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Trinidad and Tobago lacked fight in the Carib Beer Challenge final and the nine-wicket loss to Jamaica was a “real blot” on their season, according to their board president Deryck Murray. The team was skittled for 121 in the first innings and their second effort of 241 left Jamaica a target of just 70 to secure the title.”It’s easy to say this from 100 miles away but it didn’t look as though there was any real fight,” Murray told the . “That was the disappointing aspect.”You look back at the whole season and, yes, from the KFC Cup, the Carib Beer Series, the Stanford 20/20, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica dominated those series but they [Trinidad and Tobago] just didn’t look like that in the final. The final itself was the real blot.”However, Murray said the team’s season should be viewed in context and reaching the decider was a promising sign. But there was still significant work to do for Trinidad and Tobago to be consistently competitive, he said.”We played some very good games throughout. We in Trinidad and Tobago are enjoying success but that must not be allowed to mar the fact that there is still a big gap between the highest standard of Trinidad and Tobago’s cricket and what is expected at international level. We are aware of it. We need to keep working with the players.”

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Taposh Ghosh and Mahmudul Hasan put in all-round performances and ensured a 43-run win for the Bangladesh Under-19 side against their Sri Lanka counterparts in the Tri-nation U-19 tournament in Colombo. The two made useful contributions to Bangladesh’s total of 204 and then picked up five wickets between themselves as Sri Lanka were bowled out with 28 balls to spare.Hasan, the Bangladesh captain and middle-order batsman, kept the scoreboard ticking with a 47-ball 32 after Ashraful Aziz and Nasir Hossain had added 53 for the fourth wicket. Ghosh, coming in at No. 9, threw his bat around for a 20-ball 27 which included two fours and a six. Tissara Perera, Sri Lanka’s right-arm medium-fast bowler, took 3 for 38.Fifteen-year old Ghosh, bowling legbreaks, then proceeded to put a dent in Sri Lanka’s run-chase by removing opener and top-scorer Dinesh Chandimal for 36. Ghosh ended with figures 2 for 21 from his 10 overs. Hasan, 16, picked up 3 for 20 with his offbreaks. Along with Hossain and Ghosh, Hasan ensured that there was no possibility of the middle order staging any sort of recovery. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 161.The previous encounter between the two was washed out and while Bangladesh now have a win from two games, Sri Lanka have none. India won both their matches and are leading the table with six points. Sri Lanka next play India on Wednesday, July 25, at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground.

Sri Lanka’s improved showing in England has impressed Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, who has been observing their progress ahead of his team’s tour of Sri Lanka in August.Under the leadership of Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka dispelled the myth of being poor tourists by squaring the Test series 1-1, winning the five-match ODI series 3-0 with two games remaining and the one-off Twenty20 international. Arthur expects some tough competition when South Africa visit for two Tests and a tri-series also featuring India. South Africa haven’t won a Test series there since 1993 and struggled in their last tour in 2004, which included a 5-0 whitewash in the ODIs.”They (Sri Lanka) seem to have got it together and are playing really well”, Arthur told Supercricket. “Their confidence will be up, especially so when they’re back at home. The wickets will be tailor-made for Murali (Muralitharan) and they’ve also got Chaminda Vaas in their ranks. He gets really good swing early on and then mixes it up later. But he also runs down the wicket and creates a lot of rough for Murali.”However, Arthur pointed out that the success of the Sri Lankan side still revolves around a few individuals, even though youngsters like Upul Tharanga and Chamara Kapugedera have performed creditably.”They still rely heavily on Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara – they’re virtually the guts and soul of the team”, he said. “So, the first job for us is to neutralise them and really do our homework on them.”Arthur expects the pitches in Sri Lanka to be similar to what the South Africans would experience during next year’s World Cup in the West Indies . He made his observations after watching the ongoing third Test at St. Kitts between India and West Indies.He added, “A lot of the pitches in the West Indies are going to be relaid before the World Cup so nobody really knows what to expect. I’ll be flying over after the Champions Trophy (in October) to have a look.”

