on a steady incline ever since the Zimbabwean national women’s team made it through to the final round of qualifiers which will be in Pakistan later this year. The Zimbabwe ladies created history last year after winning the prelims in Kenya in their first international outing.Commenting on the growth of women’s cricket in the country, coordinator Chiedza Mafunga said the interest has been “overwhelming”. She continued: “The response we are getting is just awesome. Even recently-affiliated provinces like Mashonaland West have come up with cricket programmes for the ladies. Generally, there has been an upward trend in playing numbers ever since the successful performance in Kenya last year.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

For the clearest indication of just how schizophrenic Bangladesh’s World Cup has been, all you had to do was see the run-out of Tamim Iqbal and the shot of a Bangladeshi fan in the crowd, mouth cupped in shock even as tears ran down his cheeks, seconds after the madness. This was just the way it was for Bangladesh on an ultimately disappointing day that saw them win the toss, stifle an unmotivated West Indies to 67 for 3 after 25 overs, and then let a gettable target of 231 end in another batting disaster. It all added up to a 99-run loss to West Indies on a gorgeous afternoon at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, and a record of 9-4-6 in their greatest tournament, of any capacity, yet.As for the hosts this was their first win in the Super Eights, but many local fans would’ve shaken their heads in the first over. Corey Collymore got Tamim to stand and nick one to Brian Lara at second slip, who pouched it in his lap. He seemed to have full control of the ball but it slipped from his grasp as he turned to congratulate his bowler. The sight of an uncertain Lara, who picked up the ball and looked to the umpire with his arms raised in question wasn’t enough to convince anyone, and Tamim was called back.Tamim probably hasn’t read Horace, and so failed to seize the day. Javed Omar dabbed one to the off side and both batsmen set off. Dwayne Bravo swooped in from point; suddenly, Tamim froze and turned back. Omar continued with the run and passed Tamim as both batsmen were stuck at the non-striker’s end. Picture the shot of that poor fan again.West Indies cashed in on that break, and then made further inroads. Collymore dismissed Aftab Ahmed with one that lifted off a length, shaped away and drew the edge into Denesh Ramdin’s gloves. As Collymore celebrated with his signature three-fingered salute, Lara made sure he was the first man to reach him. It just got better for West Indies when Saqibul Hasan was dismissed for a duck at 23 for 3 after 11 overs.Mohammad Ashraful pulled Daren Powell to square leg, Omar edged him to Chris Gayle at first slip and at 35 for 5 the game was over as a contest. When Lara dropped Habibul Bashar at a wide slip – his third of the day – you had to wonder why there weren’t more slips in place. Two more were added and sure enough, Bravo plucked a sharp catch over his head at third slip to get rid of Bashar as Bangladesh slipped to 52 for 6. Bashar, undoubtedly due for a roasting from fans when he gets home, failed to end his tournament on a personal good note. Mushfiqur Rahim (38 not out) and Mashrafe Mortaza (37) delayed the inevitable with a 58-run seventh-wicket partnership, but did little to take the gloss off a poor day at the shop. Mohammad Rafique, nine years and two days to the match in which he scored Bangladesh’s first ODI half-century to set up their first win, fell for a duck and a much-needed West Indian victory was wrapped up soon after.The abysmal batting was in stark contrast to the way Bangladesh bowled. Mortaza and Syed Rasel, were brilliant after Bashar decided to field and once the openers were knocked off early, the spinners piled on the pressure as they quickly found assistance from the bare pitch. There was swing early for Mortaza, who adhered to a fabulous line, and there was evidence of the extra bounce as every batsman hopped up and lunged forward, played and missed and withdrew the bat. Devon Smith joined Chris Gayle up the order and made no impact. Against a controlled Mortaza, swinging it both ways, he got a fuller one that pitched on middle and off and moved away to remove his off stump.

