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Having lost three games in row, the Mumbai Champs made it two wins in a row with a 32-run victory over the Delhi Giants in Hyderabad. Robin Morris followed up his maiden Twenty20 fifty with a second, scoring 54 from 47 balls, and decent contributions from the middle order got Mumbai to 157 after Delhi put them in. Delhi started well, with the openers adding 38, but collapsed from 74 for 1 to 125 all out. The wreckers-in-chief were left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav (3 for 12) and legbreak bowler Shridhar Iyer (3 for 5). Mumbai have moved to fifth in the points table.Chasing 134, the Chandigarh Lions knocked off the required runs with two balls to spare in Hyderabad, thereby handing the Ahmedabad Rockets their fifth loss in six matches. Ahmedabad won the toss and made a disappointing 133, former international Sridharan Sriram top-scoring with 30. There were few partnerships to speak of and four runs out was rather unflattering. In response, TP Singh hit 50 from 46 balls and Dinesh Mongia, Ahmedabad’s captain, and unbeaten 34 to seal victory by five wickets.

Kent 227 and 273 for 5 (Dexter 105, van Jaarsveld 61*) lead Yorkshire 457 (Rudolph 146) lead by 45 runs
ScorecardIt was a day of fluctuating fortunes at Scarborough today. Yorkshire, having doubled Kent’s total, had the initiative wrested from them mainly due to a fine fighting century from Neil Dexter. Their chances of victory seemed to be slipping away twenty minutes before close of play, only for their Pakistani seamer Rana Naved to make a startling and spectacular return to form with three crucial wickets.Yorkshire may have missed a trick by deciding to bat on this morning from their overnight 409 for 7; many thought they should have declared and sent Kent in again in what were likely to be the best bowling conditions of the day. Perhaps Darren Gough was enjoying his batting too much, but he decided to see out the innings, and it was almost an hour before Kent went in again.At first it seemed that Yorkshire would not last long, anyway: Adil Rashid was immediately trapped lbw to a big off-cutter from Amjad Khan, unwisely padding up, without addition to his 43, and Matthew Hoggard edged the same bowler to second slip without scoring – he was doomed to be the only member of his team who failed to reach double figures. Gough, not knowing how long Deon Kruis would last, leaned back and hit Robbie Joseph over cover for a spectacular six into the crowd; later he hit Khan over midwicket for another. Kent helped, dropping two catches, and Kruis had his leg stump knocked out by a no-ball from Joseph.They added 40 in about half-an-hour before Gough fell to a big heave, caught at square leg, for 33, leaving Kruis not out on 17. The innings closed on 457, a lead of 230, which was three runs more than Kent’s total, and included a remarkable 54 extras. Khan, who moved the ball far more on both days than any of Kent’s other seamers, finished with 3 for 79, while Joseph took 3 for a more expensive 112.By lunch, Kent had advanced to 37 for 1, losing Robert Key (12), who was classically set up by Hoggard: two off-cutters, followed by the one that moved away and brought a edge to second slip. Now was the moment of truth for Kent. Would they meekly submit and enjoy a day off – as Warwickshire did at this venue last year – or would they knuckle down and fight back against such great odds? They chose the latter course and came out again fighting.They had an early scare after the interval, when Andrew Gale at third man missed a difficult chance offered by Joe Denly, then on 17, off Adil Rashid. This may well have been the crucial moment of the match. With positive and determined batting, Denly and Dexter turned the course of the game and made batting look every bit as easy as Yorkshire had done the previous day. The Yorkshire bowling was uninspired, with Naved again looking anything but a Test player in bowling five expensive overs.The fifties came up: Denly’s in 93 balls, Dexter’s in 95. When on 63, Denly hit a skyer to long-off, which Hoggard so badly misjudged that he never got a hand to it as it went over his head, but at least this miss was not expensive, as soon afterwards Hoggard got his revenge by having him caught in the slips for 66. Kent were now 155 for 2, the stand having added 132.But Dexter was still there, and he was the man who unspectacularly turned the tables. He played few memorable strokes, but finally drove Kruis wide of mid-off to the boundary, a stroke that not only brought up his century (the third of his career, off 184 balls) but also erased Kent’s large deficit with only two wickets down. What is more, this score had been made at a rate of almost four an over. Every run scored after this was in the black.Having reached his century, though, Dexter seemed to run out of steam. Naved came on to bowl again, with an array of poor deliveries, but suddenly produced a ball fully worthy of his ability, a cracker than moved away from the batsman and hit his off stump. He went for 105, and Naved’s next ball came in and was close to trapping Martin Saggers, the nightwatchman, lbw. Kent were 262 for 3. Dexter had gone after a fine innings, and this heralded another unexpected turning point.At the other end was Martin van Jaarsveld, quietly adding another fifty (off 78 balls) to his first-innings century. But Saggers was no match for the suddenly inspired Naved, who yorked him without scoring. Next ball was another rejected lbw appeal, this time against Darren Stevens, who in his next over was caught at short leg without scoring. In fourteen balls the zero had become a hero, taking three wickets without cost. It was a prime example of how a cricketer’s success or failure can be bound up simply in what goes on between the ears, rather than any physical or technical problem, and how just one piece of fortune can turn it all around in an instant.Each day so far has attracted about two or three thousand spectators, which critics of the county championship may find hard to believe, and the fourth day should be equally well patronized as an interesting finish is likely. Thanks to the late sensations of Naved, Yorkshire have regained the advantage, but it is a fragile balance and Kent still have a reasonable chance of fighting out a draw – or even a slight possibility of recording a remarkable victory. The key figures in the morning session will be two overseas-grown players, Naved for Yorkshire and van Jaarsveld for Kent.