Pakistan’s legendary allrounder, Imran Khan, has backed England’s decision not to play a Test in Karachi during their tour of the country this winter.Imran, who captained Pakistan to World Cup glory in 1992 before retiring to enter into politics, told AFP that the decision was justified, given Karachi’s recent history of violence.”Until and unless the law-and-order situation is restored such things will happen,” said Imran. “When England’s security team was in Karachi the city mayor was quoted in newspapers as saying that next month’s local elections next month would cause bloodshed, and everyone took notice of it.”You can’t blame the Pakistan Cricket Board,” Imran added, “because in such a situation if they press for a Test in Karachi the whole tour might get jeopardised.” However cricket officials in Karachi vowed to protest the decision and hit out at the PCB for failing to argue the case for the country’s largest city.”England’s refusal to play a Test in Karachi is disappointing and we would protest over it,” Karachi City Cricket Association secretary Sirajul Islam Bukhari told AFP. “The PCB has failed to plead the case of Karachi.”Karachi is a safe place and in a population of 15 million one or two incidents are common. Colombo in Sri Lanka staged international matches when there was unrest, so why not Karachi?”Bukhari added that Karachi staged the 1996 World Cup successfully even though there was a curfew in some parts of the city. The three Tests proposed for the tour are now likely to take place in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan while Lahore will also stage two one-day internationals.England have agreed to play one one-day international in Karachi, and will decide in ten days’ time whether to play a second game as well. Two British security experts spent last week assessing security at various grounds in Pakistan, and two senior English cricket officials visited this week.Karachi has been rocked by a series of deadly shootings as well as a suicide bombing at a mosque and the burning-down of a KFC restaurant earlier this year. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Australia and West Indies have refused to play in Pakistan because of security fears. Karachi has been rejected as a Test venue by South Africa and India since a bomb blast outside New Zealand’s team hotel in May 2002, which killed 14 people including 11 French naval engineers.

Australia 120 and 221 for 2 (Gilchrist 140*, Martyn 64*) lead Sri Lanka 211 (Vaas 68*, Warne 5-65) by 130 runs
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In a stunning contrast to the first day, the bat held sway at Kandy on the second and Adam Gilchrist swung the momentum Australia’s way with an unbeaten hundred, full of grit and character after an unlikely and hugely entertaining 79-run last-wicket partnership between Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan had helped Sri Lanka gain a 91-run first-innings lead. At the end of day, Gilchrist and Damien Martyn had taken Australia to 221 for two and a lead of 130.Gilchrist, who came into the match with four ducks in his last seven visitsto the crease in Sri Lanka, made full use of the opportunity to bat up theorder after Ricky Ponting sprained his back, and rescued Australia with 140from 175 balls. It was not one of his blazing lower-order assaults, but it was still aggressive and studded with three sixes and 19 fours.Gilchrist was supported by Martyn, who played a more subdued hand, scoring 64 from 140 balls, and provided the perfect counterfoil to Gilchrist’s aggression. The pair settled in on a pitch that had lost its menace, and added a record 195 for the third wicket, surpassing Australia’s previous highest third-wicket stand against Sri Lanka.Australia’s lead may already look imposing when compared to the first-innings scores, but this is a pitch that should get better and better for batting. Just two months ago a world record was set on a similar surface at the same venue when a team chased a 512-run target. Australia have their noses ahead, but Sri Lanka are by no means out of the game.Vaas led Sri Lanka’s morning recovery, carrying the attack to Australia’s bowlers with an unbeaten 68. But his innings was overshadowed by Muralitharan, who chipped, swatted and swung his way to 43 from 28 balls, whacking three sixes and five fours.Sri Lanka, starting the day on 92 for 7 with the match poised on a knife-edge, quickly wiped away the 28-run deficit and then secured a useful 91-run lead – a lead that would have been beyond their wildest dreams before the start of play. Vaas and Muralitharan played a large part, frustrating Australia with an entertaining 79-run stand for the last wicket, delighting a small crowd of locals as they swung the initiative back to Sri Lanka.Australia’s morning was made worse by an injury to Ponting, who sprained his back after his spikes got caught in the sponsor’s advertising mats. Ponting left the field for treatment immediately and received treatment throughout the afternoon.Australia went to lunch on 11 for 0 but lost Matthew Hayden (5) to the first ball of the afternoon, with Chaminda Vaas pocketing a simple return catch on his follow-through off the bat and front pad. Australia’s woes deepened five overs later when Justin Langer wafted airily outside off and nicked a thin edge off Nuwan Zoysa (26 for 2).Fortunately for Australia, Gilchrist batted himself back into form. He played edgily at the start, flirting outside his off stump without conviction, but gradually slotted back into his dangerous free-scoring groove. As the afternoon drew to a close, he slipped into top gear, sweeping with tremendous power and lofting down the ground.Martyn lived even more dangerously at the start as an edge flew low to Mahela Jayawardene at second slip before he had scored. He also came perilously close to being trapped lbw by Vaas a short while later. But like Gilchrist, he eventually bedded down and was then rarely troubled.Earlier, Nuwan Zoysa signalled Sri Lanka’s positive intentions early with a majestic cover-drive for four. But Zoysa did not last long as he groped tentatively at a wide delivery from Michael Kasprowicz and was caught behind. Lokuarachchi might have been dismissed off the next ball, but the inside edge just evaded Adam Gilchrist.Lokuarachchi, who was included in the side in place of Upul Chandana, showedsome class with a glorious back-foot cover-drive off Kasprowicz. But he wasless assured against Warne and eventually skied a simple catch to short fineleg as he tried to sweep (132 for 9).At this stage, considering their meltdown the previous evening, Sri Lanka would have settled for a handful of lusty blows from Muralitharan. But Muralitharan did that and more, as he indulged in an orgy of hitting – an innings that showed complete disregard to any classical batting theory.Most of the crowd collapsed in laughter at his antics, but Kasprowicz, who finished with 4 for 83, could be forgiven for not being amused after being hit out of the attack as Muralitharan clubbed 16 runs off an over, including one sweet blow onto the steps of the lime-green old pavilion.The carnage continued against the spinners too, as sixes were heaved overmidwicket off Warne and Stuart MacGill. But just then, on the verge of a fifty, Muralitharan skied a catch to mid-on. Warne, the wicket-taker, finished with 5 for 65 from 20.1 overs, his third consecutive five-wicket haul since returning to the national side in Galle.

