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ScorecardHalf-centuries by Shiv Sunder Das and Halhadar Das lifted East Zone to 265 for 7 on the first day at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai against South Zone. SS Das, the former Indian opener, scored a patient 82 at the top before Halhadar Das stepped in and led a lower-order revival after East lost half their side for 134.After they chose to bat first, East lost opener Arindam Das early, leg before to the seamer Vinay Kumar, and the top order failed to construct sizeable partnerships. NSC Aiyappa, the Karnataka seamer, struck twice in quick succession to reduce East to 54 for 3 before SS Das and Manish Vardhan added 48. SS Das was involved in stands of 32 and 36 with Palash Das and Halhadar respectively before edging offspinner R Ashwin to M Vijay at the slips for 82. He faced 160 balls and hit 12 fours in his knock.Halhadar and Tushar Saha settled down to construct the biggest stand of the day – 71 – before Saha fell to a brisk 29 off 39 balls to the seamer P Vijay Kumar. Halhadar remained unbeaten on 78 with Debasis Mohanty for company.
ScorecardMohammad Kaif top scored with 64 to propel Central Zone to a healthy position at 179 for 3 before England Lions picked up quick wickets in the last session to restrict the hosts to 238 for 7 by the end of the opening day’s play at Vadodara.Walking in at 70 for 2, Kaif struck 13 fours in his 121-ball knock to charge Central before he fell to the legspinner Adil Rashid, triggering a mini-collapse. Monty Panesar prised out Sanjay Bangar, the former India International, and Harshad Rawle and Mahesh Rawat fell in quick succession.Earlier, Central were off to a steady start, reaching 54 runs without any loss, before Steve Kirby removed Faiz Fazal (37) in the 19th over. Five overs later, Onions made further inroads, but the opener Vineet Saxena settled the nerves, adding 54 runs with Kaif.Saxena fell after scoring a 116-ball 34, but Bangar nad Kaif pushed the total to 179 before Rashid got Kaif to bring the Lions roaring back into the game. But Sanjib Sanyal, who has a first-class average of 43.35, guided Central to the close without any further damage.

Ricky Ponting is still working out how to tackle Ishant Sharma. You could say he is a bit puzzled. The Australian captain admitted as much as Ishant waited to talk about his spoils at the post-match media briefing.”He’s been a big improver for India through this tour”, Ponting said of Ishant, who has already got him thrice this summer. Memories of the WACA Test, where he twice edged Ishant to the slips, during the Test series, seem to still haunt Ponting and he had no answer to Ishant’s poser on Sunday.Not surprising, then, that Ishant knows the value of having the number of the one of the best batsmen of this decade. “Ponting is one my favourite batsmen and if you get the batsman complimenting you, it feels good,” Sharma explained modestly.Even if he was taking the new ball for the first time in the ODIs Ishant had fast-tracked his growth as a bowler on the first leg of the tour to a position where he was able to handle the pressures of sharing the new ball. He stuttered a touch initially; his first ball was a no-ball, the fifth was a wide and in between Hayden edged one just above the outstretched hands of Rohit Sharma at the third slip. He was clearly still settling in the next over and went for 18 runs, including three fours from Hayden’s bat.Ishant wasn’t beaten, though, and recovered sufficiently to pick up three top-order wickets in Hayden, Ponting and Andrew Symonds to effectively turn the match in India’s favour. Later, he explained his turnaround. “After that over [when he went for 18] Dhoni told me to stick to my plans. He felt I was trying to do something else and instead I should do what I had to. I calmed down from that point.”It wasn’t just calmness, of course; it also involved execution of a plan. “We had our plans for each batsman and I just worked on that. For Ponting, it was to bowl to him on the fourth stump.”Ponting reckons Ishant is one of the few right-arm fast bowlers who can bring the ball in and that makes him a difficult proposition. “He’s a little bit different in the fact that he probably brings the ball back into right-handers more than most right-arm bowlers we have faced. Normally as a right-handed batsman you usually only get the ball coming back in from left-armers. He’s tall, he hits the deck pretty hard and he gets a little bit of inconsistent bounce off the wicket.”Ponting said Ishant has the variety that can also trouble the left-handers and compared him to the Makhaya Ntini in that respect. “He’s looked dangerous. With the angles he creates he can be pretty dangerous against the left-handers as well and he swings the ball away from them, a bit like Ntini does.”When asked if the workload has been an issue, Ishant said he was fine even if he felt a “little tired” at the end of today’s encounter. “I was a bit tired and I had stomach aches but I have bowled long spells and my stamina is improving.”

