Dharamsala will host the World Twenty20 2016 match between India and Pakistan on March 19 while the tournament semi-finals will be played in Delhi and Mumbai, according to the fixtures released by the ICC on Friday. The men’s event will be played in two stages between March 8 and April 3, while the Women’s World Twenty20 is scheduled between March 15 and April 3.Chennai, which was in danger of being cut as a host city due to the disputed stands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, has been allotted women’s matches.India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia are placed in Group 2 of the Super 10s stage while South Africa, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka are in Group 1. Two teams will join the Super 10s after the first stage of the tournament, to be held in Dharamsala and Nagpur between March 8 and 13.The eight teams competing in the first round have also been split into two groups. Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ireland and Oman have been slotted into Group A, while Group B comprises Zimbabwe, Scotland, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. The top team from Group A will join India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in Group 2 of the Super 10s stage, while the top-placed team from Group B moves to Group 1.The opening match of the Super 10s stage will be played between India and New Zealand on March 15 in Nagpur. The hosts will then play Pakistan on March 19, the qualifying team in the group on March 23 in Bangalore and Australia in Mohali on March 27.The top two sides from each of the Super 10s groups will move into the semi-finals. The semi-finals of the men’s and women’s tournaments will be played in Delhi and Mumbai on March 30 and 31 respectively, with the finals in Kolkata on April 3. Pakistan, should they qualify, will play their semi-final in New Delhi regardless of whether they place first or second in their group; the other qualifier from their group will play the semi-final allotted to Mumbai.This will avoid a scenario where Pakistan play in Mumbai, where a local political party, the Shiv Sena, has for several years “banned” Pakistan matches in that city. The most recent protest was in October, when Shiv Sena held protests at the BCCI office in Mumbai over talks between the India and Pakistan boards for a proposed series. Following the protests, the ICC withdrew Aleem Dar from the last two ODIs of the South Africa series [the fifth match was held in Mumbai] and former Pakistan cricketers Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar, who were in India on commentary duty, also returned home early.Defending champions Sri Lanka will begin their campaign against the qualifying team on March 17 in Kolkata, before playing West Indies in Bangalore on March 20. Their matches against England and South Africa will be played in Delhi on March 26 and 28 respectively.The women’s tournament will kick off from March 15 with India taking on Bangladesh and New Zealand playing Sri Lanka. The 10 teams in the women’s competition have been split into two groups. Three-time champions Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Ireland are in Group A, while Group B features England, West Indies, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The top two teams from each group will progress to the semi-final stage.

Mumbai set Delhi a victory target of 501 runs after Jatin Paranjpe andVinod Kambli had hit hundreds in contrasting styles on the third dayof their Super League match at the Feroze Shah Kotla today. At stumpsthe Delhi openers had survived nine overs to make 41/0 with DevinderSharma batting positively to run up 32 in 33 balls.The runs came in torrents during the day, 401 in all, with Mumbaiscoring 360 of them. After Amol Muzumdar (38) departed at 151,Paranjpe and Kambli conjured up a 210 run partnership in just 30.5overs. Paranjpe was a shade circumspect with his hundred coming off235 balls but Kambli displayed no inhibitions in clubbing an 87 ballhundred. His 114 (97 balls) was studded with 21 fours and one six andreinforced that at this level of cricket he had no peers.Mumbai captain Samir Dighe declared when Paranjpe (185) was eighth outat 453. Paranjpe, whose knock numbered 16 fours and 5 sixes, hadstepped up the pace after reaching his centuryhe needed only 90 moreballs to get to 185. For Delhi, Virender Shewag claimed 4/87 from 36.4overs with his off spinners.