Apart from providing the fastest ever ICC Cricket World Cup century – John Davison (67 balls) and fastest ever ICC Cricket World Cup fifty – Brian Lara (23 balls) there were a few other features of this match.West Indies innings produced the fastest runs per over ever in an ODI innings at 10.04 runs per over.Fastest scoring ODI innings:

RPO Score Overs For Against Venue Season10.04 206-3 20.3 West Indies Canada Centurion 2002/039.56 118-0 12.2 Australia England Sydney 2002/039.23 40-1 4.2 Sri Lanka Zimbabwe Colombo-SSC 2001/029.12 181-3 19.5 Australia Bangladesh Chester-le-Street 19999.08 109-0 12 South Africa Bangladesh Bloemfontein 2002/038.80 132-1 15 India Bangladesh Colombo-SSC 1997/988.69 142-1 16.2 Pakistan Holland Colombo-SSC 2002/038.50 136-1 16 Zimbabwe Kenya Bulawayo 2002/038.32 111-2 13.2 West Indies Australia Sydney 1988/898.31 219-1 26.2 Pakistan India Lahore 1997/98Note that there is no qualification on this table.

There were 15 sixes struck in the match. This is the sixth most ever in an ODI.Most Sixes in an ODI:

Sixes Home Away Venue Season21 Sri Lanka Kenya Kandy 1995/9620 Pakistan Sri Lanka Nairobi 1996/9720 New Zealand Australia Christchurch 1999/0019 Pakistan Sri Lanka Singapore 1995/9616 Zimbabwe Pakistan Bulawayo 2002/03

Dr Mtutulezi Nyoka is to pursue his challenge for the presidency of the United Cricket Board despite the probability that the leaking of a letter at the weekend deeply critical of Percy Sonn may have irreparably damaged his chances of unseating the current president."I have no intention of withdrawing my nomination," Nyoka said on Monday night."I will be standing against Mr Sonn even if I get no votes at all."Nyoka denied he had leaked the letter, written more than five weeks ago to the provincial affiliates, in which he charged that Sonn intended to use the elite Scorpions unit to investigate him, allegedly for misusing his position on the World Cup policy committee for personal gain. The letter also claims that Sonn refused to apologise for saying that the Minister of Sport, Ngconde Balfour, had been talking "shit" after he had addressed a UCB executive committee meeting in May.Sonn has dismissed the allegations as "nonsense"."If I had wanted to leak the letter myself, why would I have waited since June 25 to do so," said Nyoka.Whoever leaked the letter to certain sections of the South Africa media on Saturday, however, the effect has probably been to scupper Nyoka’s election bid.Several provincial officials offered the view that Nyoka’s challenge would have been handicapped in the first instance by his relative lack of experience in cricket administration – he was elected chairman of the Gauteng Cricket Board only a week ago. The fact that he seems to have breached the confidentiality of the committee room would be further held against him.Whatever the merits, or otherwise, of either man’s candidacy, South African cricket is still trying to come to terms with the match-fixing scandal, not to mention the dope-smoking affair that tarnished the otherwise successful tour of the Caribbean. The sport can ill-afford an election battle characterised by public mud-slinging