Matthew Hayden has stirred already troubled waters by calling Harbhajan Singh an “obnoxious weed”, a comment that will only serve to deepen the animosity between the two sides that has surfaced during India’s tour.Speaking on a Brisbane radio station, Hayden said: “It’s been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan, the first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now. His record speaks for itself in cricket.”There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time. That’s why he has been charged more than anyone that’s ever played in the history of cricket.”The pair clashed during Sunday’s CB Series game at the SCG when the Indians complained that Hayden had called Harbhajan a “mad boy”.Hayden played down the incident, accusing the Indians of making an issue of it because “they are losing every game they are playing”. He said: “I called him a bad boy.””He took offence to that. I thought that was quite funny. I said mate, you should be flattered, it’s a clothing range.”

Mitchell Johnson has made a last-minute trip to Melbourne to play in Queensland’s Pura Cup match against Victoria after being named Australia’s 12th man for the first Test at the Gabba. Johnson will get some valuable first-class bowling time in the four-day game starting at the MCG on Friday.Queensland will be without Matthew Hayden and the now-injured Shane Watson, both of whom were members of Australia’s original 13-man Test squad. Craig Philipson, who is coming off 73 from 74 balls in Queensland’s Ford Ranger Cup game against Western Australia on Friday, has come in to the line-up.Ashley Noffke and the fast bowler Chris Swan, who took five wickets in his Pura Cup debut last month, have also been included in the squad. Noffke has not played a Pura Cup game this season after hurting his back on the eve of the Bulls’ first match against Tasmania.The injury crisis in Victoria’s fast-bowling stocks has been eased slightly with Shane Harwood to return from a side strain. Harwood has replaced Mick Lewis in the squad after Lewis injured his hip while bowling in Victoria’s draw with Tasmania last week.Harwood hurt his side in the Bushrangers’ season-opening clash with Western Australia last month and joined his fellow fast bowlers Allan Wise, Dirk Nannes, Rob Cassell and Peter Siddle on the casualty list. Victoria have also brought in the uncapped left-hand batsman Robert Quiney to replace Shane Warne, who is in Brisbane with the Australia team.The Victoria captain Cameron White said his team had moved on since their previous encounter with the Bulls, in last season’s Pura Cup final when Queensland declared at 6 for 900 and won by an innings and 354 runs. Both teams have one win from their first three games in 2006-07. “This is a new season, a different ground and a fresh opportunity for us,” White said. “Our batting has been going well and hopefully Shane’s inclusion will give us more firepower given Mick was forced to sit out most of the Tassie game with injury.”Victoria Pura Cup squad Nick Jewell, Lloyd Mash, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Robert Quiney, Cameron White (capt), Andrew McDonald, Jon Moss, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Clinton McKay, Shane Harwood, Gerard Denton.Queensland Pura Cup squad Jimmy Maher (capt), Lachlan Stevens, Martin Love, Clinton Perren, Andrew Symonds, Craig Philipson, James Hopes, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Mitchell Johnson, Daniel Doran, Ashley Noffke, Chris Swan.Queensland FR Cup squad Jimmy Maher (capt), James Hopes, Clinton Perren, Andrew Symonds, Craig Philipson, Michael Buchanan, Chris Hartley (wk), Andy Bichel, Chris Simpson, Ashley Noffke, Scott Brant, Chris Swan.

Under the glare of floodlights, the gaze of television viewers at home and surrounded by some rather lonely looking concrete terraces, Colts Cricket Club qualified for the final of the Premier Division Limited Overs tournament at Premadasa International Stadium tonight. They defeated Tamil Union by 44 runs in a low scoring but nevertheless keenly fought match.It was a praiseworthy initiative by the Sri Lankan cricket board to host the final stages of this otherwise low-key tournament under lights and to invite the television cameras into the stadium. Unfortunately, they were less successful in pulling in the spectators. Nevertheless, it was surely a step in the right direction. Who knows, with further promotion and similar initiatives, this tournament may well arrest the attention of Sri Lanka cricket fans in years to come.The match itself was no jamboree. A sluggish pitch ensured that stroke play remained purely functional and the bowling attritional. This is not to distract from the game, which remained a tense affair until Dinuka Hettiarachchi bowled Upul Chandana in the 32nd over of the run chase.When Colts CC were bowled out for a meager 174 it looked as though an upset was on the cards. With their bowling attack packed with fast bowlers on a surface that cried out for the twirly men, Roy Dias, the Colts coach, would surely have been apprehensive.However, the Colts seam attack showed that the quick men too can prosper on turgid pitches by displaying the age old virtues of a tight line and unerring length. With the exception of Eric Upashantha, who bowled four wides in his opening burst, the fast bowlers remained disciplined throughout.The Tamil Union batsmen batted cautiously, with hindsight perhaps too much so, in the opening overs. Gradually the pressure shifted away from the fielding side and onto the batsmen as the Tamil Union innings was caught in the doldrums.Wickets began falling, steadily at first but with increasing frequency thereafter. Kumara (5) was the first batsmen to fall when he was trapped LBW by Upashantha in the sixth over of the innings. Ranga Dias (9), normally a free scoring player, was caught in two minds whilst trying to pull DulipLiyanage and popped up an easy catch in the 12th over.Malintha Gajanayake (2) was dismissed during a miserly spell of bowling from the young Kaushalya Weereratne – he bowled an eight over spell that yielded just nine runs – when he drove too early at a full-length delivery and was caught at mid off.The balance of the game had now shifted and Tamil Union were 47 for three in the 17th over. Then, the game swung decisively towards Colts when Rideegammanagedara, who faced 19 balls for his single run, was both dropped and run out of the same delivery, and Chandana (19) was bowled off his pads. After the dismissal of their captain Tamil Union capitulated losing their last five wickets for just 41 runs.The early part of the day had belonged to Tamil Union’s spin quartet. Led by the irrepressible Mutiah Muralitharan, who picked up five wickets for 15 runs, they ran through a powerful Colts batting line-up, taking nine of the ten wickets to fall.The only batsmen to prosper were Chaminda Mendis, with a diligent 35, and Kulatunga, with a sparkling 35, which included five boundaries. When this pair were separated after a stand of 67 the innings subsided and it was left to Eric Upasthantha to ensure respectability with what turned out to be a crucial 34 runs.