At the other end Rasel kept it simple which was more than enough to keep the batsmen guessing. Doing a Nathan Bracken, Rasel pitched it on a good length, slanted it across the right-handers and dried up the runs. Of all the things West Indies anticipated for the World Cup, Gayle being so ineffective was nowhere on the list. The horrors continued today as Gayle, already undone by a bouncer from Mortaza, fell to one from Rasel that was full on pitching. As it straightened, it caught him lunging half-cock forward, and he was struck in front of off stump.The famed left-arm spin troika, Abdur Razzak, Rafique and Saqibul bowled well too, keeping it flat and quick, but were let down by Bashar’s field placings which, after three quickets before 25 overs, looked more like he was playing for damage control rather than ramming home the advantage.It was easy fodder for a hustling Ramnaresh Sarwan, the only batsman to show an appetite for a scrap. With Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who plodded along in what has become standard fashion to an 85-ball 50, Sarwan added 81 in 16.1 overs for the fourth wicket, his contribution being 46. Where the first 25 overs yielded just 67 runs, against a very disciplined new-ball attack, the last 25 brought 167, thanks to Sarwan and Lara’s enterprising 60-run fifth-wicket stand. It was a typical Sarwan innings, keeping with his tournament form. He struggled at the death due to exhaustion, but still ran the twos and found the gaps to finish unbeaten on 91 at better than a run-a-ball. With his imminent one-day international exit, and the rumours that that he will not be selected for the tour to England next month, Lara treated the partisan crowd to a 27-ball 33 cameo, with two fine sixes.In the end, it can be said that Bangladesh allowed West Indies to get too many. It can also be said that they were the second-best Asian side in the tournament, they carried that mantle with a respectable amount of professionalism and that they showed once and for all that they are minnows no more. West Indies have one game left, against another side already knocked out, but they have far less to take from a tournament billed as the greatest thing to happen to West Indian cricket than Bangladesh. It’s been that kind of World Cup for them.

Simon Katich is likely to stay on at New South Wales (NSW), despite lucrative offers from other state sides. Katich was omitted from Cricket Australia’s list of 25 contracted players for the 2007-08 season and the reported that Victoria and Western Australia, Katich’s home state, were keen on signing him up.”Simon is someone we cannot afford to lose,” Dave Gilbert, New South Wales’ chief executive, told the paper. “He is a vital member of the NSW team and we’re desperately keen to keep him. He still has at least five good years in him and we’re hopeful that they will be with us.”Katich last played for Australia in the DLF Cup tri-series in Malaysia last year and lost his place in the one-day side since the return of Matthew Hayden. He’s currently in England representing Derbyshire in the County Championship and a day after he was omitted from the contracts list, he smashed 221 against Somerset.Gilbert expressed his surprise that Cricket Australia (CA) overlooked the experienced Katich in favour of several younger players. However, he remained confident that an Australia recall was around the corner.”At the time I expressed my shock and outrage at CA’s decision not to give him a contract, and I still can’t believe it happened,” Gilbert said. “To my mind, and a lot of other people’s, he is easily among the 25 best players in the country at present. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he turned around and proved the selectors wrong next season.”Robert Joske, Katich’s agent, agreed with Gilbert that Katich was comfortable with New South Wales after speaking to him before his departure for England. “Simon has not committed to anything at this stage,” Joske told the paper. “But I would think that it would have to be an amazing offer to get him away from NSW.

Ravi Rampual, the promising fast bowler, has been named in a 14-man West Indies Under-19 squad for the 2004 Youth World Cup in Bangladesh. Rampual, 19, is currently touring Zimbabwe with the senior team and is expected to be retained for the subsequent tour of South Africa, which starts on December 3. The Youth World Cup is scheduled for February 15 to March 4.Denesh Ramdin, a wicketkeeper-batsman and Rampaul’s fellow Trinidadian, will captain West Indies, while Kirk Edwards is vice-captain. Clyde Butts, the former West Indies offspinner, has been appointed coach and Roland Sampath, the former Trinidad and Tobago allrounder, is manager.The preliminary round of matches in the World Cup will be played on a round-robin basis and involve 16 teams in four groups. West Indies will be in Group D, along with Pakistan, Papau New Guinea and Uganda.
Squad Denesh Ramdin (captain), Kirk Edwards (vice-captain), Jonathan Augustus, Rishi Bachan, Lionel Baker, Assad Fudadin, Zamal Khan, Tishan Maraj, Xavier Marshall, Mervyn Matthew, Ravi Rampaul, Liam Sebastien, Lendl Simmons, Barrington Yearwood.

