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North Central Province 68 for 0 (Gunawardene 37*, Kalavitigoda 19*) trail Western Province 228 (Mubarak 82, Ramyakumara 3-24) by 160 runs
ScorecardJehan Mubarak’s dogged 82 rescued Western Province from a dismal start to their match against North Central at the SSC in Colombo, after a thrilling burst from Gayan Wijekoon had reduced Western to 14 for 3 after five overs. Wijekoon, a left-arm seamer, removed the talented trio of Ian Daniel, Upul Thuranga and Russel Arnold all for ducks, and when Michael Vandort fell to Chanaka Welegedara for 34, they really were on the ropes at 53 for 4.But Hashan Tillekaratne and Mubarak sowed the seeds of recovery, before the wicketkeeper Rashan Peiris chipped in with a valuable 19 in a sixth-wicket stand of 61. From 216 for 7, Farveez Maharoof then lopped off the tail with three quick wickets to bowl Western Province out for 228, although North Central were in the ascendancy by the close, as Avishka Gunawardene and Shantha Kalavitigoda added 68 unbeaten runs for the first wicket.Southern Province 293 for 9 (Suraj 71*, Malinga 8*) v Central Province
ScorecardSuraj Mohamed demonstrated a never-before-seen batting prowess to flip Southern Province’s fortunes on their head against Central Province at Kandy. Suraj, whose previous highest first-class score was 19, finished the day unbeaten on 71, after hauling Southern from a wobbly 154 for 7 to a promising 293 for 9 at the close.The day started badly for Southern, as Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya fell cheaply, closely followed by their international colleague, Saman Jayantha (29 for 3). Anushka Polonowita and Indika de Sarem rebuilt the innings with a composed stand of 99, but Polonowita’s dismissal triggered a collapse of four wickets for 26 runs. Suraj was on hand, however, to stem the demise.

Justin Langer believes the Ashes series has been the best he has played in, but he joined Matthew Hayden in predicting Australia would retain the urn at The Oval. The pair said after the tour match against Essex the pressure was on England and if Australia performed at their best the absorbing contest would be drawn 2-2.”That’s not being arrogant, that’s just a fact,” Langer told . “With the experience and the statistics we’ve got in our change room we’ll win Test matches.”Hayden, who made 150 before retiring against Essex, said if England pushed for a draw in the fifth Test, which starts on Thursday, they would “play into our hands”. “There is no doubt they won’t play any differently, but there are a lot of ways we can play differently,” he said in . “We just have to elevate our mindset and I think we can do it. All the pressure is off us now. We can just play our game. If we play like we can, it will be better than England. No question.”Langer and Hayden were brought together as an opening combination at The Oval four years ago and since then have shared 4718 runs in 51 Tests, and are behind only Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, who scored 6482 runs together in 89 matches. However, the form of Hayden this series threatens to end the relationship at the same ground, and the Ashes could go with him.”If we were to lose this series 3-1, worst-case scenario, I would look back on this and say it’s the best series I’ve ever played in,” Langer said. “I would play this series again and again over perhaps New Zealand at the end of last summer or some of the other series we’ve played over the last few years.”I know some of our guys are enjoying it, and some of them perhaps aren’t because the results aren’t quite there. We’ll be better for it, individually and as a team, there’s no doubt about that. To me it’s a buzz to be in this situation.”

Test-match centuries are becoming second nature to Andrew Strauss. Today’s 147 at the Wanderers was his third in four Tests this series, and his fifth in 11 since making his debut at Lord’s last May. By the close, however, his untimely late dismissal had taken the gloss off a fine day for England, as he readily admitted afterwards."I was guilty of getting out at a bad time," he said, after falling to the second new ball with just eight scheduled overs remaining. "It’s tricky to change your mode of batting from the old ball to the new so I was disappointed with that, and to lose [Graham] Thorpe as well. But it was a pretty good day, so we mustn’t don’t lose sight of that."After winning their first toss of the series, England had to endure a typically tricky period in the first hour of the day, but they came through unscathed and were set up for the day. "There was a bit of lateral movement in the first hour," said Strauss, "and Shaun Pollock is always going to be there or thereabouts. But after that, the ball started coming onto the bat better and it became easier to drive, and the outfield gave pretty good value for shots as well."The backbone of England’s innings was provided by a second-wicket stand of 182 between Strauss and Robert Key, who made 83. "I enjoy batting with Rob," said Strauss. "We were at the academy together and we made a big stand against the West Indies at Lord’s, so I’m familiar with him. He’s pretty miserable out there really! He’s always complaining and moaning about everything in life – not enough sun and what have you. But he’s laid-back at the crease and good fun to bat with."Strauss, as everyone now knows, was born in Johannesburg, but he emphasised that he had left the city at such a young age that it was difficult to get carried away by the significance of a century in his home-town. "Every hundred is a great occasion," he said, "and this one is no different. This is an important game – we are one-all with two to play, and it was important to get stuck in to push ourselves into a position of ascendancy."When I kept playing and missing at Pollock, I thought I must have done something right in a past life," he added. "But when you’re in good form you’ve got to try and ride the wave for as long as possible. We all know what bad form is like – you start wondering where your next run is coming from. But I’ll just watch each ball as hard as possible and drag this form out for as long as possible."Generally, it’s been a pretty good day," he concluded. "There’s a tinge of disappointment that it finished in the manner that it did, but if we get over the first hour tomorrow, there’s no reason why we can’t get a good score. From the position we’re now in, we’ve got to go 400-plus, I should think."