Despite losing 28 overs to rain on the first day of their Frizzell County Championship match against Gloucestershire at The Rose Bowl, Hampshire made up for lost time by dismissing their visitors for 185.In overcast conditions Gloucestershire’s makeshift captain Craig Spearman chose to bat first in winning the toss and despite losing Spearman early on to an inswinger from Wasim Akram, they prospered before lunch.Rain held up progress shortly after lunch, and it started Gloucestershire’s downfall. Hampshire’s four seam bowlers, Wasim Akram, Ed Giddins, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Alan Mullally shared the spoils as they took advantage of the conditions as wickets fell at steady intervals.Despite an old fashioned tail end flurry, Hampshire would have been well satisfied with their bowlers.The sun came out as the day drew to a close, as Derek Kenway and John Crawley negotiated the final 12 overs without scare.

Brendon McCullum has agreed to be a backup opener in the Test series in England as long as he can hand over his wicketkeeping duties to newcomer Gareth Hopkins. Though the squad includes other part-time openers, Peter Fulton and James Marshall, New Zealand coach John Bracewell said youngster Aaron Redmond will be given a chance and if he gets injured, McCullum will take over.”Brendon would play as a batter only and Hoppy [Hopkins] would come into the side as a keeper-batsman,” Bracewell told the New Zealand daily . “It would be unfair to ask Brendon to do both roles. I’ve spoken to him about that and said only injury will force a change. Brendon’s response was: if that’s the case he would prefer to do the one job.”Bracewell said the team management wanted Redmond to simply play off the back foot and defend, like former opener Mark Richardson did. “Aaron’s accomplished off the back foot and can rotate the strike and that was all Richardson could do. He [Aaron] is a guy who has taken on the opening position to become a Black Cap.”With no third specialist opener in the squad, Redmond is certain to make his Test debut this May. “The bottom line is, if you are looking for security, you can’t offer more to a new player than a year’s full wage [New Zealand contract],” Bracewell said. In preparation for the tour, Bracewell is getting the squad members to play with Duke balls used in England. “We ordered some in and the guys have been bowling with the Duke balls for the last month to make sure we are used to them and we’ve found out a couple of things about them.”