Marvan Atapattu, the former Sri Lankan captain, and allrounder Upul Chandana have earned recalls to the Test and one-day sides respectively for a three-of-each home series against Bangladesh later this month. Uncapped left-hand batsman Malinda Warnapura and left-arm pace bowler Sujeewa de Silva have also been included in the15-man Test side.Atapattu makes a return to the Test side after 18 months. He last played against India at Ahmedabad in December 2005 before a recurring back injury saw him undergo surgery and miss out on a long spell of international cricket. Atapattu replaces Sanath Jayasuriya, rested for the Test series but included in the one-day squad. Jayasuriya will spend his time playing for Lancashire, where he will replace Muttiah Muralitharan, who returns home for the Test series.Chandana, 35, gets a national recall after two years during which period his place has been occupied by another legspinner, Malinga Bandara, who has also been named in the one-day squad.Warnapura, 27, has been in fine form for Sri Lanka A, the highlight of which was a career -best double century against Bangladesh A last month. De Silva has also shown good form with the ball in the recently concluded domestic season with 44 wickets at just 19.77 to help Colombo Cricket Club lift the Premier League title.Prasanna Jayawardene will continue to keep wickets in the Tests providing Kumar Sangakkara the opportunity to concentrate on his batting at No. 3. Sangakkara, Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas are presently in England playing county cricket. Vaas and Muralitharan will play only in the Test series before going back to their counties.Jehan Mubarak and Chamara Kapugedera, who are expected to tour to England with Sri Lanka A have been named for the one-day series against Bangladesh.Selection committee sources said that both players will be recalled from the England tour when the one-day series commences on July 18.Mahela Jayawardene retains the captaincy with Sangakkara as his deputy and Sriyan Samaratne, a former Air Force cricketer and administrator, has been named manager of the Sri Lanka team. He takes over from Michael Tissera, who quit at the end of his contract last month.Sri Lanka Test squad: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Upul Tharanga, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Malinga Bandara, Malinda Warnapura, Sujeewa de Silva.Sri Lanka ODI squad: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Chamara Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Jehan Mubarak, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Farveez Maharoof, Upul Chandana, Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Kapugedera, Malinga Bandara, Nuwan Kulasekera.

Fears over the future of Clontarf, in Dublin, as a one-day international venue have been eased with confirmation that existing grounds which have been approved don’t come under the new rulings regarding boundary sizes.At the recent ICC meetings in London it was decided to set new minimum requirements for the boundaries of international grounds. The new requirement is 65 yards for square boundaries and a minimum straight boundary of 70 yards.Clontarf wouldn’t have been able to meet these new sizes, but an ICC spokesman said: “Whereas the boundary sizes have been increased existing grounds and grounds currently under construction, such as the Dubai Stadium, are exempt.”However, the new regulations would appear to rule out Eglinton as a future ODI venue, whose playing area is below the minimum requirements. Bready Cricket Club are currently developing a new ground which they hope will become the North West venue for hosting international games.