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Before the start of this first one-day international between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, it was widely expected that the inexperienced new Zimbabwean team would be humiliated. In fact, it was a lukewarm Sri Lankan team that had to fight hard in the end to avoid embarrassment. It took a fine unbeaten 73 from Kumar Sangakkara, and a bit of help from Messrs Duckworth and Lewis method, to end Zimbabwe’s resistance.Except at the start and finish of the match, Sri Lanka were unimpressive, perhaps unable to motivate themselves properly knowing they were facing a stand-in Zimbabwe team with an average age of 21. But Zimbabwe put in a highly spirited allround performance and gave the tourists a several shocks before finally going down. The catalyst was their Man of the Match Tatenda Taibu, who hit a superb unbeaten 96 on his captaincy debut, when all seemed lost with the Zimbabwe batting.The partnership between Taibu and Alester Maregwede turned the Zimbabweinnings round from a precarious 79 for 5 in the 25th over. When Maregwede finally holed out on the long-on boundary for 37, respectability at least was assured.On a good pitch, Marvan Atapattu won the toss for Sri Lanka and amazedeverybody by putting Zimbabwe in to bat. Good, accurate bowling by Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa, both obtaining a little movement in the air and off the pitch, proved too much for Zimbabwe’s raw opening pair of Vusi Sibanda and Brendan Taylor, who both fell without scoring. Zimbabwe were two down after two overs, the only run on the board being a leg-bye.This brought Taibu to the crease for the start of the third over. DionEbrahim batted doggedly with him for 13, but never looked confident, while Elton Chigumbura, also made 13 in a brief cameo. But the situation looked bleak until Maregwede joined Taibu.Mluleki Nkala also played above himself with some powerful strokes in an unbeaten 33 at the end, including two sixes over midwicket. But Muttiah Muralitharan was surprisingly ineffective later in the innings, taking 1 for 47 in his 10 overs. Vaas, with 1 for 9 in his first seven, had his figures spoilt to the effect of 1 for 31 off ten, while Zoysa, who did not bowl at the death, was the pick with 3 for 21.Sanath Jayasuriya showed Sri Lanka’s intentions by lashing the first ball of the innings through the covers for four, but had just 9 to his name when he edged a catch to first slip, giving Tinashe Panyangara a wicket with only his second ball in international cricket. Atapattu was then adjudged lbw to Douglas Hondo without scoring, but Kumara Sangakkara began aggressively and was 18 not out off 13 balls when the rain came.The target was adjusted to 173 off 33 overs when play finally restarted. Mahela Jayawardene fell for 5, holing out at long leg, and the pinch-hitter Nuwan Zoysa made a brisk 14, but at 77 for 4 the match was still in the balance. The run rate, however, was good, and so that pressure was lacking as Tillakaratne Dilshan joined Sangakkara at the crease.This pair took Sri Lanka home by way of steady ones and twos rather than spectacular strokes. After 27 overs, though, the light had deteriorated and the batsmen accepted the offer of the umpires to leave the field. They were 12 runs ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis asking-rate at that stage, with Dilshan having contributed a valuable unbeaten 35.Sri Lanka kept their honour, but they will start the second match onThursday more warily than they did this one. As for Zimbabwe, theysurprised this time, playing above themselves, but adrenaline will notsuffice for ever and the fear remains that their serious lack of depth will soon be exposed.