On an increasingly benign wicket, Victoria settled for batting practice today as their match in the Apple Islepetered out to a draw, with the Vics 331 ahead with five wickets in hand when stumps were called.Victoria were never in any threat of outright defeat today as they lost only three of their batsmen today,with Tasmania’s bowlers unable to gain any success in the opening session and thus unable to applyany pressure on their northern neighbours.Mark Ridgway took his last first class wicket in the fifth over after lunch trapping left handed Matthew Mottin front for 86 after over four hours resistance.An hour later, Laurie Harper after a brisk 40, was bowled by a ball from Andrew Downton.Meantime Brad Hodge was quietly closing in on a hundred and seemed set for it andin fact it took part time bowler Michael Divenuto to knock him over a boundary short of the milestone,trapping him in front for 96.Ian Harvey got a good two hours batting practice with an unbeaten 78 as his side look north to a chanceto take the Pura Milk Cup out of odds on favourite Queensland’s hands.Quite appropriately on a day of little other significance, Ridgway who fibbed about his age for acouple of years until someonechecked his driver’s licence one day in the changerooms,bowled his and the match’s last over andwas applauded off the ground as he led his side off the Bellerieve Oval for the last time.

New Zealand duly completed a 211-run victory over Border in East London on Monday, but ended the match possibly not a great deal closer knowing the composition of their seam attack for the second Test match against South Africa starting in Port Elizabeth on Thursday.With Chris Martin resting a stomach strain for this game, Andrew Penn, Daryl Tuffey and Kerry Walmsley all had chances to press their claims for Test places. Tuffey, the man in possession, bowled like a drain in the Border first innings, but came back to take four wickets after lunch on the last day to finish with five for 69 as the home side were bowled out for 212.Penn, meanwhile, looked the part in taking five for 38 in the Border first innings, but left the field after nine overs on Monday with a recurrence of an earlier side strain. And Walmsley, who took one for 0 and two for 24, looked handy throughout without doing anything startling.Assuming Martin is fit to go into the Test with Shayne O’Connor – he will be given a full workout in the nets to see how he stands up to it – then the third seamer’s berth is likely to come down to a straight choice between Penn and Tuffey."Andrew left the field with an aggravation to a previous injury," said New Zealand coach David Trist after the match, "but it’s precautionary. We’ll give him a 24-hour period to assess the extent of the damage. It was really to give him every chance of selection for the second Test."If this sounded like Penn had his nose in front, Trist underlined it by discussing Tuffey’s performances. "The word `indifferent’ reflects the stages that at times Daryl goes through. He bowls some particularly good balls and then some balls that perhaps are a little disappointing. We’re working on trying to get greater consistency of pace and line."Translated, this probably means that Tuffey bowls complete rubbish at times, either rolling it in or spraying it all over the place when he strives for extra pace. There are moments, though, when he looks a half-decent bowler, the problem being that New Zealand don’t know from one spell to the next which Tuffey is going to run in to bowl.On balance, you’d imagine that New Zealand will opt for Penn if he is fit with Brooke Walker providing leg spin and Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle to bowl seam up when necessary.Most of the New Zealand had a reasonable hit against a generally innocuous Border attack over the three days, but it is not the batting that is the tourists’ concern. With no one quite sure how St George’s Park will play for this Test match (it’s seamed, swung, played low, taken spin and occasionally died over the past couple of years), New Zealand would probably be best served by picking four specialist bowlers they can trust to last the distance. Whether this means a place for Tuffey is anyone’s guess at this point.

Gujarat, batting cautiously, scored 209 for five wickets off 90 overs at stumpson the first day of their West Zone Ranji Trophy match against Baroda at theSardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad on Friday.Opting to bat, Gujarat lost Vivek Gandhi for a duck in the second over. Theother opener Nilesh Modi (43) and Niraj Patel (40) steadied the innings byadding 80 runs for the second wicket off 39.5 overs. Modi symbolised the Gujaratapproach by taking 201 minutes to compile his runs. He faced 111 balls and hitfive fours. Patel too took his time to get his runs (156 minutes). He faced 133balls and hit only three boundaries. After the fall of both these batsmen,Mukund Parmar (54) and Kirat Damani (37 not out) continued the recovery processby adding 68 runs off 23 overs for the fourth wicket. Parmar batted in a ratheraggressive manner, his runs being scored off just 97 balls with eleven hits tothe fence. But Damani was more circumspect taking 174 minutes over his unbeaten37. He faced 117 balls and hit two fours. Among the bowlers, medium pacersZaheer Khan (2 for 47) and Rakesh Patel (3 for 57) were the pick and deservedlyshared the wickets.