Scorecard

Andrew Hall held his nerve to bowl Worcestershire through to the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy final in a nail-biting and topsy-turvey semi-final against Lancashire at New Road. Mal Loye ended unbeaten on 116, but his brave effort was not enough as the Lancashire tail-enders lost their way.After being up against it for the majority if the match, Lancashire had the game in the bag needing only seven runs from the last over. But Hall (4 for 36) stayed calm and fired in the yorkers to great effect. He picked up two wickets and gave away only one run to take Worcestershire through to the final against Gloucestershire.Lancashire made a slow start to their chase of 255 and Nantie Hayward soon trapped Mark Chilton lbw with an inswinging yorker (15 for 1). Matthew Mayson then kept the pressure on with a superb spell of seam bowling (1 for 23 from 10 overs) and got his reward with the big wicket of Stuart Law, caught by Hall at second slip (70 for 2). Hall then got in the act with the two wickets of Carl Hooper and Andrew Flintoff, both lbw, and Lancashire had spluttered to 108 for 4.Meanwhile, Mal Loye stayed firm and gave Lancashire hope with his mixture of aggressive leg-side thwacks and sensible accumulation. He and Chris Schofield hauled Lancashire back in the game with a rollicking 63 stand in which Schofield savaged all before him in a cameo 32 from 31 balls. Gareth Batty may soon be an international, but Schofield – who is an international, in case you’ve forgotten – showed him no respect and crashed him for four boundaries in the 37th over to tilt the game in the balance.But Schofield soon found out that all good things come to an end when he slapped David Leatherdale to Hayward at mid-on (171 for 5). Glen Chapple, another new England call-up, kept Loye support and his enterprising 44 from 43 balls all but secured the tie for Lancashire. But when he was bowled by Kabir Ali going for another big hit, the game was thrown wide open. Warren Hegg and Peter Martin were bowled in the final over and John Wood run out as Lancashire self-destructed to a six-run loss.Hegg, the Lancashire captain, said before the game that Graeme Hick was Worcestershire’s dangerman, and his prediction was spot on, unlike his decision to bowl first. Hick belted 97 from 112 balls in a rollicking start. He got in to the groove straight away and he and the impressive Anurag Singh added 155 for the second wicket. The pair made the most of the good batting track and baking hot conditions as they cashed in on anything wide and short.Singh hit 63 from 104 when Lancashire made a much-needed breakthrough as Singh was caught by Schofield at point off Flintoff (159 for 2). Hick, who was dropped by Hegg in the thirties, continued to give it some humpty and clobbered 16 fours and was on course for another limited-overs century when Chapple struck to dislodge Hick when a leading edge flew to Carl Hooper at cover (191 for 3).Ben Smith (36) and Hall (26) kept up the momentum, and even though Hick’s wicket slightly took the wind out of their sails, their 254 for 5 was enough – just.

ScorecardSri Lanka A’s proud unbeaten record on their tour of England was in danger of being broken after the close of the third day of their tour match against Somerset at Taunton. After Neil Edwards and Ian Blackwell helped Somerset to 424 for 9 declared, Sri Lanka A then closed at 87 for 3.After Somerset resumed at 159 for 4, Edwards and Peter Bowler added 38 more in the morning before Edwards was trapped lbw by Kaushal Lokuarachchi for an impressive 93. But if Sri Lanka A then had any thoughts of wrapping up the remainder of the innings quickly, Blackwell put pay to that with another bustling innings.He muscled his way to 81 from 92 balls, featuring 11 fours and a six, and added 94 with Bowler, who was caught by Malintha Gajanayake off Gayan Wijekooon for 48. Aaron Laraman missed out on the run feast, bowled by Bathiya Perera for 1, but Gazzard joined in the fun with an unbeaten 44. He added 25 with Blackwell, who was stumped going for another big one off Suraj Mohamed, and then put on a stand of 74 with Gareth Andrew for the ninth wicket.Andrew scored a breezy 44, and then Richard Johnson, the last man in, scored 22 not out as Somerset declared on 424 for 9 at tea, with an imposing lead of 516.Sri Lanka A had the evening session to bat out, but they lost three batsmen. Ian Daniel fell early, caught by Wesley Durston off Johnson for 1, Johnson then struck again when Gajanayake was caught behind for 22, and Jeewan Mendis was caught off Laraman for 34. That left Jehan Mubarak and Perera holding things together, and it will be a matter of survival for them tomorrow standing 430 runs behind.

Injury-plagued paceman Jason Gillespie has declared himself fit for Australia’s tour of the West Indies after bowling for the first time since returning injured from the World Cup.Gillespie bowled just 18 deliveries at the Adelaide Oval nets, but it was enough to convince the fast bowler he had overcome a torn tendon in his right foot which ended his World Cup campaign.”Everything seemed to go well, it felt good and really positive,” Gillespie said.”Clinically my leg is fine now, the strength is getting back and just to have a bowl felt really good and I was more than happy with the result.”Gillespie said today’s brief net session, his first bowl for almost four weeks, assured he would join the Australian squad on Monday for departure to the West Indies and the four-Test series starting April 10 in Guyana.The South Australian has missed as much international cricket as he has played because of injury.”Injuries are part and parcel of being a fast bowler,” he said.”You try to avoid them anyway you can by your preparation and getting yourself ready as best you can for games.”If you do all that and you get injured there’s not really much that you can do.”I have changed a bit of my training methods to just try and adapt and put a bit less strain on the body and just try and get that strength there to get me through series and games.”A few years back when I broke my leg (in Sri Lanka in 1999) I certainly changed my whole training regime and it seemed to have worked.”I have had the odd injury here and there but nothing overly significant, sprains and strains.”They are disappointing but you have just got to get back and get yourself ready again.”Gillespie said his goals for the West Indies tour were simple: return to the Australian side and make an impact.”It’s a great tour and a great place to play cricket,” he said.”The sun is on your back all the time and in your downtime you can head down to the beach and just relax.”The conditions are quite tough for both batting and bowling and it’s a real test of your cricket nous.”The West Indies at home are a very tough side and you know you have to play very good cricket to win.”