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:43

Agarkar: South Africa will be gutted by result

South Africa’s batsmen could not pull off a successful chase of what seemed to be a below-par target as India, led by their spinners and MS Dhoni’s unbeaten 92, leveled the series with a 22-run win and maintained their 100% record at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. Axar Patel and Harbhajan Singh shared five wickets between them to defend India’s total of 247, a score they reached only due to the impetus from Dhoni late in the innings.Dhoni’s knock was in part an answer to those who questioned both his form and his formula as a leader after India lost the T20 series and fell behind in this one. He played a steely innings to take India from a precarious 165 for 7 – founded on Ajinkya Rahane’s 51- to a total they could work with, and then put on an animated display in the field to inspire his attack. India kept South Africa under pressure throughout the chase and then pushed them out of the game in the 44th over to secure a morale-boosting victory.With 10 overs left in the India innings, after Dhoni had decided to bat first, the hosts’ spirits would not have been too high. They had lost Rohit Sharma, their highest run-scorer against South Africa across all the matches so far, to a full, fast Kagiso Rabada delivery, which was only the 10th of the innings. Virat Kohli had been run out cheaply. Suresh Raina had not even scored a run, and Dhoni was batting with the tail.Only Rahane had given India something to be proud of at that point, patiently seeing off the pressure period at the beginning, taking boundaries off Dale Steyn. who found some early swing, and selecting shots carefully against the rest of South Africa’s seamers. His ramp shot off Morne Morkel, which brought up his fifty off 59 balls, was the pick of his placements. But Rahane did not last too long after that, and was bowled around his legs by Imran Tahir.Dhoni batted briefly with Rahane – for 28 balls – but then quickly saw the team situation deteriorate swiftly. After the dismissals of both Rahane and Raina in quick succession, there were no more specialist batsmen to come, and there was still more than half an innings to play out. The stage was set for Dhoni to do what Dhoni does best.However, Dhoni, the man dubbed “captain cool”, seemed to be taking it a little too easy at the start. Dhoni took his time establishing himself, partly because he had to protect his line-up and partly because AB de Villiers had strategised carefully enough to stall India. De Villiers always had an attacking bowler in operation. When he took Morkel off, he brought Rabada on, and when he took Rabada off, he brought Steyn on. Even when de Villiers had JP Duminy operating at one end, there was always reason for Dhoni to be cautious. And So he was.Dhoni’s first real Dhoni-shot came only after Axar Patel had been dismissed and the end was nearing. He out-thought Duminy, who had been trying to lure him with deliveries outside off and then delivered one on leg, by pre-empting the line and smacking it over square leg. But Dhoni went quiet again.It was only with 10 overs to go and three wickets in hand that Dhoni was cleared for take off. He took runs off Rabada, which few had dared to do until then. He laid into Duminy, who he brought up his fifty off. He showed both finesse and muscle against Imran Tahir. He even encouraged Harbhajan to go on the attackDhoni looked set for a century, but had to settle for eight less. More importantly, he ensured India were at the crease for the full 50 overs. South Africa did not last theirs.At first, it seemed they would not need to. Hashim Amla and de Kock started solidly and scored 36 runs off the first six overs to ensure they were well on track. But the introduction of spin spelled early trouble; Amla walked out of his crease to heave Axar away, but missed and was stumped. India had an opening which became bigger when de Kock, who was gaining in confidence against the spinners, gained far too much and holed out to Harbhajan.Still, India were far from being in the driving seat, especially with two of South Africa’s most experienced players in the middle. Fad du Plessis was joined by JP Duminy, instead of AB de Villiers who tweaked his lower back. The pair persisted long enough to post the highest partnership of the match. Their 82-run stand started with seven boundaryless overs, but they rotated strike well and eventually found the lapses in India’s game.India finally made a breakthrough when Duminy missed a sweep off Axar to give the hosts a way back in. Two overs later, du Plessis’ concentration cracked and he could not keep a drive off Axar down. Kohli had to jump to reach the ball, but held on well.David Miller, the next man in, lasted only one ball, leaving de Villiers to win it on his own. De Villiers threatened to do it with some big shots off Bhuvneshwar, but flat-batted Mohit Sharma to cover where Kohli was the man to complete the catch again.Farhaan Behardien has proved a handy finisher and even though South Africa still needed 81 runs when de Villiers was dismissed, he seemed up to the task. Behardien let Dale Steyn strike a few big hits, ushered Rabada through a small stand, but was then given a raw deal, out caught behind off Harbhajan to a ball replays showed he did not hit. South Africa’s challenge ended there, as Bhuvneshwar soon cleaned up the tail to keep India on level terms in the series.