Matthew Bell might do well over the next few days to stay within earshot of a telephone.When Bell posted his third century in four Shell Trophy games today for Wellington against Central Districts at McLean Park, Napier – as he helped Wellington to 269-5 after they had been asked to bat – he made an application for the attention of the national selectors they might soon be forced to acknowledge.Bell batted 292 minutes today for 117, adding that score to innings of 109 against Central Districts and 134 against Canterbury, both compiled at the Basin Reserve before Christmas, and to his 82 runs (70 and 12) from two knocks against Otago. He now has 442 runs from five Trophy innings this season at an average of 88.4 and he has compiled six first-class centuries, including two double hundreds.The only thing that went wrong today for Matthew Bell – he lost the toss – also ended up favouring the Wellington captain. He would have batted had he won the toss and he was secretly delighted when his opposite Jacob Oram called correctly then invited to do so anyway.Oram had to manage an attack heavily stacked with medium pacers – he has five and only one spinner, Glen Sulzberger – and it may have been that which encouraged him to try to use any life that may have been in the pitch at the start of the first day.There was a little but the Central bowlers – Oram used all six before lunch – often strayed from a good length and that allowed the Wellington openers to first establish themselves then to prosper. Oram can only have cringed when Wellington went to lunch, after a morning session with had twice and briefly been affected by rain, at 78-0. By tea, they had lost only the wicket of Jones for 68 and Bell was poised on 98.Jones batted 206 minutes and hit eight fours and a six in an innings which was a perfect support to Bell. Generally Jones is the more fluent scorer, particularly early in his innings, but today Bell was always ahead of him, reaching his half century in the 37th over from 101 balls (when Wellington was 101) while Jones reached the same mark two overs or 11 minutes later from 125 balls (when the total was 113).Jones’ most lavish scoring shot was a pulled six over square leg from the young medium pacer Taraia Robin but it was Robin who had the last laugh. He returned to claim Jones, caught and bowled, in the 53rd over when Bell was 78 and Wellington was 149.When Bell went to his 100, he had batted 255 minutes, faced 189 balls and hit 12 fours, most abrupt pulls and cuts square of the wicket. He chided himself – tossing his bat in the air – when he was out, bowled by Glen Sulzberger, 33 balls later, after batting eight minutes less than three hours and hitting 13 fours.”It was very pleasing to get another hundred but I’m just disappointed I couldn’t go on and get a really big score,” Bell said. “I wanted to go on and get 150 or 200 and that’s the next barrier for me.”But Bell was pleased that he continued a high conversion rate of 50s to 100s and that his centuries this season have all been made in the first innings, contributing to substantial teams totals which have given Wellington control of their games. Wellington haven’t lost a match this season in which Bell has made 100 and for that reason they lead the Shell Trophy.The only disappointment for Wellington today was that they lost two wickets in the last two overs and finished five down, when they might only have been three down.Bell had added 63 for the second wicket with Selwyn Blackmore before his own dismissal and their followed a brief stand between Blackmore and Grant Donaldson before Blackmore was out for 38. But Chris Nevin was out, lbw to Robin for 15 in the 99th over and Matthew Walker was caught by Martin Sigley from Sulzberger on the last ball of the day. Wellington went from 268-3 to 269-5 while Donaldson stayed not out 25.Most importantly, the pull generated by Bell’s form, which is so consistent it has become irrestible, must now forcibly awaken several principles of national selection.While the national selectors can never be compelled to pick a player on Trophy form alone – they have to weigh his suitability and past record in international cricket, the credentials of others, the balance of their side. But nor can they be seen to ignore the domestic first class competition as a conduit to the international game.No player in New Zealand this season has been in better form with the bat that Bell and a point must be reached when he earns some, even tacit form of acknowledgement.The Wellington captain, who hasn’t heard yet the phone call which may express the selectors’ interest, wasn’t thinking along those lines last night.”I’m happy with my game and what I’m doing for Wellington,” he said. “All I can do is concentrate on my own performance and at the moment I’m happy performing for Wellington. It’s the same only story, if I score the runs they can’t not pick me.”I just have to get on with things. I talk to the players, as captain, about doing this and that and it’s good to be able to go out and do what I’m talking about. You shouldn’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk.”