Although Zimbabwe Cricket might be refusing to play Kenya, it has nevertheless unveiled its preparations for the coming year, which includes series home and away to Sri Lanka and, perhaps optimistically, a home series against New Zealand.The main series are part of the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, but Zimbabwe have also penciled in another tour to Bangladesh. As the country are suspended from Test cricket, they will only play one-day internationals and three and four-day first-class games.The first tour will be to Zimbabwe by Sri Lanka, set for November, although ZC has indicated it would like this brought forward to October. The return leg, as well as the Bangladesh series, will be in the New Year.However, there will be little other cricket for the Zimbabwe side. The bilateral agreement with South Africa, which enabled various teams to participate in domestic first-class, one-day and Twenty20 cricket there, was shelved in June as a result of the deteriorating social and political situation inside Zimbabwe.Despite numerous offers from Kenya, ZC has repeatedly stalled and declined to tour there. Insiders claim there is a fear that should the side lose to the Kenyans then it would further undermine Zimbabwe’s international standing.There will also be doubts over the New Zealand tour scheduled for July 2009. Zimbabwe’s last series in New Zealand was cancelled after the authorities refused to grant the team entry visas, and the NZ government is a staunch critic of the Mugabe regime and vociferously opposes sporting contact with the country.

South Africa’s coach, Mickey Arthur, believes his side holds the edge going into Thursday’s keenly anticipated first Test at Lord’s, both in terms of the battery of quick bowlers at their disposal, and the solidity that comes from their recent run of six series wins out of seven. England may be on the verge of naming the same side for a record sixth match in a row, but in Arthur’s opinion, without Andrew Flintoff in their ranks, they are some way short of a full-strength line-up.”England are probably where we were a year ago,” said Arthur. “They aren’t quite as settled as we are at the moment, but they are a very good team, and incredibly hard to beat at home. Against New Zealand, they were very good and very steady, and did a good job as a unit, but what they did lack was the genuine pace of a Flintoff, Steve Harmison, or even a Simon Jones.”If Arthur sounded as though he was damning England with faint praise, then it was entirely intentional. With a pace-dominated line-up, spearheaded by Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and the indefatigable Makhaya Ntini, South Africa know they have the weapons to inflict some serious dents on England’s reputation. And there’s no better place to start the barrage than at Lord’s – a venue where England have been routed in all three contests since South Africa’s readmission.On the field, South Africa have promised to take a buttoned-lip approach to the contest, especially where Graeme Smith’s lingering feud with Kevin Pietersen is concerned, but from the sidelines, Arthur wasn’t afraid to take a few well-aimed pot-shots. He fully expects Flintoff to return to the side for the second Test at Headingley on July 18, which means that England’s internal battle for selection could bubble to the surface during the Lord’s Test.In particular, Arthur singled out Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood – who managed a grand total of 77 runs in eight innings against New Zealand – as two batsmen scrapping for a solitary place. “The ‘Freddie’ Flintoff factor lingers over England, because he’s too good a player not to be picked,” said Arthur. “If you’ve got a class performer, a fantastic cricketer like him available to you, I think you’d be silly not to select him.”He’s got to come back, and he’s got to come back for somebody unlucky. Within the whole pressure cooker of Test cricket, there might be one or two little personal contests going on in the England side. If we can get into 5 and 6 when the ball is pretty new, that’ll be good, and there’s also going to be one bowler with a cloud over him, knowing that Flintoff will be back for the second Test match.”That bowler, regardless of the superb impression he has made since coming into the team at Wellington in March, could well be Stuart Broad, who batted with incredible poise in the home series against New Zealand to average 39.66 from No. 8, but managed only seven wickets in six innings, less than half the tally of either James Anderson (19) or Ryan Sidebottom (17). But if Broad was anxious about his role in the side he certainly didn’t show it, as he backed England’s bowlers to play to their strengths in the coming weeks, and avoid getting drawn into a speed-gun war.