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Rohan Gavaskar was the only East Zone batsmen who withstood Jai Prakash Yadav’s outstanding spell of 5 for 94 that helped dismiss East for 245 on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy match at Indore. In reply, Central Zone were 40 for 3 at stumps.East started badly after Sourav Ganguly won the toss and batted. They were reduced to 16 for 3 and kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Ganguly himself making just 16. Gavaskar’s 106 formed the backbone of the innings and only Debasish Mohanty provided him with any sort of support during his 46.East’s seamers inflicted damage on Central Zone by dismissing their openers for just 35 and Ashok Dinda, playing only his fourth first-class match, took Naman Ojha’s wicket at the stroke of stumps.
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Half-centuries from Robin Uthappa and Venugopal Rao along with several other nuggety contributions from South Zone’s batsmen helped them reach 281 for 9 on the first day against West Zone at Gwalior.VVS Laxman didn’t cash in on winning the toss – he was out for 15 – but Uthappa and Rao bolstered the innings. S Badrinath also chipped in with 42 as South Zone strung together a succession of useful partnerships. Zaheer Khan was West’s stand-out bowler with three wickets while Ramesh Powar and Sairaj Bahutule took two each.

England 254 for 9 (Edwards 81) beat South Africa 216 (Logtenberg 76, Birch 5-50) by 38 runs
ScorecardCharlotte Edwards made 81, and Rosalie Birch produced a fine allround performance with 5 for 50 and 42 not out, as England’s women sealed the five-match one-day series against South Africa in emphatic fashion.After losing a thrilling opening match by one wicket, England stormed to victory in the remaining four games, wrapping the series up with a 38-run win at Potchefstroom. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, England rattled up an imposing total of 254 for 9, and though South Africa were given a sniff of victory by their prolific 15-year old, Johmari Logtenberg, they fell away badly after a wretched collapse.With Laura Newton playing the anchor role, England added 95 for their first wicket and had reached 141 for 2 when the innings hit a rocky patch. First Clare Connor was stumped off Charlize van der Westhuizen for 4, and then Edwards and Lydia Greenway were run out in quick succession. Arran Brindle’s cheap dismissal made it 176 for 6, but Birch caned the South African bowlers for three fours and a six in her 38-ball innings.South Africa began their reply steadily, but when Logtenberg began to cut loose, they were looking capable of a pride-salvaging victory. Birch, however, came into the attack to twirl through the innings. First she bowled Alison Hodgkinson for 21, and then, when Logtenberg had fallen to Connor for 76 from 73 balls, she carved through the tail, as five wickets fell for 10 runs. The No. 11, Ashlyn Kilowan, restored some pride by hoofing a six, but England had already made sure of their win.

A forthright 94* from Mark Wallace, supported by a fine 70 by Matthew Maynard, plus a resolute 66from Adrian Dale, saw Glamorgan finish the second day of their Championship matchagainst Durham at Cardiff on 331/6, just 24 runs behind the visitors, with four wickets in hand.The day had begun with Glamorgan polishing off the Durham innings inside five overs, as thevisitors added just 2 more runs to their overnight score of 353, with Michael Kasprowiczbowling Phillips and Robert Croft having Mark Davies caught behind to finish with 6/98.Glamorgan then suffered an early setback as they lost Jimmy Maher in the 7th over when theleft-hander was caught at backward point driving at Neil Killeen. His opening partner Jonathan Hughescontinued to play fluently against the seam bowlers, and had struck 7 boundarieswhen he was bowled in Bridge`s second over, after Jon Lewis opted for left-arm spinrather than seam at the Cathedral Road End.The introduction of Phillips` off-spin at the River Taff End put a brake on Glamorgan`s progress,before Dale broke the shackles by hitting Bridge for two successive fours through the off-side. After acircumspect start before lunch, Mike Powell appeared to grow in confidence after the interval, twicedriving Phillips to the boundary for four, but Phillips gained his revenge with a classicoff-spinners dismissal as Powell popped up a ball to Peng at short-leg after after 47with Dale.Dale continued to play patiently, reaching his half century after facing 127 balls and striking 7fours, but on 66 he drove Phillips to mid wicket where Gary Pratt took a good diving catch tomake it 161-3. Glamorgan mighyt have lost a fourth wicket, but Matthew Maynard had a life on 11as Vince Wells failed to cling onto a top edge from an attempted sweep,Maynard continued to play patiently up until tea before before unleashing some furious strokes after tea,hitting Phillips for three fours in an over after he switched to the Cathedral Road End, toreach his half century from 82 balls with 7 fours. Four more crisp boundaries saw Maynard to 70,but he was then trapped leg before by Bridge, after adding 84 runs in 37 overs with Mark Wallace.Wallace continued to play some sweetly timed drives, and he became the third Glamorgan man to the fiftymark with his ninth four that bisected the two gullies that Lewis had placed in an attempt tosnaffle the Glamorgan wicket-keeper.With Croft dropping anchor at the other end, Wallace continued to punish anything offline, andthe doughty Glamorgan wicket-keeper played a delightful array of shots all around the wicket. Healso used his feet to nullify any threat from the Durham spinners, and together with Croft he had added86 runs for the sixth wicket when the day`s play ended in identical fashion to the first, as Croft wasdismissed leg before by the penultimate delivery of the day.However, Wallace remains just 6 runs short of his first Championship century of the season, and if he continues to playassertively with the remaining batsmen, he should help Glamorgan build a useful first innings lead.