Despite slate grey skies and a blustery wind keeping the temperature down, Graham Thorpe illuminated the day and warmed a decent crowd with an innings of sparkling shots and dominance. The Surrey left-hander, undoubtedly England’s main run threat, was ably supported by Michael Vaughan, who nestled comfortably into England’s problematic No 3 slot, registering his highest Test score with calm authority.These two came together with England having been pinned back by Pakistan’s notorious combo of Wasim and Waqar. The much anticipated Lancashire duel between Wasim who graced Old Trafford for 11 years as the overseas player and Michael Atherton was a brief one. But it was Waqar who snared Atherton when he edged to Latif for four and England, in pursuit of Pakistan’s fine first innings total of 403, were struggling at 15 for 2. Marcus Trescothick had looked in form but played inside a Wasim delivery and lost his off bail.However, England portray a robustness and confidence that had not been evident until recently, and coach Duncan Fletcher has energised this team – these days England do not crumble like a chocolate chip cookie. Not only did Vaughan and Thorpe repair the damage, they did so with aplomb, repeating the tableau of yesterday and continued the run feast which has been the hallmark of this match.Shots were sprayed all round the wicket, Thorpe hooking and cutting in style and he mercilessly ravaged his former Surrey colleague Waqar who went for five runs an over at one stage. Meanwhile the rather more refined Vaughan demonstrated a flawless technique honed on the seaming pitches of Headingley and he moved effortlessly closer to a maiden century.It was a welcome contrast from the pace diet of yesterday to see master spinner Saqlain wheeling away from the Warwick Road end in a long unbroken spell punctured only by a rain break when an hour was lost just after tea. He enjoyed some turn and some moral success but was unable to break the partnership which had put on 64 by lunch, reaching 173 at tea. When rain finally brought the curtain down with just over 18 overs left, Vaughan and Thorpe had plundered 189 valuable runs with Thorpe two short of his first century in a Test at Old Trafford.Earlier Pakistan had extended their overnight score to 403 all out, and once again Darren Gough was forced to kick the turf in frustration as Nick Knight spilled a chance at slip, the second to go down off Gough, Rashid Latif the escapee.Latif didn’t capitalise though; he wandered carelessly out of his crease in search of a single, Trescothick pounced and threw down the stumps. Next Caddick was smashed high over mid-wicket for six by Saqlain who biffed 21 unbeaten runs with some imaginative, if unorthodox shots, the fun ending when Gough trapped Waqar leg before.

Leicestershire stayed on top of the Norwich Union League by retaining their 100 per cent First Division record against one of the chasing countiesBatting second for the fifth successive game, the Foxes continued their winning habit by overhauling Warwickshire’s total of 221 for 7 to win by five wickets with 12 balls to spare.In another example of their ability to withstand pressure, Ben Smith and Darren Maddy retrieved a desperate-looking situation at 132 for 5 and turned the match round with an unbroken partnership of 90 in only 11 overs.Warwickshire had one chance to break the stand but Neil Smith, tracking round the long-on perimeter, could only help the ball over the rope as Maddy (37 ) charged along in support of Smith’s unbeaten 65 from 59 balls.In contrast, Leicestershire’s early struggle had been due to exceptional catching, first when Vasbert Drakes took a one-handed effort at mid-off from Vince Wells and again when Dominic Ostler twisted backwards to hold a drive from Daniel Marsh at long off.