Somerset obtained the fifth batting point – their maximum for thefirst time this season – and secured their First Division status atthe end of the third day of their County Championship Division Twomatch against Leicestershire at Taunton.Somerset resumed on 273 for 6 and declared their innings at lunch at411 for 7 in 103 overs with Ian Blackwell scoring 109. Having startedthe day at 40, Blackwell shared a seventh wicket stand of 124 withPeter Bowler (38 not out). Jason Kerr (19 not out) and Bowler battedon for Somerset to get the fifth batting point.Leicestershire started off poorly having lost Ian Sutcliffe early.Then Darren Maddy (102) and Ben Smith (69) put on 148 for the secondwicket when Smith was out to Graham Rose. Maddy got out after scoringhis century and Darren Stevens quickly followed for a duck while AftabHabib was 34 not out at the close. Leicestershire ended the day at 233for 4 in 69 overs.

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

Partisan fans at the Feroz Shah Kotla were treated to a cracker of a match as the Chennai Super Kings pulled off a dramatic last-ball win, sneaking past Delhi Daredevils’ total of 187 for 5 by four wickets. Chennai’s chase veered from the authoritative to the bumbling but they kept their nerves and put an end to their three-game losing streak, thanks largely to some fearless hitting right through the order.Chennai recovered somewhat to restrict the hosts to under 200 after Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan added a record third-wicket partnership of 121 and that, in hindsight, proved critical before a thrilling chase helped them get back to their winning ways.Chennai were given a 62-run start inside seven overs with S Vidyut, promoted to open in place of Parthiv Patel, batting purposefully. Both Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif were unusually off-key in their first overs and Vidyut handled the short and full deliveries admirably, stepping out to meet the ball. Asif’s first over went for 15, with Vidyut taking two fours and Stephen Fleming playing a gorgeous cover drive, and the sixth over, bowled by Yo Mahesh, cost 20 with both openers clubbing the width.Vidyut fell for 40 from 23 balls, attempting another pull but Fleming, finding rhythm after three poor innings, kept the momentum with Chennai. Initially a watchful spectator with Vidyut cashing in on some short-pitched stuff, he played some eye-catching square-drives and cuts. Shoaib Malik bowled a poor line and Fleming kept McGrath busy at square leg with powerful sweeps.With Mahendra Singh Dhoni keeping the ball along the grass, Fleming went for his shots except that a flat hard drive found AB de Villiers at cover. Suresh Raina steered a simple catch to backward point four balls later and Chennai failed to score a boundary for 16 deliveries. Albie Morkel made up with 25 off a Virender Sehwag over, swung into motion by three consecutive sixes, but the bowler had his revenge of sorts with a direct hit from mid-on sent Morkel running on his way to the pavilion.Dhoni threatened to seal the deal with a sensible hand but Yo Mahesh returned to snap up two wickets in the 19th over – one down to a stunning catch from de Villiers, running in from long-on – and that left Chennai with 15 to get off six balls. Sehwag gave the task to Malik and it proved a disaster. Manpreet Gony slogged the first ball over midwicket for six, a wide followed, easing the pressure further, and a thick edge past the wicketkeeper sent the crowd into silence. A single to mid-on set the stage for S Badrinath, who tied the scores with a chip over the covers for two, and won it with another over mid-on.The afternoon began with two of Delhi’s most reliable top-order batsmen welcoming Dhoni’s decision to field first – for the first time in the tournament – with a record 121-run stand in 12.4 overs after early trouble. Sehwag flickered with whips off the pads and a ramrod-straight drive before a crushing yorker from Gony breached his defence. Morkel, sharing the new ball in Makhaya Ntini’s absence, produced a pearl to clean up de Villiers first ball to make it 46 for 2 in the sixth over.Gambhir bottom-edged Muttiah Muralitharan’s first delivery narrowly past off stump and between Dhoni’s legs for four and was offered a freaky slice of luck a couple balls later when Murali’s flick back onto the stumps dislodged the bails a fraction too late. Loosening his shoulders after that last reprieve, Gambhir nudged to fine leg, flicked over midwicket, and flat-batted through the covers.A massive six over mid-on raised Gambhir’s fourth IPL half-century from 35 balls and earned him back the orange cap from Sehwag, and he proceeded to drill three consecutive fours in the 15th over to jack the run rate up near nine. He fell trying to steer one past backward point, for a 49-ball 80, and Dhawan fell shortly afterwards for a 46-ball 59 in the penultimate over. Delhi’s decision to bring in Manoj Tiwary over Rajat Bhatia cost them a fifth bowler, and that hurt them plenty.