Bangladesh’s cricketers hit out at arrangements that saw them fly economy class even as their hosts flew executive class on their flight to Multan ahead of the third Test on Wednesday.While the entire Pakistani squad flew executive class, only Dav Whatmore, manager MA Latif, physio John Gloster and trainer Dean Woodford were allotted executive class seats. According to , Bangladesh’s liaison officer explained the arrangement by saying that the list of the touring squad had been received late.One Bangladesh cricketer, who remained anonymous, said: “We have never heard of such silly excuses. Whenever any foreign team tours Bangladesh, we book the best hotel for them. We even compromise with our comfort by moving to a cheaper hotel to accommodate the guests. The Pakistani authorities should have had the decency to do the same.”Whatmore was more vocal. “This is not a good gesture. If there was any problem, the home team should have taken the economy class and offered the executive class to the Bangladesh team. I have never seen anything like this in my life.” Whatmore had even offered his and Woodford’s seats to Khaled Mahmud, Bangladesh’s captain, and his deputy Habibul Bashar. “If required I will sit in the economy class and leave my seat to my captain. It’s a matter of prestige.”But a spokesman for the Pakistan Cricket Board denied that the Bangladesh side had been victimised. “There is a player contract with the Pakistan team that stipulates domestic travel for the team be executive class. The plane to Multan was a small one with only 25 seats thus the manager and officials were flown executive class.”He added that on the longer flight between Karachi and Peshawar, made on a bigger Airbus, both sides flew executive class.International Cricket Council regulations stipulate that touring teams must be flown in at least economy-class for internal flights, while overseas and long-distance flights must be undertaken in a higher class.

Close Indians 266 for 9 (Ramesh 87, Tendulkar 80, Parthiv 52*) v Victoria
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Contrasting half-centuries by Sachin Tendulkar and Sadagoppan Ramesh, and some spunky resistance by Parthiv Patel, saved India’s blushes as they put in a below-par performance on their first day of the Australian tour. After winning the toss and opting to bat against Victoria at Melbourne, they were restricted to 266 for 9, with three of their top six failing to reach double figures.Tendulkar (80) and Ramesh (87) added 128 for the fourth wicket to bail the Indians out after a wobbly start, but Mathew Inness, the left-arm seamer, and Cameron White, the 20-year-old legspinner, chipped away at the Indian batting to ensure that Victoria had the better of the proceedings. Inness finished the day with 4 for 64 – the highlight being his domination of Rahul Dravid, whom he kept runless for 20 balls before dismissing him with the 21st – while White mopped up the tail with 4 for 59.The decision to bat backfired when Akash Chopra (2), Virender Sehwag (23) and Dravid (0) perished early. Chopra was caught at the wicket off Brett Harrop in the fourth over of the match (8 for 1), while Sehwag flourished briefly, hitting five fours before chipping a drive off Inness to Brad Hodge at mid-off (41 for 2). When Dravid perished, driving at a wide ball to Jonathon Moss at point, the Indian innings was in danger of unravelling rather quickly (45 for 3).

Tendulkar played out a few quiet overs before lunch, then went into overdrive soon after the resumption. Favouring the horizontal-bat strokes, Tendulkar latched on to anything even fractionally off length, cutting and pulling with gusto. Harrop and Andrew McDonald, both right-arm seamers, felt the heat when Tendulkar raced from 8 to 41 off only 20 balls.At the other end, Ramesh demonstrated the kind of concentration he is often accused of lacking. He did show a few flourishes as he grew in confidence, creaming Inness for two fours in the over before tea, but for the large part, it was an innings characterised by resolute defence and self-discipline.Tendulkar’s assault lit up the afternoon session, though, as the run-rate spurted from a less than two an over to more than three. The innings was motoring along – and a hundred was there for the taking for Tendulkar – when Inness returned to pull things back with two wickets in one over.First, Tendulkar drove off the back foot and was caught by David Hussey at point (173 for 4). Five balls later, Sourav Ganguly was back in the hutch too. After getting off the mark with a pleasing drive through cover for a couple, he flicked one straight to Jason Arnberger at midwicket (175 for 5).Ramesh carried on, though, adding 45 for the sixth wicket with Parthiv before driving at White and giving Harrop a low catch in the covers. Ramesh consumed 191 balls for his 87, and with the two first-choice openers failing in this match, firmly staked his claim early in the series.Parthiv started off cautiously, but with wickets falling at the other end, he soon became more adventurous, slapping Inness over point and then flicking him to square leg for fours. Nehra bettered Dravid’s effort earlier in the day, staying runless for 25 balls and allowing Parthiv to reach a well-deserved half-century.