The timing of a slew of announcements may be incidental but the Board of Control for Cricket in India issued an emphatic, carrot-and-stick response to the Indian Cricket League. On the one hand, it passed the expected strictures on the players, current and former, associating with the ICL; on the other, it rewarded those who stayed behind, hiking payments for first-class cricketers and making the domestic game a far more attractive proposition.The significance was lost in the dry delivery of N Srinivasan, the board treasurer, who said the members of the BCCI unanimously passed all the resolutions put before the special general meeting. This meant that Kapil Dev ceased to be the chairman of theNational Cricket Academy (NCA), with immediate effect, and all the players who joined the ICL would not derive any benefit from the BCCI.”Kapil Dev ceases to be the chairman of the NCA,” said Srinivasan, puttingto an end the long-running speculation over his fate. “AjayShirke will associate as chairman till the next AGM [on September 28], when a new chairman and board will be appointed.” This also means Kapil will no longer be part of the recently formed cricket advisory committee, comprising former India captains,set up to advise the board on an ad hoc basis.Srinivasan was equally unambiguous when replying to a question on the players who have signed up to play in the ICL. “Every individual has the right toassociate with the BCCI or any other organization. If he chooses to bepart of any other organization then it is he who is leaving. If anindividual chooses to associate with someone else it is his decision andwe wish him luck. But he will not be a part of BCCI activities or deriveany benefits from the BCCI.”It was not so much the board that was banning players, Srinivasan stressed, but each individual choosing how he wanted his future to pan out. “It is the player whois deciding. We are not deciding,” he said. “But you can’t have a foot inboth places.”Asked if someone from the ICL had approached the BCCI with a view toa reconciliation Srinivasan said he was not aware of any such approach. He also stated that it was unlikely there would be a way back for aplayer once he decided to leave the BCCI and associate with anunauthorised body like the ICL. “I don’t think so. Once a player has madehis choice, he is there.”Was the fact that as many as eight players had left from Hyderabad and seven from Bengal a reflection on how those state units ran their cricket? “It is not at all a reflectionof state associations. Everybody is aware of who are the players who havegone,” said Srinivasan. “The players have gone and they have themselvesstated that they have been offered large sums of money. The bench strengthis strong. In fact we see this is as an opportunity for younger players.”Srinivasan cited the example of Tamil Nadu, where he is hands on as far asadministration of cricket is concerned. “In every state you have hundredsof players. Every time we run a selection for Under-13s or Under-15s wehave hundreds of talented kids coming in. If some go elsewhere it won’tmake such a big difference. We don’t want to make too much of this.”Interestingly the resolution to take action against players who joined theICL was passed unanimously, and there was a one hundred per cent attendance ofmembers. This means that the Railways Sports Promotion Board, afteroffering its grounds for use to the ICL, voted in favour of denyingplayers the right to derive any benefit from the BCCI if they associatedwith the ICL. How Rakesh Yadav, the Railways representative at the specialgeneral meeting, will reconcile with Lalu Prasad Yadav, the federal railway minister who made the earlier promise regarding the grounds, remains to be seen.It is only a coincidence that the finance committee met on Sunday andfinalised the accounts for the financial year ending March 2007. Thismeant that the board was also able to make public the exact value of the26% of gross receipts that goes towards the payment of players’ wages. Anincrease in the board’s surplus, to Rs 232 crore, from Rs 33 crore in theprevious financial year, automatically meant that the players’ fees becamemuch more.Players will now receive between 25 and 26 thousand rupees per playing day(for senior domestic tournaments) for the year 2006-07, and that, based onprojections is likely to go up to 36,000 per day for the 2008 season. Theboard’s practice was to pay out 4000 rupees per day for each match duringthe course of the season and the difference at the end of the year whenthe accounts were finalised. That cash allowance has been increased to Rs10000.What’s more, the board announced a revision of the total prize money forvarious tournaments it conducted, increasing the existing Rs 60 lakh to4.2 crore. This means that the team winning the Ranji Trophy now nets Rs50 lakh (previously 7 lakh) and the team winning the Duleep Trophy gets Rs30 lakh (previously 5 lakh). The board announced that this was with effectfrom the 2005-06 season, which meant that they would be retrospectivelypaying the champions from the last two years.Srinivasan also explained that the board and its affiliate units had spentRs 190 crore over the last financial year on creation of infrastructuralfacilities. A majority of this went towards 11 associations who had eithercompleted building of stadia or were in the process of doing so.Srinivasan said that the board had seven more proposals for constructionof stadia in the pipeline.The other major change from the round of meetings, also expected, was thatnational selectors would be paid, rather than hold honourary posts, from 2008 onwards. However, the members felt there was no need to makea constitutional change stipulating that the minimum eligibility to becomea national selector is to have played five Tests or 50 first-class matches. Instead they left it to the working committee to decide on criteria fromtime to time.*************** Overall income for the year 2006-07 is Rs 652 Crores as against Rs 430Crores in 05-06 and Rs 210 Crores in 04-05. The projected income for theyear 2007-08 is Rs 862 Crores (US$210,192,635.94).* 850 players and umpires fall under the Platinum Jubilee BenevolentScheme. The total outflow per year for the scheme is around Rs 15 Crores ($3,657,644.48) annually. This includes the benefits to widows of Test Cricketers.* All senior domestic tournaments will be video recorded in order to tagdecisions made by umpires which will later be analysed. This will cost Rs3 crore ($731,528.90). The board has entered into the agreement for a period of 3 years with Cricket Australia for training and development programme for theumpires.* The Board is in the process of negotiating and collecting all archivalmaterials to set up a state of the art museum at the headquarters at acost of around Rs 10 Crores ($2,438,429.65).* The amount set aside for expenditure on women’s cricket is around 6-7Crores ($1,463,057.79 to $1,706,900.756).* The BCCI will set up a National Cricket Academy at Bangalore on its ownpremises. The NCA is currently housed by the Karnataka State CricketAssociation at the Chinnaswamy Stadium* The Board is also planning to create an indoor academy of internationalstandards at Delhi and a zonal coaching academy at Kolkata to serve theEast and North Eastern States.