“I don’t think we need to meet their pace and bounce at all,” said Broad. “We need to stick to what we’ve done well in the past four or five Tests. We have two world-class swing bowlers up front, and we bowled New Zealand out four times in five Tests, so we don’t need to chase to be someone we’re not. All of us are above 85mph which is useful, but we look to do things with the ball. We’re not going to charge in and try bowl 90mph, because that would send our techniques and radar awry.”That’s not an issue that concerns South Africa’s quick bowlers, however. Morkel, with his 6’6” frame, bowls with a splice-rattling pace reminiscent of Steve Harmison in his pomp, and at Uxbridge against Middlesex over the weekend, he put the finishing touches to his preparation for Lord’s. “When everything is feeling 100% and my rhythm is nice, I’ll definitely be trying to crank it up,” he said. “The ball is coming out quite nicely and it’s nice to see the batsmen jumping around a bit. Come Thursday, it will be the England batsmen who are in my sights. I can’t wait.”The rich promise of both Morkel and Steyn fills Arthur with optimism for the future of South African cricket. With a combined age of 46, he fully expects them to be ranked as Nos. 1 and 2 in the world within two years, and in fact, Steyn, with 78 Test wickets in the last calendar year, is already regarded as the best fast bowler in the world. However, it is the overall shape of South Africa’s attack that has earned them the favourite’s tag for this summer.”We’ve worked quite hard as a set-up to get to where we are now,” said Arthur, whose squad is arguably as united as at any time in their post-Apartheid history, with every member of the starting 11, irrespective of creed, earning their place in the side on merit. “We are a goal-orientated side. It’s taken us two years to get this team, and a series win in England is high up on our priorities.”We set about getting an attack with three strikers,” said Arthur, who once again underlined the importance of a world-class allrounder. “We’re very lucky to have Jacques Kallis, he’s like a 12th player for us, because he bats in the top four, and he bowls in the top four, if you like. He gives us unbelievable balance, because he can play any role we want.”But we wanted three strikers bowling over 140kph,” said Arthur. “One who can swing it in, as Steyn does, Makhaya who angles across the left-handers especially, and Morne Morkel who gets unbelievable bounce. These guys are hugely exciting and it’s going to be a treat to watch them this summer.”