Pop music, waiters in fancy dress, two England players flaunting their new coloured uniforms for the cameras, and all for the launch of a new 20-over tournament – it’s just not cricket. Well, according to the ECB it is, actually – only with more fun.At yesterday’s launch of the Twenty20 Cup, Tim Lamb, the ECB chief executive, claimed this was the most revolutionary step in the English game since the Gillette Cup was born in 1963. Revolutionary means change, and change doesn’t go down well with the stereotypical one man and his dog, filling in their scorecards on a wet Wednesday at Worcester. The ECB (all hip and trendy in their open-collared shirts) know that, but they don’t care.”The beauty of cricket is that because it’s so versatile and flexible, the more traditional spectator can leave Twenty20, and come back to Test or county cricket if he prefers,” Lamb said. “Spectators have the adaptability to see what they want, and enjoy it.”So exactly what sort of spectator are the ECB hoping to attract with their new all-singing, all-dancing spectacle? Stuart Robertson, the head of marketing for the ECB, said that although they’re still welcome, the upper-class middle-aged man is not who they are hoping will come in their droves – it’s the two million cricket-playing schoolchildren, women and their families who are top of the hit list.And they’ve done their best to reel them in – with all sorts of things that don’t have anything much to do with cricket. Pop bands, karaoke, barbecues and beer tents are just a few of the side attractions on offer, while some of the counties have already got in to the party spirit. Worcestershire will have a jacuzzi, Glamorgan a fancy-dress theme, Hampshire will have a mock-up living room to watch the game from, and samba bands will be shaking their stuff at Durham.And there are all sorts of shenanigans taking place on the pitch too. The players will be miked up to the commentary box, enabling some “hilarious banter” with the Sky Sports TV team (don’t hold your breath), and the incoming batsman will wait for his turn in the dugout, while being interviewed.While all this razzmatazz was being unveiled, David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, went as far to say that the competition would help England to become the best one-day international team. A bit over the top, perhaps, but Graveney was attempting to get one over on an esteemed Times correspondent, who claimed that the Twenty20 Cup had no purpose.So while opinion remains divided in the public and the media, what do the players think about it all? Chris Adams, the Sussex captain – fresh from a matchwinning innings against Hampshire in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy – admitted to having his doubts at first, but said he is now fully behind it and raring to go. “The ECB marketers have given it a thorough examination and looked at the bigger picture. It’s a journey into the unknown, but I’m sure it will be fun.”And he wasn’t giving anything away in terms of Sussex’s tactics: “I’m not going to say what we’re doing, but whoever gets the tactics right will be the team that wins.” And another big incentive to get to the final at Trent Bridge on July 19? “Atomic Kitten, of course – that’s a real bonus for any team getting there.”John Crawley, the Hampshire captain, not known for his buccaneering big-hits, also insisted it was a step in the right direction. “Research shows the game needs a lift and we’re all really looking forward to it.” He was just as upbeat on his team’s chances too: ” I think Hampshire have got a good chance with players like Wasim Akram, Dimi Mascarenhas and James Hamblin, who can all smash balls out of the park.”And to the sceptics like the one man and his dog at Worcester, Crawley argued: “The rules are still the same as one-day internationals, and if you’re not able to adapt your game to fouror five-day cricket, then you’re not professional enough.”Maybe to emphasise Sky TV’s prominent part in the cup, coach-turned-commentator David Lloyd was there, excited and enthusiastic as ever. “The Twenty20 Cup will always have its detractors, but you have to take it on the chin and ride with it. I’m looking forward to the new inventions on the field: a new shot or a new type of delivery. I hope it’s a success”. So do the ECB, who, without the blessing of WG and CMJ, hope the all the karaoke, colour and character of this carnival catches on.Freddie Auld is editorial assistant of Wisden CricInfo in London.