Indian cricket team manager Chetan Chauhan feels the Zimbabwe tour hadbeen a very good learning experience for some of the young playersdespite the team’s failure to win either the Test series or thetriangular one-day tournament.India had to be content with a 1-1 draw in the two-Test series withZimbabwe and lost to West Indies in the final of the triangular oneday tournament after winning all their league matches quitecomprehensively. However, Chauhan said it was not a disappointing tourand the team was looking at the positive aspects of it."We drew the Test series one all and then in the one dayers, we wonthe league matches quite comfortably, but went down fighting to theWest Indians in the final,” Chauhan told reporters after the team’sarrival here from Zimbabwe early on Monday morning.”I personally feel this tour has done lot of good for youngsters likeopening batsmen Shiv Sundar Das, who won the man of the series in theTest matches, medium pacers Ashish Nehra, Harvinder Singh, DebashishMohanty, all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi and wicketkeeper SamirDighe,” Chauhan said.”Unfortunately, we had one bad day and the West Indians grabbed theopportunity fully and I would like to give credit to the West Indianbatsmen for the way they played and also to the Indians for the waythey fought till the end, losing by just 16 runs,” he said.Asked if the Indians were over-confident after recording easy wins inthe league matches, Chauhan said, “Not at all. In fact, we discussedat length the strategy for the final. But I can only say that the WestIndies batsmen applied themselves very well and did not allow us tomake early breakthroughs like we did in the league stages. They playedgood cricket on that particular day and scored 291 which I thought wasa bit too much in the end for us though our players fought well tillthe end,” he said.Chauhan admitted that reports of drug abuse had upset the players butsaid it did not affect their performance.”Some players whose name figured in the article were very upset.However, I spoke to them and they seemed to be alright. It is a commonpractice for the players to take energisers in public view and theseenergisers are supplied by the host nations,” he added.

Why did you decide to take the job? What was the attraction for you?Well I guess there are several reasons. One being that I have been in my current position for ten and a half years now and I guess there has been a bit of a sameness about what I have been doing and I feel as though I need a new challenge – not that it’s not challenging doing what I have been doing!I guess the thought of being able to start a programme. I did not initially start the programme in Australia, I came on three years after the programme started – the programme started in 1988 and I came on in 1991. So, there’s an excitement about starting a new programme.I also believe that it is important that in world cricket England is strong – and I am not suggesting that they aren’t strong – but I am suggesting that this Academy system has been fantastic for Australian cricket and I am sure that the same will apply to English cricket. It excites me to think that we can have a strong England team as a result of hopefully some of my labours.What are your targets for the job?This first thing you must understand is that it is not going to happen overnight. You have to show some patience. I guess what the major target will be for me over the next three years will be to develop some players that in three, five, seven years’ time there will be a base of perhaps 20 players that are very good Test Match and ODI players, so that when the selectors sit down to select a side it will be damn difficult for them – it will be difficult because these guys will have had a grounding which will be suitable for them to be successful at Test or ODI level. The more people you have in that base, then I think the stronger that nation becomes. That’s going to be the major push from me – to try and get 20-25 players or more that are really capable of performing consistently well at the highest level.It’s not rocket science. It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, from not only the coaching staff but in particular the players. The players get very good rewards and they have got to have a hell of a lot of pride in their performance and a hell of a lot of pride in their country – and yet at the same time realise that it is only a game and that games are there to be enjoyed. That’s very much part of it all, to get enjoyment from what they are doing. They have got to be positive and just play the type of cricket that will be entertaining. Funny part about the game of cricket is that you enjoy it more when you are winning!What has the National Academy done for Australian cricket and what can England gain from having an Academy?I think the biggest thing which comes to mind in recent years is that whenever there has been a retirement in Australian cricket the team seems to get stronger. That is what the Academy system has done.The players have had a hell of a good grounding in mostly playing matches against good strong opposition, playing matches away from their home country and getting the feel of what it is like to play good hard cricket on a consistent basis. That to me is how you improve – being pestered the whole time. If you are in the comfort zone and you know you can play well when you have to, against opposition that is `so-so’, I don’t believe that you ever really improve because you never really test your own barriers. But if you are put in a situation where you have to perform at your best, consistently, to be successful you become a lot harder and a lot more capable of performing at the highest level.How hard a decision was it to leave Australian cricket and come and work for the English?When you are playing the game, you are so determined and it becomes a do-or-die effort and you try to win for your team and win for your country. When you have finished playing you obviously want your country to win and you take an interest in it. But when you have been in the game as long as I have, the major interest becomes the game itself. I don’t think you necessarily think about that as a player.The greatest words I ever read on the game are from Sir Don Bradman and he said that it is the responsibility of everyone that has played the game to ensure the game continues – and I think that the game of cricket is more important than whether you come from England, India, Australia or West Indies.