We meet again: After India’s premature exit at last year’s WorldCup, few would have thought Glenn McGrath and Sachin Tendulkar wouldmeet again on a cricket field. But at the Feroz Shah Kotla, it happened, andTendulkar said hello in the best possible fashion. A bit of width outsideoff stump, a small step forward and just a gentle push through the coversfor four. Almost perfect.One for the album: No matter how long or distinguished a career YoMahesh has, he’ll always remember this Saturday night. A delivery slanting intothe batsman’s pad, an awkward stroke across the line, and the leg stumpknocked back. Not an especially unusual dismissal, but when the batsman’sname is Tendulkar, no 20-year-old bowler is going to forget it.Sputnik Sweetheart: When Amit Mishra flighted one a little, SanathJayasuriya launched himself at it so violently that the ball went in toorbit, eventually landing on an elevated stage which had a DelhiDaredevils billboard behind it. Talk about hitting someone where it hurts.Oriental Shuffle: Is a Django Reinhardt classic, but not reallyrecommended when facing a bowler who knows your game better than most.Facing Ashish Nehra, a team-mate in the Indian and Delhi Ranji Trophyteams, Virender Sehwag went too far across in an attempt to play the cutshot down to fine leg. Leg stump out of the ground, fans silent andMumbai’s hideously dressed cheerleaders on their feet.Welcome to the IPL: When Gautam Gambhir cut him for four and sixover point, Andre Nel looked like he might burst a blood vessel. Evenbefore the second stroke had sailed over the rope, Nel was ineffing-and-blinding mode, and the adrenaline levels soared even higherthree balls later when he had Gambhir caught in the deep. At this rate, yogic deep breathing may be needed.Spoke too soon, son?: On Saturday, Robin Uthappa offered somepearls of wisdom on what it takes to succeed in one-day cricket. “Franklyspeaking, fielding plays a very integral part in ODIs these days,” he wasquoted as saying. “The younger legs make a huge difference.” After he madean embarrassing mess of a simple stop at cover off Jayasuriya, soon to be39, you could only hope that his team-mate hadn’t read it.

The proposed trial of umpire referrals won’t take place during England’s Test series against South Africa in July after the boards failed to agree on the finer details.There is unease among the players about testing the system in such a high-profile series and continued concerns about undermining the on-field umpires. The next possible use of the technology, which will include Hawk-Eye, would be between India and Sri Lanka later in July.The inventors of Hawk-Eye, led by Paul Hawkins, have tested the accuracy of the system and claim it has a margin of error of just 5mm. However, the ICC have decided that only the tracking part of the software will be used, up to the point the ball hits the pad, rather than the predictive element of the package. This will make decisions involving whether the batsman has been hit in line with off stump, or where the ball has pitched, clearer, but leaves it in the umpires’ jurisdiction to judge the path of the ball towards the stumps.When the system is finally trialled, each side will be allowed three unsuccessful referrals per innings. A similar system was used during last year’s Friends Provident Trophy, but didn’t find favour among players or umpires. None of the 11 referrals were overturned by the third umpire and there was a feeling that the TV official didn’t want to overrule his colleagues.

Please find below the names of the Sri Lanka ‘A’ Team squad selected by the Natioanal Selectors.The Players listed below are requested to contact Mr. Hemantha Devapriya, the Natioanl Coach of the BCCSL with regard to practices on Mobile No. 0777-4188421. Tilan Samaraweera
2. Michael Van Dort
3. Naveen Nawaz
4. Jeevan Mendis
5. Prasanna Jayawardane
6. Charitha Sylvester
7. Avishka Gunawardena
8. Kaushal Lokuarachchi
9. Nisitha Rupasinghe
10. Tharanga Lakshitha
11. Sujeewa de Silva
12. Thilina Thushara
13. Chamila Gamage
14. Malinda Warnapura
15. Anushka Polonowita
16. Dilruwan Perera
17. Ian Daniel
18. N. Ranjith
19. Dilhara Lokuhettige
20. Kaushal Weeraratne
21. Charitha Buddhika

BRISBANE, Nov 16 AAP – Defending champion Queensland flexed its Pura Cup muscle today while Test paceman Andy Bichel showed off his bowling brawn as the Bulls scored a five wicket win over Tasmania at the Gabba.Bichel, who is vying with NSW speedster Brett Lee for a starting spot in the second Ashes Test against England starting in Adelaide on Thursday, finished with match figures of 9-92, including a second innings haul of 5-46.The Bulls, who reached 5-116 chasing a modest 113, took less than three days to repeat last year’s Pura Cup final win over the Tigers, giving long-serving bowler Michael Kasprowicz a memorable victory in his first game as captain.Queensland was missing five regulars for the match – captain Jimmy Maher, specialist No.3 bat Martin Love and bowlers Ashley Noffke and Nathan Hauritz, who played for Australia A in Hobart.Opening batsman Matthew Hayden was rested with a foot injury.The Bulls had a few anxious moments when they stumbled to 4-67 today, chasing 113 in humid and showery conditions which favoured the bowlers in every session.But allrounder Andrew Symonds steadied the ship with 38 not out to see Queensland home.Earlier the home side knocked over Tasmania for 159, the visitors again suffering a post lunch collapse by losing five wickets for 28.It was a similar scenario on the first day when the Tigers coasted to 0-98 before losing 6-57 in the session between lunch and tea.Allrounder Shane Watson (57) and the versatile Scott Kremerskothen (39) provided some resistance to Bichel and Kasprowicz after the Tigers had collapsed to be 4-9 yesterday afternoon.But when Kremerskothen provided Bulls keeper Wade Seccombe with his 400th first class catch with the total at 126, the fightback petered out with Sean Clingeleffer (1) and Damien Wright (0) both following in quick succession.Kasprowicz joined Jeff Thomson as Queensland’s second most successful domestic bowler behind Carl Rackemann (383 wickets) when he had Clingeleffer caught behind and then moved past the former Bulls captain when Wright became his 329th victim.Kasprowicz rated the win highly, given Queensland’s missing personnel.”I think the fact that we had five of our full strength players not playing was very pleasing,” he said.”We are always backing ourselves and that is one of the strengths of our side.”National one day captain Ricky Ponting, who was dismissed cheaply in both innings for the Tigers, said his side would have to lift significantly in the batting department to register its first win of the competition this season.The Bulls’ win lifted then to third on the Pura Cup ladder.

The Sri Lankan celebrations were short-lived last night with the cricketers aware that they only had 36 hours of recovery time before the final of the ICC Champions Trophy, a match that will require a new strategy against theirAsian neighbours India.Australia’s relative weakness against spin was brutally exposed by Sri Lanka’s five slow bowlers on Friday night, but India’s batsmen cannot be expected to capitulate so lamely. Their top seven is not only outrageously talentedbut also very experienced when it comes to playing on the slow, low, turning pitch that can be expected on Sunday night.Thus Sri Lanka are considering further changes, primarily the re-introduction of pace bowler Dilhara Fernando, who has a good record against the Indians having taken 12 wickets in seven matches at 21.91. His extra pace and well-disguised slower ball will provide Sanath Jayasuriya with extra attacking options.Fellow fast bowler Pulasthi Gunaratne appeared nervous in the semi-final but the management will hope that he learns from the experience of playing two matches in front of sell-out crowds. Although under-used on Friday, he cantake the new ball and offers options later in the innings. He is thus likely to be retained.The choice then comes down to whom to drop: leg-spinner Upul Chandana or off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena. Chandana offers extra variety considering that Aravinda de Silva and Russel Arnold can both bowl off-breaks, whilstDharmasena can bowl with a newish ball – potentially important when you are looking to control the likes of Virender Sehwag and company.Indeed, coach Dav Whatmore is concerned about the early overs: “India don’t have the firepower in the bowling department that Australia possess but they certainly have a similarly aggressive opening combination when they bat ­- we are going to have to pay a lot of attention to that.””They have Sehwag, Ganguly, Laxman, Tendulkar, Dravid… the list just goes on and on. We are going to have to be at the top of our game if we’re going to be successful. It’s going to be 100 overs of really hard work.”But Whatmore is confident that his side will rise to the occasion, like they have done during both the Pakistan and Australian games. He’s quick to point to India’s poor record in one-day finals.”They have a powerful batting line-up but as we saw the other night against Zimbabwe they can also lose early wickets,” he said.”In my experience the semi-finals are the hardest games,” he added. “In the finals anything can happen and it is all about holding your nerve. And, remember, India don’t have a particularly good record in finals in recent times.”Sri Lanka have won all three of their matches in the tournament easily, the disadvantage of which is that their lower middle order has yet to be tested. Indeed, number six Russel Arnold has only batted once and that was a gentle unbeaten 22 against the Netherlands.But Whatmore claimed to be unconcerned: “We are not worried about that. The wicket will be good and we know these conditions. The guys are in good form… it’s just that they have not had a chance to prove it.”Sri Lanka (From):Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda de Silva, Russel Arnold, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Chandana, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Hasantha Fernando, DilharaFernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pulasthi Gunaratne.