This is a clash of Pakistan flair versus Kiwi functionality. Although New Zealand have again more than held their own, they owe their passage to the semi-finals to India, whose 37-run win against South Africa dumped the home side out on net run-rate and allowed Daniel Vettori’s side to sneak in.”I didn’t actually watch any of it,” said Vettori. “I was trying to avoid it as much as possiblebecause we knew what it was going to be like.”Pakistan have reached the last four despite a stuttering display against Bangladesh, playing their typically aggressive cricket under the new coach, Geoff Lawson. Now Saturday’s matches offer various mouth-watering permutations for the final: a Trans-Tasman clash, a replay of the 1999 World Cup final or, the ultimate match-up, an India-Pakistan showdown.Bat play: Pakistan’s top order has failed to fire throughout the tournament; their first four matches brought scores of 50 for 3, 47 for 4, 33 for 3 and 46 for 4 before the middle order staged recoveries. Their best start came against Bangladesh when Shahid Afridi was finally promoted to opener but Shoaib Malik was keeping his cards close to his chest over Pakistan’s plans for Saturday. Salman Butt has laboured in every innings and his strike-rate is down to a paltry 70.New Zealand haven’t been blessed with a mountain of runs from the top four and their best start – 68 without loss – ended in defeat against South Africa. Craig McMillan has been their saviour with 44 off 23 against India and 57 off 31 against England. Scott Styris (52 runs) and Lou Vincent (89 runs) have both struggled and their scoring rates have barely crept above a run-a-ball.Wrecking ball: The leading wicket-takers for both teams are the spinners, Vettori and Afridi. Vettori is pushing to be bowler of the tournament after conceding a miserly 5.30 and should be a handful on a worn Newlands surface. However, he wasn’t making any early decisionson his team. “We saw Australia run through Sri Lanka with pace [at Newlands].” Jacob Oram hasn’t enjoyed Twenty20 with the ball, taking one wicket and going at nearly 11 an over.

Pakistan’s attack is packed with variety. Afridi has bagged the wickets but Sohail Tanvir has come from nowhere to create problems with the new ball alongside Mohammad Asif. Umar Gul’s yorkers, held back until the closing overs, have left the opposition struggling to accelerate late in their innings.Keep your eye on: The brewery. If Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq (hitter of the longest six in the tournament) or Oram get hold of a ball deep midwicket will need to be standing on the other side of the railway line.Shop talk: Although chasing has been the preferred route, Malik doesn’t think it’s the only way to go. “If you have a strong bowling line-up you can bat first and put pressure on the other side,” he said.Vettori believes it would have been harsh for New Zealand to miss out on the semi-finals. “Sometimes we have scraped through but this time I think we deserved it; luckily enough for us it worked out well. We make a lot of them [semi-finals], now it’s about kicking on.”Pitching it right: “It looks good,” Malik said after inspecting the surface. “But the outfield is heavy so 165-170 should be a good total.” The sunshine of recent days is also expected to be replaced by a greater cloud cover, offering more assistance for the bowlers.TeamsNew Zealand (probable) Lou Vincent, Brendon McCullum (wk),Peter Fulton, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram,Daniel Vettori (capt), Shane Bond, Mark Gillespie, Jeetan PatelPakistan (probable) Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, MohammadHafeez, Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik (capt), Misbah-ul-Haq,Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir